Budo vs. Bugei

This is something that has been churning in my mind for quite some time, too long, in fact, and must be gotten rid of. So I figured I could dump it there for those interested. This may not be what everybody thinks is fun to read/talk about, but this blog is actually covering a wide array of subjects in my life, and I'm pretty well rounded (okay, not really, but still). So, for those who don't know, budo and bugei. Both essentially mean martial art (in a very simple explanation) however budo deals more with self cultivation and spirit, and bugei focuses on battlefield applications. Put it more simply: budo= self cultivation, bugei= handling life and death situations with use of combat techniques.

Okay, now you may be thinking, "well, who the heck teaches anything bugei?" Well, that's the thing, not a lot. Unfortunately, that's what I'd prefer learning. Stuff along the lines of kenjutsu, stuff that had been tried again and again on the battlefield and with real application, with those using unreliable technique probably ending up getting killed. Unfortunately, most of what anybody has today is budo, stuff like say, karate-do (the "do" is usually omitted). As of now, most of that is used for sport, and that's not really what I'm looking for.

Mom is always saying that I need to do some activity to do whatever, so I keep thinking, "is it really that big a deal, to want to go with bugei arts?" Well, for me it is. But then I think, "well... I could always take a budo art now and learn bugei... later. It would give me something to do and make my mom quit griping!" So, one thing I am considering now is kendo, way of the sword, instead of kenjutsu, which would be actual battlefield applications of the sword (Japanese sword, actually). The more I think about it, the more I think about how I could learn both... But more thinking is definately in order.