As budo continues to develop internationally, questions of how practitioners abroad perceive budo and how budo-related terminology should be translated has become a pressing issue in recent years. This study focuses on the writings of Donn Draeger. Draeger contributed to the international understanding of budo and has exerted a major influence on non-Japanese practitioners. By investigating Draeger’s usage of the terms “bujutsu”, “budo”, “martial arts” and “martial ways”, all of which are used to indicate “budō”, we aim to clarify his views on Japanese martial arts. In his books Classical Bujutsu, Classical Budo and Modern Bujutsu & Budo, Draeger mainly used the words “bujutsu” and “budo” when describing the martial history, culture, and spiritual aspects he learnt in his study of martial arts. The terms “martial arts” and “martial ways” were introduced for the benefit of non-Japanese with no knowledge or experience of bujutsu or budo. These English terms do not have the same depth implied by “bujutsu” and “budo”. Draeger makes a distinction between “bujutsu” and “budo” in different periods, stating that the purpose differs between “classical bujutsu”, which was designed to kill, and “modern bujutsu”, which aims to subdue the opponent. On the other hand, Draeger considered “classical budo” with its strict sense of spirituality to be more ideal than “modern budo”, which has other objectives to spiritual training such as entertainment or sport. He also thought that classical bujutsu and budo have more value than its modern incarnations.