During the Meiji period, Bujutsu was considered to be difficult and harmful in school education, but in 1898 "gekiken" (kenjutsu, swordplay) and jujutsu were introduced as an extra lesson in the junior high schools of the old education system through the improvement of pedagogical methods such as the method of mass education or the unification of the basic skills of judo (jujutsu) and kenjutsu by the Kodokan Judo Institute and Dainippon Butoku-kai (Great Japan Federation of Martial Arts), and the lessons were called "budo," "kendo" and "judo" as compulsory, formal subjects.
学校教育において明治期には武術は教育に教育困難でかつ有害であるとされていたが、講道館や大日本武徳会による柔道（柔術）、剣術の統一の基本技制定や集団教育法など教授法改良により明治44年（1898年）に旧制中学校の課外授業に撃剣（剣術）と柔術が導入され、名称は武道、剣道、柔道とされ、必修の正課になった。