New Blog & BudoStudies Update

Seido continues to evolve

New skin! In our constant effort to pour more and more of our BudoStudies into our activity, we’ve just moved our blog from its old OVH location back to Seido’s Shopify servers. There will be a few changes, but all for the best and the improvement of your browsing experience: new design, faster access, fully responsive website and clearer content.
More content is to be regularly uploaded, and all previous posts have been updated, so check it out!
We hope you like our new format, and we’re looking forward to see you there!

Implementing our blog into SeidoShop.com

Maintenance issues

Until now, our blog was hosted on a server run by a French company called OVH and was developed on Wordpress.

Wordpress is a wonderful platform and we’re a little sad to leave it right when awesome new functionalities are about to be released, but Wordpress is actually “too great for us”. We do not need/use most of its functionalities, and many efforts were needed in order to optimize the loading time. Each major update, mandatory to ensure security, meant spending hours dealing with technical issues, hours that we could have spent writing contents instead!

Wordpress is a technology in itself, and splitting our efforts between multiple technologies slowed down our progress on all fronts: the development of the website, but also the publication of articles.
On the other end of the issue was OVH itself, the hosting platform, known for its never-ending bugs and terrible support.
Yet another concern was the difficulty to implement a cost-efficient SSL certificate of a secured access in https.

This is why we have decided to close the WordPress blog accessible via www.blog.seidoshop.com within the shop, now accessible via https://www.seidoshop.com/blogs/the-seido-blog.

Our now deceased Wordpress Blog

Improvements

Of course, as everything we do at Seido, this comes with many major improvements, such as :

• A visually more consistent experience.
• A fully responsive website.
• The ability to switch from store to blog and blog to store with an active cart, which means you can visit the blog when purchasing products without losing your cart.
• A much faster access. Shopify servers (which host our stores), are much faster and much better localized across the globe. The new blog is also much lighter (much better coded).

Since we were able to replicate most functionalities, we do not have to take care of the hosting anymore, and we can work on consistent technologies. We hope that implementing the Blog on SeidoShop.com will allow us to produce more meaningful contents for all Budoka!

The New Blog

Update on our #BudoStudies Projects

BudoStudies?

In 2017, we started publishing interviews with researchers and practitioners, starting with Alexander C. Bennett, one of the most respected researchers in his field. While improving the quality of the demonstration videos we were posting, we got noticed by some of the teachers featured in those videos, all of them sending us positive feedbacks.
We took advantage of those contacts to request yet more interviews, and that is how we ended up interviewing high profile martial artists, Japanese, non-Japanese, from Budo, Kobudo... our only condition is to be in relation to Japanese Budo.

This has lead to the creation of our “BudoStudies” department, which has its how logo, and its own budget.

Our Youtube Channel Banner

The work that has been done so far

Multiples video interviews published on Youtube with:

• Alexander C. Bennett, Kendo 7th Dan, researcher and professor at Kansai University.
• Baptiste Tavernier, Budoka, researcher and director of the Japanese Jukendo Federation International committee.
• Kimura Yasuko, Soke of the Tendo Ryu Sogobujutsu (Naginata).
• Usami Hiroji, acting representative of the Sosuishi Ryu Koshi no Mawari.
• Christian Tissier, 8th Dan, very proactive international Aikido teacher.
• Fabrice Croizé, 5th Dan, member of the technical college of the French Aikido Federation.
• Guillaume Erard (in production, coming soon), Aikido 5th Dan, Daito Ryu 3rd Dan and researcher living in Japan.
• Kimura Jiro, 8th Dan, leader of the Osaka Buikukai.
• Miyauchi Hajime (in production, coming soon), lead teacher of the Onoha Itto Ryu school.
• Suzuki Yukiko (in production, coming soon), lead teacher of the Onoha Itto Ryu school, representative for, Chokugen Ryu Onaginata-jutsu and Shin Muso Hayashizaki Ryu Battojutsu

Kimura Yasuko thumbnail video

Regarding craftsmanship, which is related to BudoStudies in many ways:

• Nidome Yoshiaki, wooden weapons craftsman
• Aramaki Yasuo, wooden weapons craftsman and inventor of the modern Kendo Bokken.
• Matsuzaki Yoshiaki, wooden weapons craftsman.
• Wakihara Yutaka, Iaito craftsman, head of the Minosaka workshop.

We have been covering large events such as the All Japan Aikido demonstration, the All Japan Kobudo Demonstration and the Meiji Jingu Kobudo demonstration for years, but 2017~2018 was the first time we covered integrally the following events:

• The Kagamibiraki ceremony
• Meiji Jingu Kobudo Demonstration
• Asakusa Kobudo Demonstration
• The Iwama Shinshin Aiki Shurenkai International Demonstration
• The Aiki Jinja festival
• The All Japan Aikido, only partially covered as we do not have the logistic to produce more than about 60 videos from a one day event.

We’ve also produced a few Seido Talks in which we talk about our own Budo experiences, but we’ve been lazy on this recently and shall regain motivation to produce new talks!

On the blog, we have published articles on:

• Bokken, Bokuto, Daito, Tachi? Explanation!
• The hakama is not meant to hide the footwork
• Aizome – Japanese Indigo on Martial Arts Equipment
• Clarifications on the origin of the character “Bu” “武”
• Meiji Shrine Yabusame Demonstration

And many more articles that represent significantly less than our video work, but we will improve!

New Budo Studies logo

Ongoing projects & Future projects

We already have in the pipes:

• A debate on Aikido and Morihei Ueshiba’s weapons, enlighten by the wonderful experience of Alexander Bennett (for Kendo, Kenjutsu and Iai) and Baptiste Tavernier (for Jukendo and Kenjutsu as well).
• An interview with an armor craftsman. In discussion, but promising.
• A debate between some of the oldest non-Japanese sempai of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo.
• Full coverage of the Kagamibiraki ceremony at the Nippon Budoka in January.
• Full coverage of the All Japan Kobudo demonstration in February.

We are also working on various projects such as:

• Some projects related to the Samurai history of Japan.
• A presentation/introduction to the Budo International University in Katsuura.
• And more interviews of researchers and Kobudo soke, representatives and high profile teachers.

2019 will be as intense and productive as 2018, but with better equipment, access to the youtube space, an easier access to our blog platform, and we hope to be able to produce even more content than before.

Stay tuned, and feel free to comment below if you have feedback or ideas you would like to submit!