Hoshi

Hi, Yes it is by no means perfect and "ready for publication" - It's just food for thought. It deserves its own rigorous testing regime, to operationalize it through data analysis and historical analysis. I'm glad its stimulating so much debate, keep going it's great. Just remember that to test it, one needs to only look at ubu works (or slightly suriage), and there are not that many left. Small sample size may even make it unviable for testing beyond the "anecdotal" class of evidence - but such is life under uncertainty. Especially since we can expect missing data to be predominantly on the 'war sword' side of things and be left with large class imbalance. Best Hoshi

Hi everyone, I have added new benefits to membership After some fruitful discussions about the Kantei game, I've added beginner modes such as "Gokaden" and "school" as well as ways to track progress, address weak spots, and overall learn how to recognize Japanese sword makers in an engaging way. Furthermore, membership now unlocks NihontoWatch's advanced library. Initially I thought this information was only really relevant for just a few collectors who seek to make high level acquisition and avoid costly mistakes, but I'm more and more convinced that NihontoWatch's path is one of improving education in the field and that it's better to make it available to a wider audience. For swordsmiths: - Empirical Kantei traits, phases of a smith works and how these co-occur with kantei trait "groups" - Forms, signatures, and signature types - Provenance analysis - Nengo analysis - Ongoing scholarly disputes For Tosogu artists: - Artist alias - Artist signature evolution - Inspiration sources in classical arts - Theme analysis The combination of a simpler Kantei learning experience with the advanced library should reinforce each other really well and allow you to get a handle on the field in weeks rather than years. Thank you for the support and feedback, and let me know how to make it better for you. Best, Hoshi

Hi, (I edited my mistake on the previous post, I wrote Nijimei when I meant Nagamei, apologies for the confusion. To be clear: Nagamei are the long mei containing the place, Nijimei is the short mei containing only the name) Its a testable hypothesis. It can also be countered by physical evidence: a blade containing an address that is false (say, Norishige signs "Etchu" while working in Kamakura, hence why this data point I believe is wrongly interpreted). Or evidence of proximate consumption for nagamei dated with with the nijimei consumed distally (e.g., a Bizen smith signing "nagamitsu" for blades intended for far away Kyoto, and Bishu Osafune Nagamitsu for blades intended for proximal consumption by the warriors of the castle guarding the crossing). Another way is to analyze sugata and hamon concordance with distal vs proximal taste. A derivative and testable hypothesis is that blades intended for Kyoto are more likely to conform to Kyoto taste (slender "elegant" tachi as opposed to brutal war swords with wide motohaba). If we find the opposite, namely that bizen blades with nagamei are more likely to be "war swords" and blades with nijimei are more likely to be "court swords", then we are contradicted. As I said earlier it's really premature so I am fully expecting pushback, on the other hand with clever analysis it is fully testable, it has to be done but I'm not sure when I have the time. Also, different motivations can co-occur with this "outward" explanation. It can be patriotism, tradition, and so on. But at some point the idea emerged and regardless of its intention, it made commerce more efficient as a side effect. You can think about it as a "random mutation" in the theory of evolution that leads to increased fitness. If we put motivation aside, we are left with a "weak" version of the theory in the formal sense. Best, Hoshi

Hi, I would caution against "inward focused" explanations: to mark a personal milestone, as a sign of pride, as a testament to a new emerging style, as a commemorative act to mark a new genius forging insight, etc. I think these are overfitted to the data and come from a place of deep admiration of the artisans as artist, but we must remember that commerce was always the existential priority. The "outward focused" explanations are more parsimonious: to announce a change of address to the customer, to remind the customer that the workshop is still in operation and taking orders, to signal to the customer that a new forge with a new name is now taking orders, to expand the radius of sales, etc. I am not convinced about this but I am open to changing my mind, I would like to evaluate the source on this point if you can share. But why? Because producing the same product over and over (the refined tanto signed Shintogo) was the best way to ensure the economic flourishing of the operation by creating a brand with high quality control, recognizability, and and exquisite execution. In this context it is not difficult to understand the fate of Shintogo's operations, and this is especially manifest in the signed works of Yukimitsu. There was clearly a disagreement on the direction of the product, with one camp insisting to keep on going with product A, and the other camp seeking to do new things. And hence, they split. Masamune, Norishige, and Yukimitsu (the older) on one side. Shintogo the Elder, Kunihiro, Kuniyasu on the other. It could not be resolved by words either. And oh boy did they do different things. Signed works by Yukimitsu and Norishige (and Masamune) are simply all over the place - in both deki, shape, construction, and so on. It is the polar opposite of the rigid awataguchi top class product, which must have been an absolute soul-sucking grind to produce at this level of quality control. Kunihiro, Kuniyasu (presumably) continued the Shintogo road, retained the strictures, while the 3 others went their own way, probably working from the same co-owned and co-operated forge, collaborating on each other's works. In the end, they outcompeted Kunihiro and Kuniyasu, and they made the right decision. But this was not obvious in retrospect, and as such it was a risky and divisive choice. Having been raised "classically" at the highest level of rigor, they could finally fly from their own wings and begin a truly innovative journey. You will note that this story is a recurring theme in the history of arts. Replace "awataguchi" with "classical french cuisine learned from a 3 michelin star Paris chef" and "Etchu" with "Peru" and you will quickly see the parallels. Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, the examples abound. It is an archetypical story, it fits well with our theory of excellence, aligns with human commercial incentives, aspiration for mastery, and desire for self-expression. Hence it is probably true. Best, Hoshi

Hi, Interesting post, thank you for enriching the forum with your investigations. I do not think this is the correct reading (and I could be wrong) - if it is, it would reshuffle my understanding of this smith, for reasons that I will elaborate on later. I do not believe that these long signature are a sign of pride, special orders, or life milestones achieved. While these are often cited as an explanation, to me they are suspect as they do not align with my preferred Occam's razor, which is to use the lens of economic theory and the incentives of commerce to analyze signature types. While it is not a traditional lens of understanding either, it has been shown time and time again to offer great explanatory power at minimal complexity cost in historical analysis. So here it goes, brace yourself. I am aware that this deserves a more in-depth article, and more rigorous efforts at fitting the existing data to the model, but I will throw it out here regardless, fresh out of the idea forge as it goes. Q: Why did smiths sign nagamei? A: So the prospective client could know where to go to order the work. Q: Why did the smiths add dating information in the nakago? A: So the prospective client could know that the smith is still alive in all likelihood, and that it wouldn't be a wasted trip. Q: Why did some smiths leave their work mumei despite being ubu? A: Because they were employed on a fixed salary basis, and their work was aimed at internal consumption, and therefore no "marketing information" was needed (e.g., temples). So by signing with his "place" and a "date", the smith is signaling to the world: this is where I can be found, and I am still alive, still taking orders. Come. From here, you have corollaries: if you see work signed nagamei, you can assume that the intended radius of sales was greater. If you see dated work with the place of production, you have indication that you are facing a form of free enterprise with a large radius of sales. If you see name standardization (e.g., Sukesada), dated and a place, you can assume that the intended radius of sales was the greatest of all. You can also infer that the propensity to sign nagamei was commensurate with the distance to the intended clients: the closer you are to your client, the less likely you need to sign nagamei. Think about it: Yamashiro vs Bizen in their use of nagamei. In the case of Norishige, you see nagamei appearing later in his career, and for good reason: he had moved back to Etchu. He needed his customers to know he could be found there. And by adding a date, he was signaling that he was still alive, still taking orders, and still ready to fulfill them. You can take this very simple theory and take it very deep. It will allow you to elucidate on the intended customers, the social organization of the workshop, the ambition of the smith, and so on. It is very revealing if you take it seriously. I have plans to do a long writeup on this with Markus, but I'm afraid my other priorities on NW take precedence on these more advanced topics for the time being at least. Hence, I do not think 1289 is the correct reading. While working in Kamakura, it would be an anti-signal to his customers to write "Etchu" on his on work. In the meantime feel free to attempt to demolish it. Best, Hoshi

Wonderful! I have added a Kantei journey section where you can identify your strong and weak spots and study accordingly. I hope this helps, Hoshi

Hi, Great feedback guys! And it's built. I've added the two new modes. Try it out and let me know what you think. Keep giving me ideas and wishes, and I'll do my best to make them come true. I think the next step is to provide a more unified learning journey, including weak spot analysis for focus learning, and deep study material in the artisan library about specific styles, phases of an artist's work, and better orientation overall. Best, Hoshi

Hi, You are all doing great, and I'm really happy that this game is so popular. The "competitive" aspect is really tongue-in-cheek and the primary goal is just to learn and have fun. Professional chess ELO ratings is brutal but it's also funny to some extant to see it in a kantei game. Don't take it too seriously. People that have been doing the Kantei in Token Bijutsu Mag for years and studying Juyo blades will naturally have a big advantage. In general It's a great way to train pattern recognition and to become knowledgeable in this field. I wish I had this when I started out. And with practice you will improve a lot, but it takes time. Especially it's not so easy if you're really starting out to understand why you are wrong sometimes. I think I will add a comment section on the daily kantei for participants to explain their reasoning. If people would be interested, I can also do a more approachable mode where the goal is simply to match to one of the five traditions. What do you think? Keep learning, Hoshi

Hear ye, Hear ye, @YourBabyBjornBorg what do you say to this great upset of the arena? Will you make a bold attempt at reclaiming your seat? WHO ELSE HAS THE GALL TO CHALLENGE JUSSI THE GREAT. HE WHO STANDS SEVENTY ONE ELO POINTS AHEAD OF ALL. The great Kantei game Season 1 goes on...

Hi, This is a very unfortunate software bug indeed. I apologies for the confusion. Newly discovered items that were previously not found due to issues with the dealer sitemap have been firing this email for items that have been sold ages ago. The guard in place failed, and the result is this unfortunate spam. It's fixed now. Your inbox sanity is restored. Best, Hoshi

Hi, Make sure you're logged in on your NW account in the browser. Once logged in, you will see the flag icon on the top right corner of the listing, along with favorite and share. Select the flag. You can then write directly to report the issue. You can also do it via your smartphone, as long as you are logged in, the button will appear. Once a message it sent, it will transform into a LINE-like chat interface. I hope this helps, Hoshi

Hi, when you open a listing, just press the flag icon. It will open a live chat.

Hi @Lewis B Thanks you for reporting this. It's fixed. In the future you can just use the flag feature on the item listing, it will open a chat from where you can report any issue you might come across. Best, Hoshi

Hello, Thank you @Jussi Ekholm, and congratulations for taking the top spot, years any years of study are showing Heads up on daily kantei: it's easy to cheat by creating a second account and using it to leak the answers to your primary account. There is really no point though, it's easy for me to detect and I will erase your score for the day. Ladder play are randomized blades, it won't work where it counts. Please respect the spirit of the game, daily kantei is designed with the same blades for everyone as a way to collectively learn and discuss the same five swords. For bragging rights, play ranked. Best, Hoshi

Congratulations @YourBabyBjornBorg for rising to second place. Our @Jussi Ekholm has overtaken first place this morning Will Chatty Tanuki made a bid for first place? Surely this new leaderboard cannot remain so for long!