Introducing NihontoWatch: The Entire Market in Your Pocket

[Hoshi]

Hi @jdawg221

 

Continuing the topic here to keep things tidy into a single feedback thread. 

 

Can you explain a little bit more what you do not like with the artisan description? 

 

Your screenshot came from this artisan: 

 

https://nihontowatch.com/artists/yoshinobu-YOS648

 

As a side note, there was an issue affecting scholarly citations on a handful of artisans causing Japanese text to become intermingled in parenthesis. The artisan in question is Hizen Yoshinobu, a member of the Hizen Tadayoshi school. Thanks for bringing this up, it's fixed. 

 

Regarding the Artist pages, I set myself two goals: 

 

Scholarly accuracy

All descriptions are sourced from the most up to date books and NBHTK records, and should in principle be remarkably accurate. You can click the citation markers (all citations are verbatim and verified) and find it in your personal library. 

 

 

That said, there can be errors (and we've gone a long way already). The general rule is: the less scholarly material available, the less the data is reliable. So it's perfectly possible that something on Yoshinobu is not accurate. Is there anything that seems off to you based on your knowledge of the Hizen tradition? 

 

Beginner Accessibility

You can also click on specific technical words to bring up their meaning. This is something I found particularly frustrating when I was a beginner in the field. Now with inline explanation, the field is just much more approachable. 

 

 

There are 855 such complete and referenced descriptions in the encyclopedia presently. I once wrote an article on Bizen Mitsutada and this is the standard I would ultimately like to see for every artist, but It will take time to get there in a programatic way. It took me 3 months to write this article part-time, so this would be 214 years of work. Clearly, there needs to be a more scalable way. 

 

Regarding the design theme, feel free to select the one you prefer. "Classic" is there for visual accessibility. The theme is set to your browser's preferred theme. For some it's light mode, for other, it's dark mode, so users will have different experiences based on their default settings. This is why only some of your friends see the dark theme, while others see a light theme. The "Yuhindo" theme is the homage to Darcy (Black and Purple), and it is not a default theme and needs to be selected manually in the theme configuration toggle, it really is the night owl theme. 

 

I really want to improve it, so let me know how to make it perfect for you. 

 

Best,

 

Hoshi

 

[YourBabyBjornBorg]

Can't wait to subscribe to support this great project!

[Hoshi]

NihontoWatch is live! 

 

Thank you for all the feedback and support along the way. 

 

Hoshi

[Lewis B]

Hello @Hoshi

Found a bug when researching Ryumon Nobuyoshi. The Juyo Zufu linked is for a completely different smith, Echizen Rai (Rai Kuniyasu). Is there a particular explanation for this mismatch?

 

https://nihontowatch.com/listing/63828

[Hoshi]

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

 

[Lewis B]

11 minutes ago, Hoshi said:

Hi @Lewis B

 

Thanks you for reporting this. It's being 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

 

Where on the page is the reporting icon? I can't see one. Using Firefox on Apple Macbook

[Hoshi]

 

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

[Lewis B]

I don't see any of those header icons on my listing page. Perhaps the version of Firefox (115.39.0esr) is too old. Unfortunately I'm having to use an old laptop, while waiting for the new oled screen MacBook Pro Ultra's to be released.

[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

[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

 

 

[Scogg]

A very low-priority idea/request, but would it be possible to add a feature that allows someone to “gift” a yearly paid membership to another user account?

 

Holiday season is fast approaching 

 

All the best,

-Sam 

[Hoshi]

Dear Sam,

 

What a lovely request to wake up to. 

 

It's built, you can now gift a 1 year membership. It will be linked to the gift recipient's email address. 

 

https://nihontowatch.com/gift

 

You can also select the date of the gift, it can be set to happen on a person's birthday, holidays, or important life moment, alongside with a note that will appear in the invitation email. 

 

The only failure mode is if you enter the wrong email, but in this case just let me know in PM or in NW's support chat and I'll fix it. 

 

As this it new, it may need a few rounds of testing and polish. 

 

Best,

 

Hoshi

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Small UI suggestion: where dealers have a chat option it replaces the "View on x" external link button. It would be nice to keep the dealer page link consistent across the site and have the chat button still prominent, but in a different location. 

 

 

[Hoshi]

Dear John, 

 

Thank you for the suggestion, this is a tricky one as having multiple prominent buttons can cause too much cognitive load. 

 

Chat is rolled out only for a select few dealers currently and is in testing mode to ensure it works smoothly and reliably.

 

Over time the goal is to have it fully rolled out to everyone. 

 

Currently you are right, a prominent button changing functions seemingly "at random" is not good UI/UX. 

 

I need to think about this one. 

 

Best,

 

Hoshi