Nihonto Club Japanese Sword Information Exchange

Please note that this feature is only available for registered users. Go to Create new account page to become a member of NihontoClub.com.

NihontoClub.com allows to share members' personal collections with the community. This feature stimulates knowledge exchange, helps to organize discussions of different Nihonto related items, to seek expert opinion and even advertise items for trade/sale.

Each member can create an unlimited number of collections. Every collection consists of records of different types (e.g. swords, tsuba, etc. See below.) Every record can belong to only one collection (chosen on the item record edit page).

Currently there is either no limit on a number of resources per member (e.g. available space for photos, collection size etc) or the limit is very generous. This site is primarily targeting people interested in Nihonto and we try to make it as comfortable to use as possible. However, if demand exceed our hosting provider capabilities, NihontoClub.com reserves a right to review the limits (trying to be as accomodating as we can).

3 Steps to publish your collection

In order to publish the collection you need to complete 3 steps:

A. Create a personal collection record

B. Upload images of your items

C. Create item presentation pages (be it a sword, tsuba or generic item record)

See detailed guidelines below.

A. Creating a new collection

1. Log in (if you aren't logged in yet)

2. Click 'Create content' menu item

3. Click 'Private collection' in the list on the right hand side of the page. A new page will appear with a list of text fields to fill.

4. Fill in the name of your collection (it will be visible in the public list of collections and optional description (rich text editor is available).

5. Select the Visibility of your collection. Choose Public to make the collection visible to others.

Visibility
Both collections and items have a field Visibility (can be Private or Public). This field can be used to make items or even whole collections invisible to other members. For instance, if you are in the process of creating a new record but haven't finished it yet, this mechanism would allow keeping it private until it's done.

6. Click Preview to see how the collection page would look like once submitted.

7. Click Submit whenever it's ready.

Once collection is created, you can add your items to it. If you also like to publish the images of your items on the presentation page (e.g. as clickable thumbnails (like on this page: Namban Tsuba) or other way you prefer), you may use the Gallery as described below, otherwise go to step C.

B. Uploading images into your personal Image Gallery

1. Log in

2. Click 'Image Gallery' menu item

3. Then click 'Your Album' at the top part of the page

4. Create a new album for every items you'd like to publish images for (it's better to keep images separated into different albums for different items) by clicking 'Add Album' in the menu on the left hand side. Give it an easily recognizable name e.g. 'Kanemoto Katana' or whatever you fancy.

5. Once your album is created, click 'Add items' and upload your photos into the album.

Now the images are ready to be used.

C. Creating item presentation pages

First of all, you need a small image of each item, 200x200 pixels maximum, to be shown in the item lists (like you see on eBay). When they are ready, proceed with the following steps.

1. Log in (if you aren't logged in yet)

2. Click 'Create content' menu item

3. Click 'Sword record' in the list on the right hand side to publish a sword record, or 'Tsuba record' for tsuba, or 'Generic item record' for other Nihonto-related items. A new page will appear with a list of text fields to fill.

4. Fill in the first field - the name of the item, then upload the picture into the second field. Pick 'Visibility' as 'Public' if you wish to make the item accessible to others.

5. Fill in other fields (optional). If you need a rich-text editor, press 'enable rich-text' under the field you wish to edit.

6. Pick your collection in the drop down list called 'Collection Name'

7. Use 'Description' field to put the textual description of the item and images, if needed. Select 'enable rich-text'. The way the rich-text editor works is similar to Microsoft Word. Click 'G2' picture to add a picture into the current position. Follow the instructions on the pop-up page: pick your album, then image, then click 'Insert' button. Add as many images as you like.

8. When you finish, press 'Preview' button at the bottom of the page to see how the page would look like.

9. Once you are happy with the page, press 'Submit' button. You may edit this page again at any time in case if you'd like to add or change something.

10. Repeat steps 2-9 for each item you would like to publish.

When you are finished, go to Personal Collections page and see the results.