Thank you for sharing my site! I built this a number of years ago as I was starting to learn about Japanese prints. I wanted a single place where I could find them across all of the various museums and universities that hold them. I use computer vision analysis to cluster prints together (using TinEye). A bunch more technical details from the last time this was posted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18344979
I’m working on a new site now that’s focused on prints that are for sale from dealers and auctions. Much more technically complex as it needs to be continuously updated. Hope to have a public beta soon!
Uh - woah! This is incredibly unexpected. I'm really glad people are interested in my database and in Japanese prints!
From a technical perspective there've been a lot of interesting open source projects that I've made to support this site:
https://johnresig.com/projects/ukiyoe/
I've also written a number of papers and given presentations on the work that I've done here (and elsewhere in the digital humanities).
https://johnresig.com/research/
I've since worked on a number of other projects like a database for a consortium of Art History Photo Archives: http://images.pharosartresearch.org/
And I'm building another one now on Japanese Picture Books (from the 19th century and older).
These are all my "spare time" fun hobby projects, my day job is still at Khan Academy as a Frontend Architect. I just enjoy getting to explore other types of applications and problem spaces!