Hello,
Thank you for all of your enjoyable responses. Please continue.
Comments in light of things mentioned;
One feature that stands out for me when reading Yamanaka's Newsletters revised are those notes which refer to which traditions the smith worked in and the differences seen. While recognizing that there will be significant differences in works by the same smith, as we read Yamanaka, Nihonto Koza, Fujishiro, etc., it becomes apparent that there will be certain identifiable characteristics which make it possible to pinpoint with marked reliability who done it. When writing up kantei discussions for our study group rarely did these references all describe a smith's work in the same exact way. Yet, it seemed at least one reference would nail the description of the sword in question. And if it can be done in words, it makes me believe it might be possible to be done digitally as well.
Yes, it would take a herculean effort by an organization with access to the best examples available to create a data base with enough depth to cover at least most of the possibilities. Which might be an even greater obstacle in the end to overcome than the tech portion itself. I'm also thinking at this point that this is not to replace the human element, but rather to augment. Computers after all have a knack for picking up and showing small detail that humans might have overlooked or not considered.
And, on top of pattern recognition programs where's the current ability to date the age/metal without intrusion at?
Thinking about this does make one appreciate even more just what an amazing thing the human mind really is, can be.
Late night ramblings ....