[QUOTE="curono"] Just one thing.
The first one (red) was pretty, but goes far FROM what a katana is. As a matter of fact, I am sure it is a western designed thing...
The Nodachi... that is not a katana, katanas are curved, to help with the direction of the slash.
There is a wooden sword which is not a katana. Katanas had hilt and hand protector. Swords that were hidden in staffs were used by commoners that wanted to have something to protect themselves, yet couldn't carry them in public.
There are some nice ones (specially the final ones), specially the black Hattori hanzo ones.
bobwill1
I'm not enough of an expert to accurately judge most of that posting; but, I would have strong reservations on believing the bolded part. In Japan iron ore was very rare, which meant that iron was expensive, which meant that object made from steel were extremely expensive. Even if it were legal to own a Katana, most commoners would have never been able to afford it, which is why so many of them became family heirlooms passed from one generation of warrior to the next. Also, as far as Nodachi are concerned, Nodachi simply translates as big tachi, and a Tachi was a sword that was generally attributed as being earlier than the Katana. Tachis actually generally had a greater amount of curvature than a Katana, and a short hilt, as they were meant to be used from horseback, much like a cavalry saber of the 19th century, thus they were meant to be used with 1 hand rather than 2. Personally, I don't know much about Nodachis other than the fact that unlike the typical Tachi they were two-handed, and supposedly very, very large and heavy. Heian period Katana were straight edged. In fact, really the biggest defining characteristic between a Tachi and Katana was that a Tachi was worn with the blade turned down with the sharpened edge facing the ground and Katana were worn blade up with the sharpened edge facing the sky. To the best of my knowledge, cane swords were only carried by Samurai, not commoners during the Meiji reforms as a protest to the governments ban on the carrying of weapons in public.Good observations. About nodachi=tachi, I have never heard that. I could say I`m ignorant about that. But, tachis as you claim are longer and curver than normal katanas. I knewTachis were swords used ment for using while riding horses. That explains the curve (so it doesn`t recoils) and the size (more obvious??).
Heian period katanas straight?? I was told that most of those straight swords were used by ninjas, not samurai clans(yes, samurai had clans also.. but that`s othe story). I can`t recall the name, but I am pretty sure that Straight "katanas" were used by ninjas. (kodachi named, if I`m not mistaken...)
About the "cane katanas" I hope this logic helps; katanas were samurai swords, and only for them alone, think of it as an "army weapon" for the present days. They were curved, one edged, with hilt for 2 hands and not so long. Were with a sheat to hold them under the belt and with the sheat, a cord which had several uses. The sword had normally a hand protector. That is the typical image of the samurai sword, more or less words. These swords were used, as already said only by samurais. The construction of such sword was made accurately for battle, so much that they didn`t change so much to improve (tiny variations may exist, but most of them are in style, color and accesories). As samurai could carry them in any time, there was no need to hide them in canes or things like that. Imagine, why would you want to disguise a weapon in a cane, when it has already an proven and efficient form? Because you don`t want someone to see it. There may be two reasons. Because it is expensive and you don't want it to be stolen (but heck stealing from a samurai=suicide/s·tp1d) or you shouldn't have it and hence you have to hide it.
Feudal lords hired samurais (so there is no need for a feudal lord to have one with you, since you have a SAMURAI for your own will). So we have left people who can afford the iron, but can`t carry them. So, "commoners" (though even with lots of cash), bought or made their swords, and hid them. That's why I said, commoners were the ones who had those swords, not samurai. And since katana is the sword of the samurai, with all the characteristics previously mentioned,  the commoner's sword can't be considered katana, just "katana-blade-like" if you want
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