I spent some time in Japan and got to several museums, including a special sword exhibition that brought together a lot of unique privately owned blades. Some were truely unique, including one that was literally 3 yards long, and was claimed to have been used from horseback in war. Don't know about that, but what really interested me was the great variety of blade types and styles. The thing we think of as the classic katana was hardly the only sword used.
Some were long and very slim, or long and heavy/broad, or short and slim, short and heavy, curving, straight, or with different styles of points. Some looked very much like our civil war era cavalry sabers.