A dai-katana is a perfectly valid, though less common, type of sword.
A katana is over 2 shaku (60 cm) in length and less than 3 (90 cm) in length. Occasionally you see a regular katana referred to as o-dachi (long sword), but that's fairly rare.
Between 1 and 2 shaku (30-60cm) is generally considered a kodachi and wakizashi. The terms are generally interchangable, though technically a kodachi has a smaller range of acceptable sizes, towards the upper end of the scale (1 shaku and 8 sun to 2 shaku, or about 50-60 cm).
Below 1 shaku (30 cm) is usually considered a tanto, unless it has no guard, in which case it's usually an aikuchi.
As part of a formal dai-sho pair (which sets apart a samurai from a commoner), the katana is known as the daito, while the wakizashi/kodachi is the shoto.
A tachi is an older form of the blade that eventually became the katana, usually used from horseback, and is usually right around 70cm in length and notable for having a much deeper curve to the blade than a katana and for being worn with the edge down when on the waist, rather than face up as a katana-style blade would be. They were also frequently hung from cords the way a cavalry saber is, rather than stuck through the belt.
A dai-katana, also known as a no-dachi, is a katana-style blade that exceeds 3 shaku and can reach up to 5 shaku (150 cm) in length. They are almost always worn on the back as opposed to the hip, and are an exclusively two handed weapon, as opposed to regular katana which could be used in one or two hands, depending on the situation and the style of the sword school. Dai-katana have also been refered to danbira, o-danbira, dai-tachi, and daito. However, daito is also used as a more general term, and is often applied to any blade over 2 shaku in length, especially when part of a dai-sho pair as mentioned above.
There. Today's little pedantic primer on the basics of distinguishing the types of Japanese blades. There's a lot more to it than just that, as there are many unique swords and dozens of variables that can be used to classify them, but those are the broadest outlines.
More like going into a Circuit City having the salesman say "are these speakers going to be for a home theatre system, a shelf stereo, or your computer?" They are different, and they serve different purposes. Computer speakers generally need better shielding than regular speakers. A home theatre system is going to want a 5.1 setup. A $100 shelf stereo probably doesn't have the fidelity to take advantage of $600 high end speakers.
Similarly, Bluetooth is meant for as a replacement for short range wiring runs, while 802.11 is a replacement for network cabling. The reason you need both is the reason you need seperate ethernet and USB cabling. Or even seperate Firewire and USB cabling. Just because you're communicating wirelessly bewtween two devices doesn't mean that that there is one and only one protocol that best suits your needs.
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A dai-katana is a perfectly valid, though less common, type of sword.
A katana is over 2 shaku (60 cm) in length and less than 3 (90 cm) in length. Occasionally you see a regular katana referred to as o-dachi (long sword), but that's fairly rare.
Between 1 and 2 shaku (30-60cm) is generally considered a kodachi and wakizashi. The terms are generally interchangable, though technically a kodachi has a smaller range of acceptable sizes, towards the upper end of the scale (1 shaku and 8 sun to 2 shaku, or about 50-60 cm).
Below 1 shaku (30 cm) is usually considered a tanto, unless it has no guard, in which case it's usually an aikuchi.
As part of a formal dai-sho pair (which sets apart a samurai from a commoner), the katana is known as the daito, while the wakizashi/kodachi is the shoto.
A tachi is an older form of the blade that eventually became the katana, usually used from horseback, and is usually right around 70cm in length and notable for having a much deeper curve to the blade than a katana and for being worn with the edge down when on the waist, rather than face up as a katana-style blade would be. They were also frequently hung from cords the way a cavalry saber is, rather than stuck through the belt.
A dai-katana, also known as a no-dachi, is a katana-style blade that exceeds 3 shaku and can reach up to 5 shaku (150 cm) in length. They are almost always worn on the back as opposed to the hip, and are an exclusively two handed weapon, as opposed to regular katana which could be used in one or two hands, depending on the situation and the style of the sword school. Dai-katana have also been refered to danbira, o-danbira, dai-tachi, and daito. However, daito is also used as a more general term, and is often applied to any blade over 2 shaku in length, especially when part of a dai-sho pair as mentioned above.
There. Today's little pedantic primer on the basics of distinguishing the types of Japanese blades. There's a lot more to it than just that, as there are many unique swords and dozens of variables that can be used to classify them, but those are the broadest outlines.
More like going into a Circuit City having the salesman say "are these speakers going to be for a home theatre system, a shelf stereo, or your computer?" They are different, and they serve different purposes. Computer speakers generally need better shielding than regular speakers. A home theatre system is going to want a 5.1 setup. A $100 shelf stereo probably doesn't have the fidelity to take advantage of $600 high end speakers.
Similarly, Bluetooth is meant for as a replacement for short range wiring runs, while 802.11 is a replacement for network cabling. The reason you need both is the reason you need seperate ethernet and USB cabling. Or even seperate Firewire and USB cabling. Just because you're communicating wirelessly bewtween two devices doesn't mean that that there is one and only one protocol that best suits your needs.