The Blades seem to me to be kind of Samurai Warrior, they have the 1h katana and heavy armour that also looks Samurai. So why no 2h katana, and other Japanese style weapons like tanto style daggers.

I know about the whispering door 2h katana but it's not a Blades weapon.

Because Beth never bothered to really expand the Blades beyond what they did.

They're based on the weapons and armour of the Tsaesci Dragonguard.
Which in turn is based on Eastern culture.

Morrowind was the last game to feature Tantos and Wakisashis.
In Oblivion they had the Akaviri Dai-Katana, but no more. I guess they were lacking on resources or feeling lazy.

They had larger 2-handed di-katanas in earlier installments. Why they aren't in Skyrim... I dun'know... maybe someone slept late one morning and they didn't get added in?

DLC might have it, mods definitely will have it (Because Samurai swords and mods go together like Rum and Coke)

And haven't we been given at least 3 different roles for the blades over the years justified as: "Well this is what they did BEFORE This..." Or "This is what they did AFTER they did that"

Only thing we haven't done quite yet is to hunt them down for being wtiches or something.

I remember Jauffre using a Dai-Katana in Oblivion, perhaps only Grandmasters can use a Dai-Katana?I can't recall off of the top of my head whether or not any other Blades used it.

The 2-H katana was not exactly a common Japanese weapon. It never found much of a practical use. As opposed to the 2-H European sword, which was used to break up pike formations for a while.

I don't think it was that the devs were lazy. It would take about two days to put them in if you wanted to. I guess they just figured it wasn't that Skyrim. I dunno, have to go ask the devs I guess.

Jauffre did indeed use the Dai-Katana, but I remember that you could also get one on Oblivion. I had one on my 2 handed character.

It seems that using Akaviri weaponry has fallen out of style, or flat out been forgotten in Tamriel. After all, the only ones in Tamriel who kept Akaviri culture alive, and even that was more along the lines of lore and smithing, rather than actual culture such as art or daily social life. Akaviri weaponry seems to be more of an exotic curiosity than an in-demand weapon style. And, with the link between the Akaviri and the Blades, along with the recent turmoil between the Blades and the Thalmor (damn them to Peryite's Pits), it's possible that the Thalmor have attempted to erase affiliated arms and armor from existence in addition to the near-total annihilation of the Blades. Plus, Skyrim is fairly far from Akavir , and even with it's one bastion of the Blades, it's likely to have not seen much in the way of Akaviri influence in ancient days, other than dragonslayers. All of the above could account for the general rarity of Akaviri artifacts.

What would be neat is if Esbern or Delphine could teach you how to make Akaviri weapons and armor after siding with them and

Just an FYI, katana's were in of themselves two-handed weapons. They could be used with one hand sure, but most samurai and others that used them would have used two hands to control the weapon.

Watch these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lddhRjqmcSg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGPCTMp2cw

The difference between a katana and a nodachi (besides that they were used slightly differently) was just that a nodachi was just a larger katana in the most basic sense.

A katana is a two handed weapon. Sure there were longer o- katana that were mostly used for mounted warfare. But a katana is meant to be used with two hands most of the time.

I think you're thinking of a nodachi.

Oh yes yes, the katana is a two handed weapon, my bad. I meant really long katanas, should've said nodachi.

They were in previous games but what you have to understand is there in an Ancient base now perhaps they weren't weapons left behind however if that were the case i can't help but wonder why Dragonbane was left if its such a powerful weapon. something to think on but it might have some significant to the location and the time. or maybe it is lack of time, there could be a number of reasons for this

I miss the 2h katana but 2 1h katana do nicely..i get my musashi vibe on this way

Someone should mod a katana into a bokken, that way i can rp a samurai in training earning his way up to a special sword

I tried the Blades sword ingame and thought it looked strange as a one-hander. I put it on a rack and haven't used it since, it just doesn't look right.

Even if you use the Ebony Blade, the animations/stances just aren't right, for a katana. Lets not even mention the 1hander. I've played low budget mmos that changed the stance at least. I'm not trying to be too much of a purist, but since it's a fairly large part of the lore, they should fix that up.

There was one in Oblivion but I guess they forgot about it or didn't want it in Skyrim.

Two hand swords are for wimps who can't hold their sword in one hand anyway.

Or people who want better combat gameplay.