I was playing Shogun 2 Total War recently and one of the units, referred to as Nodachi Samurai in game, carried swords that were nearly as long as they were tall. This seemed a little ridiculous to me, so I wanted to ask, historically, how long could you expect a katana to be during the Sengoku and Edo periods.
A 野太刀 (nodachi) is not the same thing as a 刀 (katana, or tachi depending on how you read it). A nodachi is a two-handed big-ass sword--the second kanji in the name literally means "plump, thick, great." It's characterized by being worn across the back when sheathed because it's too goddamn big to wear at your waist--think broadsword or longsword, something like that (I don't know much about swords). By the end of the Sengoku Period they were uncommon, as they were unwieldy and awkward, but the Tokugawa Shogunate's ban on blades beyond a certain length killed them off more or less completely, although you still see them as dedications at shrines sometimes