[Coda]

That's less about strength -- all of those weapons except the no-dachi are fairly light -- and more about encumbrance, since of course padded weapons are really rather bulky.

Big weapons CAN be effective, in no small part because people used to fighting against smaller, lighter weapons will be intimidated as well as not know the right way to block them -- big weapons just MOVE differently. But against someone who knows how to fight against both large weapons and small weapons you're actually better off with the small weapons.