Samurai favour their native weapons over all others, they will always use these weapons if possible, even if the "other sword has better stats or is magical". POINT

The three core Weapons:

The Katana :
A one-edged sword, with a slightly curved blade and a small, round guard. The edge is razorsharp and must be cleaned, polished and sharpened after each use.
A Katana has the same statistics as a bastard sword with a non-magical one step bonus to damage. Non-Adept mastersmith's who are experienced in the forging of "standard" katanas may also use a special metal folding technic to increase this bonus up to plus three, although finding such an individual would be an adventure itself.

The Wakizashi :
Looks very similar to its bigger brother the Katana, but is approximately one feet shorter. in combat it has the same statistics as a short sword, although it may also be increased by a mastersmith (max. bonus +2).

The Daikyu :
The eastern Longbow, is an average of 5 feet in height, but the grip is not in the middle of the bow but closer to the bottom, allowing this bow to be fired from horseback. The statistics (Range, damage ...) for the Daikyu are the same as for a standard Longbow.

Other oriental Weapons and their western Counterparts:

• Naginata, Testubo and Sode Garami = Polearms
• Kama = Sickle
• Nunchaku, Three-piece Rod = Club + one damage
• Sang kauw = Bladestaff
• Tui-fa (or Tonfa if you prefer) = club
• Sai, Jitte = Parrying Dagger

If you don't know what I'm scribbling about, just ignore the above section ;-}