Just saying that the Katana was a weapon of last resort.

no, it wasn't it was the primary close quarters battle weaponry in Japan for roughly 3000+ years they only ceased using them as such shortly after World War 2 they were actually still used by officers in World War 2. pre gun days in japan they were the standard weapon of the Samurai and each of the warriors under each Samurai's command. they were used in conjunction with: longbows spears bo staffs bo katan (bo staff with a long blade at the top) now a katana is not primarily a blocking weapon no; however if you are quite skilled and as katanas do bend and have flex/give you can actually block a full speed swung bo katan with a katana. the thing is traditional katanas are made with tamahagane steel which is ultra high carbon content iron sand based steel. until the modern advent of high purity high carbon kiln forged steel: the only steel of equal class to a traditional katana was Arabian Damascus steel. (we did not invent the high carbon industrial kiln forged steel until between 1890-1920 in the USA)

You didn't kill other people primarily with Katanas. It was long-reaching weaponry. The katana is shite against armored enemies.

the katana was used in a time where the Japanese used primarily [b][i][u]LEATHER OR PAPER [/u][/i][/b] armour which was coated in lacker. a katana swing can reach speeds of [b][i][u]ABOVE[/u][/i][/b] 90MPH you can easily cut some ones head clean off in one slice at a speed of 38-50MPH so no it was not sh1te vs the armour used at the time period

This is true. To maintain their honor at the end of a lost battle, heads were chopped off by the enemy, or sepuku was commited. Even a weak and near death samurai could open up his belly with his wakizashi.