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kitsune,
Nope, a good Katana today will be a pretty good facsimale, including weight and heft, of an original. The Katana, remember, is not a chopping weapon: the design of the blade is best suited for a kind of rotary, shearing draw-cut which is just plain nasty. A lightweight ( and therefore very fast-moving ) blade is best suited for this.
Due to its' beveled edge, the Katana is very good at cutting metal IF the metal it's cutting is met at an oblique angle to prevent the edge from chipping or shattering. The cutting edge of a well-made Katana is RC-60 or higher, but is so thin and fine ( in cross section ) that it will chip at a harsh word and shatter under extreme stresses; the kind of stresses one finds when meeting a metal object at 90 degrees, for instance.
Parries worldwide, it's also important to note, are NOT made with the cutting edge; you parry with either the flat or the spine ( reverse edge of a single-edged sword ) of the blade, specifically in order to avoid damaging the cutting edge. Re-tempering a sword was almost impossible if you wanted anything other than a wall-hanger, and filing the chips out of a fine-sectioned edge would be almost impossible; the Japanese went to great pains to develop very subtle and effective rotary parries which did not damage the edge for this reason.
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