The Mysterious Disappearance Of The Most Famous Medieval Sword In History | Myth Hunters

As a Japanese, this story was extremely interesting. I was surprised that it plainly tells that Douglas MacArthur became the new shogun, which is the truth people rarely mention. And I believe the U.S. has been the shogun in the Japanese psyche since the WWII. Just like the hope diamond goes to the most powerful in the world, the honjo masamune is the symbol of the conquerer of Japan. The experts in the video are very knowledgeable. I enjoyed it. Thank you.

Including Japanese experts would've been a great decision for a multitude of reasons, including preventing the repeated mispronounciation of Masamune.

It's ironic that the very fact that it is common knowledge that if the current owner reveals the whereabouts of the sword, he would immediately lose it, without any compensation, might be the very thing that has prevented him from revealing the sword's whereabouts. I know if I had it, and I knew how much it was worth, I would just keep it. Why the heck would anybody agree to give up such a valuable item, for maybe a pat on the back?!? As long as there's no incentive to return it, if it even still exists, it will remain "missing".

I’m glad they added “reconstruction” in the opening battle sequence. I briefly thought it was actual footage.

Very sad to see a legendary Samurai katana gets dissappear and never pop up again. It's not about who took or keeping right now, it should be where it born and where it belongs to be. It's a soul of a samurai.

The idea that the Japanese desk clerk would have handed over a priceless Masamune to a clueless American soldier is laughable. Even if he wasn’t a sword expert, every Japanese person to this day knows the name Masamune and would have known about the importance and quite frankly monetary value of such a sword. Let alone the importance of the man turning it in. That’s assuming that Tokugawa Iemasa even turned in the actual Honjo Masamune and not a cheaper lookalike. From the available records not mentioned in this documentary, it was supposedly housed in rather simple koshirae when surrendered. You would think the most famous sword in Japan would have been kept in a shirasaya, the proper way to store a valuable sword when not on display. I’m not alone in this opinion. For decades there’s been whispers in Japan of it being in the collection of a well known yakuza family. What better way is there to hide a priceless treasure than to have everyone thinking it’s on the other side of the world. The Honjo Masamune never left Japan.

NEVER, not in a million years, would I've handed over a sword that my ancestors had carried throughout centuries and passed down to me. And why the owner of the Honjo Masamune didn't even try to save his heirloom is beyond me.

One idea is that the sergeant, who picked it up, was asked "What are you called?" He answered, "I'm called D.B Moore." At least two were identified as being in Japan, but none assigned to that unit or duty.

My grandfather returned from the pacific war with a Japanese sword. He knew nothing about it except his experience in acquiring it. They were taking the surrender of a combat regiment and it was tense. They were held on parade under heavy machine guns. The men had already stacked their firearms. All officers and NCOs were ordered to stack their swords which they did reluctantly. When completed, the jerry cans of petrol were brought out and they poured the fuel on the rifles for burning. During these moments the CO gave the guards permission to take sword souvenirs. Several guards did. They then brought the fuel to the sword pile. All hell broke loose. Several Japanese officers broke ranks and ran to the pile demonstrating that they could not burn it. My grandfather told me they were a whisker away from being shot. But in the following minutes a few of them approached the CO and prostrated themselves. In the minutes that followed they were able to explain that it was not correct to burn one of the swords. The CO asked them to show which one and the thing that stood out to my grandfather, was that the Japanese officer went to the pile and directly removed one sword and laid it at his feet. He knew exactly where it was! My grandfather studied it and thought it looked very plain, there were other swords more decorative, the blades embellished with symbols etc. But this one had none of it! It even had chip marks along the spine of the blade. It didnt look special, but the japanese officer fiercely insisted that it could not be burned. So my grandfather took it under his care to relieve the tension. He returned home with it and its still sitting in a box somewhere in my sisters attic. The other swords did get burned though.

The Honjo Masamune is probably in some guy’s attic somewhere in America. Sgt. Coldy Bimore was mispronounced. It’s Sgt. Cole D. B. Moore.

Fascinating video! The story behind the disappearance of the legendary Masamune sword is truly intriguing. It's incredible to think about the journey and mysteries surrounding such an iconic piece of samurai history. Looking forward to more captivating content like this! 🗡🎥

The thought that horrifies me is that it's rusting to nothing in someone's garage or loft.

My father was in occupied Japan after WWII. At that time, samurai swords were destroyed in large numbers by running them over with bulldozers. I am sure that many classic swords were destroyed as well.

Excellent! :hand-pink-waving:

It is Sgt Cole D. B. Moore who was with the Foreign Liquidation Commission Far East Division and was from Wilcox Country Georgia. This information has been availablefor some time. His records were destroyed in the fire at the National Personnel Records Centre of 1973 .

Man i hope they will find it one day.

Great story!

It would be so very fortunate to walk into a pawnshop and buy the dusty forgotten katana standing in the corner of the shop for 20$ ...and turn out to be Honjo. Why has the family never made a attempt to get the Hondo back...can it be that its still in the hands of the family

Imagine being the one to find it. Thank you for uploading.

Its definitely in a private collection. No way was it destroyed, it along with the other 15 would have the finest fittings, even someone with no knowledge of japanese swords would see the quality.