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The Honjo Masamune: Hunt For Japan's Legendary Lost Sword

Silk Road - Asian History Documentaries

195,853 views

Gorō Nyūdō Masamune is often lauded as Japan's greatest-ever swordsmith, and of his many works the Honjo Masamune is perhaps his best known. Yet this symbol of the Japanese shogunate has been lost. What happened to this legendary sword and does it still exist now?

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20 Comments

@nikolaiburroughs325 7 months ago

fun fact, 23:00, when a nihonto is handed to someone with the edge of the blade facing towards them, its a sign of disrespect . Traditionally - katana are passed between people with the edge of the blade facing towards them not the person they were handing it to

@MadDonJuan 1 year ago (edited)

I trully hope the original owners kept it and gaved on a copy

@MikeArwineGuitar 7 months ago

As someone who lived in Japan for 4 years and speak Japanese, the pronunciation of Masamune is absolutely horrendous. For anyone that cares… it’s Mah-sah-moo-nay.

@thepaulhenderson 7 months ago

Respectful clarification regarding one point in the documentary: when discussing the sale of the Honjo Masamune, the narration states this equates to “about £2,500 in today’s money.” The sword was reportedly sold by General Honjō Shigenaga for 13 ōban (large gold coins). Even very conservatively, the gold content alone would place the modern equivalent at least 10× that figure, (or $330,000–$340,000 US dollars today) and likely far more. £2,500 seems implausibly small amount of debt for a man of General's stature to relinquish such a legendary and politically significant blade; this appears to be an oversimplified modern conversion rather than a reflection of its true material value.

@jedeckert9525 1 day ago

That sword it probably sitting in someone’s garage or attic, and they have no idea what it is.

@joshuasill4765 6 months ago

The Honjo Masamune probably ended up in a pawn shop where some hillbilly bought it for $1000 and snapped it in half trying to chop down a maple or oak tree.

@cooldaddyfunk 1 month ago

As an American, I would have NEVER given the Americans ONE SINGLE TRUE NIHONTŌ! Ida given them the millions of Gunto swords, and that's that. The priceless swords should have NEVER been given up. I would have died to protect them if I was Japanese. I can't believe that they all just quietly gave up ALL of their swords. I know many hid the best ones, iv seen this documentary 3 times now. But just WOW.

@jeffadams9807 1 year ago (edited)

In 1983, When I Was 17yo, I Was Taken By My Mom, To Meet A WW-2 Veteran, He Showed Me: 3 German Luger Pistols,
1 Japanese Katana, 1 Japanese Wakasasi, 1 Japanese Nambu Pistol &
1 Japanese Arisaki Rifle With Bayonet...
The Vet Has Since Passed Away & His Grand Daugther Now Own's This Fine Collection...

@elvenking62 8 months ago

3 million swords confiscated by the allied powers. It’s in the attic of the relative of a veteran

@Arwar555 8 months ago

Mr Tokagawa was an absolute bufoon to hand that sword in. His ancestors must be cursing him

@beetraham 8 months ago

Interesting - a quick curiosity calculus shows that having the blade folded 15 times during the forging process produces 32k+ stacked layers - i.e. every and each folding doubling the amount of stacked layers.

@rudetoy8264 2 days ago

Starting out with something, and end with nothing

@evangulick267 1 month ago

This is such a tragic story

@phillipmarlowe0525 8 months ago

Could do without the loud music. Especially when talking.

@OscarOwlHoot 8 months ago

The soul of the samurai and the theme of pacts.

@vukans595 7 months ago

It's obvious that Coldy Bimore is actually COLonel D B. Moore!.

@guyhummel2847 8 months ago

Ain't no way it made it's way into the war..nuff said!

@happyhello5988 1 year ago

I believe it has to still be in Japan. It would be like England giving up the Crown jewels... Someone hid the greatest sword ever and gave a fake... Honor would have required it to stay in Japan.

@SalemikTUBE 9 days ago

It's only looting if the enemy does it.

@MrKmoconne 6 months ago

Can you imagine after watching this video, you go and check out your grandfathers sword and realize it's the Honjo Masamune? That w3ould be pretty cool.