10 Incredible Things Mankind Has Managed To Lose

4. The Honjo Masamune

Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio Nativity With St Francis And St Lawrence WGA04193
By Kakidai (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A proper, real samurai sword is probably the coolest thing in the world - not one from that weird shop with the porcelain dragons in the window, but a real one, from Japan. They can totally cut through a tank, it's on the Internet. And the most awesome samurai sword of all would be a one made by Masamune, the greatest swordsmith in Japanese history.

Some of Masamune's swords survived, most of them considered national treasures of Japan.

In 1945, when the American occupying forces demanded all family swords be handed over, the Japansese nobility were outraged. Tokugawa Iemasa, the owner of one of the Masamune swords, tried to defuse the anger at this demand by giving his swords to a police station in a swanky part of Tokyo for safekeeping.

Shortly afterwards some dude pretending to be an American soldier called 'Cody Bilmore' walked into the station and said he should totally have all these swords, especially that really cool one there, because America said so.

He took the Hanjo Masamune away with him. 'Cody Bilmore' never existed, and the sword has never been seen since.

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Ben Counter is a fantasy and science fiction writer, gaming enthusiast, wrestling fan and miniature painting guru. He was raised on Warhammer, Star Wars and 1980s cartoons that, in retrospect, were't that good. Whoever you are, he is nerdier than you.