本庄正宗（行方不明）
Honjō Masamune (Lost)
Also known as: The Lost Masamune; Supreme Sword of Masamune
Description
The Honjō Masamune is perhaps the most famous lost sword in Japanese history — a National Treasure tachi made by the supreme master Gorō Nyūdō Masamune (active late 13th – early 14th century), designated a National Treasure in 1939 and last seen in 1946 when it was given to a US military officer named Colby Stout during the post-war Allied occupation of Japan. Named for the Sengoku-period retainer Honjō Shigenaga (vassal of Uesugi Kenshin) who once owned it, it passed through the Uesugi clan and then the Tokugawa shogunate, where it was formally listed in the prestigious Kyōhō Meibutsuchō (the official register of the finest named swords, compiled c. 1719). Masamune himself is regarded as the greatest swordsmith in Japanese history — the founder of the Sōshū tradition, whose revolutionary use of nie (glistening martensite particles) along the hamon created an entirely new aesthetic of living, shifting light in the blade's temper line. That a masterpiece of this caliber was lost to overseas removal in the chaos of Japan's defeat stands as one of the most poignant episodes in the history of Japanese cultural heritage. Investigations into its whereabouts have been conducted by the Japanese government, sword scholars, and private searchers for over seventy years without result.
Legends & Stories
The legend of the Honjō Masamune has two chapters: the centuries of glory, and the vanishing. In the glory chapter: Honjō Shigenaga, a retainer of the famed 'God of War' daimyo Uesugi Kenshin, obtained the magnificent Masamune tachi in battle — some accounts say he cut through an enemy warrior's helmet with it, his own blade notching on impact, yet the Masamune blade was undamaged, which revealed its quality. Through the Uesugi clan and then as a gift to the Tokugawa shogunate, it became a centerpiece of the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō, the official catalog of Japan's supreme swords compiled around 1719 — the definitive registry of the age. National Treasure designation followed in 1939. Then came the vanishing: Japan's defeat in 1945, the Allied occupation, GHQ's disarmament orders requiring the surrender of swords, and the chaotic circumstances in which Japan's greatest cultural treasures passed through the hands of soldiers who did not always know what they held. On December 6, 1946, the Honjō Masamune — along with fourteen other Tokugawa swords — was handed to a New York City police officer named Colby Stout. Stout returned to the United States; the sword's trail goes cold. Seventy years of investigation have found no trace. The Japanese government, private organizations, and individual researchers continue searching. The sword that cannot be found has become, paradoxically, one of the most evocative symbols of what war takes from civilization — and the undying hope of recovery keeps the story alive.