The Honjo Masamune, forged by 13th-century swordsmith Gorō Nyūdō Masamune, was revered as one of Japan's finest blades and a symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate's power. After World War II, Tokugawa Iemasa, a descendant of the shogun and head of the Tokugawa family, surrendered the sword and other heirlooms to Tokyo's Mejiro police station in 1945. A U.S. officer listed as "Sgt. Coldy Bimore" of the Foreign Liquidations Commission collected them in 1946, and the legendary blade was never seen again.
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