There is an ongoing search for the lost Honjo Masamune, the legendary samurai sword said to be so supernaturally powerful it could split light itself. The blade was an unparalleled masterpiece crafted by the priest whose name it forever bore. Considered sacred, it was made to fight against evil. The perfection of sword design, the Honjo Masamune was, as were other samurai swords, the symbol of Japan’s powerful warrior class as well as the pride of the nation.  But as time wore on, Japan decided to modernize during the Meiji restoration. The samurai were forbidden to wear the katana in public. The samurai class was essentially disbanded, though families were permitted to keep and to revere their ancestral swords.  But at the end of WWII, after the detonation of two atom bombs, one over Hiroshima and one over Nagasaki, American victors demanded total surrender, including the surrender of all weaponry. No exceptions were permitted. Even family katanas were not...(Read Full Article)