Following Japan’s surrender, Japanese soldiers were ordered to surrender all their weapons, including swords, to the occupation authorities.
Since the Japanese sword was not just a weapon of war but a sacred object offering spiritual protection, and since many soldiers took their family’s precious sword with them into battle, the Japanese believed that their sword would eventually be returned to them.
That’s why they gave the authorities their saber with a label with their contact details.
The Allies’ initial intention was to destroy these sabers, which they began by doing.
But they quickly realized that destroying such precious objects was a mistake, so the sabers were put aside.
However, they were never returned to their owners.
When they were not directly seized by Allied soldiers as trophies, they were officially distributed to conscripts by the command so that they could take the item home as a war souvenir.
After the war ended, the market for sword collectors grew in the West, and today, many of the swords seized by the Allies have returned to Japan in one way or another. The Japanese often repurchased them, but many descendants of Allied soldiers in possession of a sword have decided to graciously return them to the families to whom they belonged.