When you think of Le Center, Minnesota the idea of seeing a samurai sword probably doesn't immediately pop into your mind. It might now that a 400-500-year-old sword that was sitting in a basement in Le Center is headed back to Japan after being brought here after WWII. It's all thanks to the internet and a curious son. 

According to a KARE-11 report, the sword came to Jeff Traxler from his friend when he was cleaning out items in his basement. The sword was brought to the US at the end of WWII after Traxler's friend's father Colin Fowler, a WWII veteran, brought the sword home as a souvenir when he completed his service in Asia. Not an uncommon practice at the time.

Once in Jeff Traxler's possession, the sword sat on a shelf in his basement for another 20 years before Jeff's son Sam became curious about the hanging sword. Sam posted pictures of the sword on the online website reddit.com asking for help in translating the characters on the sword. That help came and Sam and Jeff found out that the sword wasn't the WWII-issued weapon that his family had assumed it was.

The online help resulted in Sam finding out who the sword belonged to and arranged to bring the sword back to Japan and give it back to the family that it came from. The KARE-11 piece went on to say once the sword returns to the original family in Japan that it will be donated to a museum for public display.

More From KQCL Power 96