So can anyone answer this for me? I was wondering what happened to samurai equipment after the man was killed. Did they keep the weapons and armor for their sons or protégé? Did a family use the same armor for generations and update it over the years? Did each samurai get his own sword or was there a ancestral katana?
In Japanese culture, it was common for the sons or children of the samurai to hold on to their anscestor's battle weapons. Anscestry was a big part in ancient East Asian culture, so mostly anything that belonged to an anscestor was kept as sacred. Especially a sword, which was used in battle.