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Seppuku with ritual attire and second
Seppuku is a Japanese word (切腹)
that refers to ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku is better
known in English as hara-kiri (literally "cutting the stomach", written with the same kanji in reverse order 腹切) Of the two terms, hara-kiri is considered more vulgar.
Seppuku was a key part of bushido, the code of the samurai warriors; it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to rid oneself of shame. Samurai
could also be ordered by their daimyo (feudal lord) to commit seppuku. In later years,
disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to commit seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner.
Given enough time, committing seppuku involved a detailed ritual. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him
and sometimes seated on special cloths, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem. With his selected attendant (Kaishakunin, his second) standing by, he would open his kimono, take up his wakizashi (short sword) or a daki-kubi (a knife) and plunge it into his abdomen, making first a left-to-right cut and then a
second slightly upward stroke. On the second stroke, the Kaishakunin would perform daki-kubi on him with one stroke of his
sword.
Samurai women could also commit ritual suicide, but this was usually done by slashing the throat with a small knife, or
stabbing into the heart with a sharp hair pin or a knife.
Seppuku was traditionally used as the ultimate protest when one's own morals stood in the way of executing an order from the
master. It was also permissible as a form of repentance when one had committed an unforgivable sin, either by accident or on
purpose. Finally, in the feudal period (1190-1867) it
was the form of punishment preferred in cases where the subject required an honourable, but necessary, death sentence, such as
the 47 Ronin.
There is a great deal of ritual associated with seppuku, particularly when it was done as a protest, or as an honourable
punishment. In such cases it might be performed in a spiritually clean temple or similar location, but other locations (e.g. on
the field of battle, for members of the losing side) were also common.
Seppuku was officially abolished during the Meiji Restoration
in 1868, but did not completely die out. Dozens of people are known to have committed
seppuku since then, including a large group of military men who committed suicide in 1895
as a protest against the return of a conquered territory to China; by General Nogi and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912; and by numerous soldiers and civilians who chose
to die rather than surrender at the end of World War II.
The last people known to have committed seppuku were famed author Yukio
Mishima and one of his followers, who committed public seppuku at the Japan Self-Defence Forces headquarters after an abortive coup attempt in 1970. Mishima committed suicide in the office of General Kanetoshi
Mashita. His second, a 25 year-old named Morita, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed; his head was
finally severed by Hiroyasu
Koga. Morita tried to follow Mishima in committing seppuku; although his own cuts were too shallow to be fatal, he gave the
signal and he too was beheaded by Koga.
See also
Further reading
- Jack Seward, Hara-Kiri: Japanese Ritual Suicide (Charles E. Tuttle, 1968)
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