Seppuku

Seppuku (切腹, lit. 'cutting [the] belly'), also called harakiri (腹切り, lit. 'abdomen/belly cutting', a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era^[1][2] (particularly officers near the end of World War II) to restore honor for themselves or for their families.^[3][4][5]

The practice dates back as far as the Heian period (794 to 1185), when it was done by samurai who were about to fall into the hands of their enemies and likely be tortured.^[6] By the time of the Meiji era (1868 to 1912), it had taken on an association with honor, and had also become a capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, sometimes involving a ritual imitation of cutting oneself (with a wooden dirk).^[7] The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a tantō, into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever the abdominal aorta, causing death by rapid exsanguination.^[8]

One of the earliest recorded cases of seppuku was that of Minamoto no Tametomo, who had fought in the Hōgen war^[9] and, after being defeated, was exiled to Ōshima.^[9] He decided to try to take over the island. Minamoto's enemies sent troops to suppress his rebellion,^[9] so facing defeat, he committed seppuku in 1177.^[9] The ritual of seppuku was more concretely established when, in the early years of the Genpei war, Minamoto no Yorimasa committed seppuku after composing a poem.^[9]

Sometimes a daimyō was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This weakened the defeated clan so that resistance effectively ceased. Toyotomi Hideyoshi used an enemy's suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyōs. When the Hōjō clan were defeated at Odawara in 1590, Hideyoshi insisted on the suicide of the retired daimyō Hōjō Ujimasa and the exile of his son Ujinao. With this act of suicide, the most powerful daimyō family in eastern Japan was completely defeated.