The practice dates back as far as theHeian 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 theMeiji era (1868 to 1912), it had taken on an association with honor, and had also become acapital 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 atantō, into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever theabdominal aorta, causing death by rapidexsanguination.[8]
One of the earliest recorded cases ofseppuku was that ofMinamoto no Tametomo, who had fought in theHōgen war[9] and, after being defeated, was exiled toŌshima.[9] He decided to try to take over the island. Minamoto's enemies sent troops to suppress his rebellion,[9] so facing defeat, he committedseppuku in 1177.[9] The ritual ofseppuku was more concretely established when, in the early years of theGenpei war,Minamoto no Yorimasa committedseppuku after composing a poem.[9]
Sometimes adaimyō was called upon to performseppuku 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 ofdaimyōs. When theHōjō clan weredefeated at Odawara in 1590, Hideyoshi insisted on the suicide of the retireddaimyōHōjō Ujimasa and the exile of his sonUjinao. With this act of suicide, the most powerfuldaimyō family in eastern Japan was completely defeated.[citation needed]
The termseppuku is derived from the twoSino-Japanese rootssetsu切 ("to cut", fromMiddle Chinesetset; compareMandarinqiē andCantonesechit) andfuku腹 ("belly", from MCpjuwk; compare Mandarinfù and Cantonesefūk). It is also known asharakiri (腹切り, "cutting the stomach";[10] often misspelled or mispronounced "hiri-kiri" or "hari-kari" by American English speakers.[11]Harakiri is written with the same kanji asseppuku, but in reverse order with anokurigana. In Japanese, the more formalseppuku, a Chineseon'yomi reading, is typically used in writing, whileharakiri, a nativekun'yomi reading, is used in speech. As Ross notes,
It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is avulgarism, but this is a misunderstanding. Hara-kiri is a Japanese reading orKun-yomi of the characters; as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a spoken term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term, but spoken amongst higher classes for the same act.[12]
Whileharakiri refers to the act of disemboweling oneself,seppuku refers to the ritual and usually would involve decapitation after the act as a sign of mercy.[7]
The practice of performingseppuku at the death of one's master, known asoibara (追腹 or 追い腹, the kun'yomi or Japanese reading) ortsuifuku (追腹, the on'yomi or Chinese reading), follows a similar ritual.
The wordjigai (自害) means "suicide" in Japanese. The modern word for suicide isjisatsu (自殺); related words includejiketsu (自決),jijin (自尽) andjijin (自刃).[13] In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with the suicide of samurai wives.[14] The term was introduced into English byLafcadio Hearn in hisJapan: An Attempt at Interpretation,[15] an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese.[16] Joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the termjigai to be the female equivalent ofseppuku.[17] Mostow's context is analysis ofGiacomo Puccini'sMadame Butterfly and the original Cio-Cio San story byJohn Luther Long. Though both Long's story and Puccini's opera predate Hearn's use of the termjigai, the term has been used in relation to westernJaponisme, which is the influence of Japanese culture on the western arts.[18]
The practice of seppuku was not standardized until the 17th century. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, the practice of akaishakunin had not yet emerged; thus, the rite was considered far more painful. The defining characteristic was plunging either thetachi (longsword),wakizashi (shortsword) ortantō (knife) into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally. In the absence of akaishakunin, the samurai would then remove the blade and stab himself in the throat, or fall onto the blade from a standing position with it positioned against his heart.
During theEdo period (1600–1867), carrying out seppuku came to involve an elaborate, detailed ritual. This was usually performed in front of spectators if it was planned, as opposed to one performed on a battlefield. A samurai was bathed in cold water (to prevent excessive bleeding), dressed in a whitekimono called theshiro-shōzoku (白装束), and served his favorite foods for alast meal. When he had finished, the knife and cloth were placed on asanbo and given to the warrior. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special clothes, the warrior would prepare for death by writing adeath poem. He would probably consume a ceremonial drink ofsake and would also give his attendant a cup meant for sake.[19]
Over time, the process became so highly ritualized that as soon as the samurai reached for his blade, the kaishakunin would strike. Eventually, even the blade became unnecessary and the samurai could reach for something symbolic like a fan, and this alone would trigger the killing stroke from his kaishakunin. A fan was likely used when the samurai was too old to use a blade or in situations where it was too dangerous to give him a weapon.[20]
This elaborate ritual evolved after seppuku had ceased being mainly a battlefield or wartime practice and became apara-judicial institution. The kaishakunin was usually, but not always, a friend. If a defeated warrior had fought honorably and well, an opponent who wanted to salute his bravery would volunteer to act as his kaishakunin.
From ages past it has been considered an ill-omen by samurai to be requested askaishaku. The reason for this is that one gains no fame even if the job is well done. Further, if one should blunder, it becomes a lifetime disgrace.In the practice of past times, there were instances when the head flew off. It was said that it was best to cut leaving a little skin remaining so that it did not fly off in the direction of the verifying officials.
A specialized form of seppuku in feudal times was known askanshi (諫死;lit.'remonstration death or death of understanding'), in which a retainer would commit suicide in protest of a lord's decision. The retainer would make one deep, horizontal cut into his abdomen, then quickly bandage the wound. After this, the person would then appear before his lord, give a speech in which he announced the protest of the lord's action, then reveal his mortal wound. This is not to be confused withfunshi (憤死;lit.'indignation death'), which is any suicide made to protest or state dissatisfaction.[citation needed]
Some samurai chose to perform a considerably more taxing form ofseppuku known asjūmonji giri (十文字切り;lit.'cross-shaped cut'), in which there is nokaishakunin to put a quick end to the samurai's suffering. It involves a second and more painful vertical cut on the belly. A samurai performingjūmonji giri was expected to bear his suffering quietly until he bled to death, dying with his hands over his face.[citation needed]
Female ritual suicide (incorrectly referred to in some English sources asjigai) was practiced by the wives of samurai who had performedseppuku or brought dishonour.[21][22]
Some women belonging to samurai families died by suicide by cutting the arteries of the neck with one stroke, using a knife such as atantō orkaiken.[23] The main purpose was to achieve a quick and certain death in order to avoid capture or rape.[23] Before dying, a woman would often tie her knees together so her body would be found in a "dignified" pose, despite the convulsions of death.[23] Invading armies would often enter homes to find the lady of the house seated alone, facing away from the door. On approaching her, they would find that she had ended her life long before they reached her.[citation needed]
The wife of Onodera Junai, one of theForty-seven Ronin, prepares for her suicide; note the legs tied together, a feature of female seppuku to ensure a decent posture in death
Stephen R. Turnbull provides extensive evidence for the practice of female ritual suicide, notably of samurai wives, in pre-modern Japan. One of the largest mass suicides was the 25 April 1185 final defeat ofTaira no Tomomori.[21] The wife of Onodera Junai, one of theForty-seven Ronin, is a notable example of a wife followingseppuku of a samurai husband.[24] A large number of "honour suicides" marked the defeat of the Aizu clan in theBoshin War of 1869, leading into theMeiji era. For example, in the family ofSaigō Tanomo, who survived, a total of twenty-two female honor suicides are recorded among one extended family.[25]
Voluntary death bydrowning was a common form of ritual or honor suicide.[citation needed] The religious context of thirty-threeJōdo Shinshū adherents at the funeral of Abbot Jitsunyo in 1525 was faith inAmida Buddha and belief in rebirth in hisPure Land, but maleseppuku did not have a specifically religious context.[26] By way of contrast, the religious beliefs ofHosokawa Gracia, the Christian wife ofdaimyōHosokawa Tadaoki, prevented her from committing suicide.[27]
While voluntaryseppuku is the best known form,[7] in practice, the most common form ofseppuku wasobligatoryseppuku, used as a form ofcapital punishment for disgraced samurai, especially for those who committed a serious offense such as rape, robbery, corruption, unprovoked murder, or treason.[28][29] The samurai were generally told of their offense in full and given a set time for them to commitseppuku, usually before sunset on a given day. On occasion, if the sentenced individuals were uncooperative,seppuku could be carried out by an executioner, or more often, the actual execution was carried out solely by decapitation while retaining only the trappings ofseppuku; even thetantō laid out in front of the uncooperative offender could be replaced with a fan (to prevent uncooperative offenders from using thetantō as a weapon against the observers or the executioner). This form of involuntaryseppuku was considered shameful and undignified.[30] Unlike voluntaryseppuku,seppuku carried out as capital punishment by executioners did not necessarily absolve or pardon the offender's family of the crime. Depending on the severity of the crime, all or part of the property of the condemned could be confiscated, andthe family would be punished by being stripped of rank, sold into long-term servitude, or executed.
Seppuku was considered the most honorable capital punishment apportioned to samurai.Zanshu (斬首) andsarashikubi (晒し首), decapitation followed by a display of the head, was considered harsher and was reserved for samurai who committed greater crimes. The harshest punishments, usually involving death by torturous methods likekamayude (釜茹で) (death by boiling), were reserved for commoner offenders.
Forcedseppuku came to be known as "conferred death" over time as it was used for punishment of criminal samurai.[30]
Ōishi Yoshio was sentenced to commit seppuku in 1703.
On February 15, 1868, eleven French sailors of theDupleixentered the town of Sakai without official permission. Their presence caused panic among the residents. Security forces were dispatched to turn the sailors back to their ship, but a fight broke out and the sailors were shot dead. Upon the protest of the French representative, financial compensation was paid, and those responsible were sentenced to death. CaptainAbel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars was present to observe the execution. As each samurai committed ritual disembowelment, the violent act shocked the captain, and he requested a pardon, as a result of which nine of the samurai were spared. This incident was dramatized in a famous short story, "Sakai Jiken", byMori Ōgai.
In the 1860s, the British Ambassador to Japan,Bertram Freeman-Mitford (Lord Redesdale), lived within sight ofSengaku-ji where the Forty-seven Ronin are buried. In his bookTales of Old Japan, he describes a man who had come to the graves to kill himself:
I will add one anecdote to show the sanctity which is attached to the graves of the Forty-seven. In the month of September 1868, a certain man came to pray before the grave of Oishi Chikara. Having finished his prayers, he deliberately performed hara-kiri, and, the belly wound not being mortal, dispatched himself by cutting his throat. Upon his person were found papers setting forth that, being aRonin and without means of earning a living, he had petitioned to be allowed to enter the clan of the Prince ofChoshiu, which he looked upon as the noblest clan in the realm; his petition having been refused, nothing remained for him but to die, for to be a Ronin was hateful to him, and he would serve no other master than the Prince of Choshiu: what more fitting place could he find in which to put an end to his life than the graveyard of these Braves? This happened at about two hundred yards' distance from my house, and when I saw the spot an hour or two later, the ground was all bespattered with blood, and disturbed by the death-struggles of the man.
Mitford also describes his friend's eyewitness account of aseppuku:
Illustration titledHarakiri: Condemnation of a nobleman to suicide; drawing by L. Crépon adapted from a Japanese painting, 1867
There are many stories on record of extraordinary heroism being displayed in the harakiri. The case of a young fellow, only twenty years old, of the Choshiu clan, which was told me the other day by an eye-witness, deserves mention as a marvellous instance of determination. Not content with giving himself the one necessary cut, he slashed himself thrice horizontally and twice vertically. Then he stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side, with its sharp edge to the front; setting his teeth in one supreme effort, he drove the knife forward with both hands through his throat, and fell dead.
One more story and I have done. During the revolution, when theTaikun (Supreme Commander), beaten on every side, fled ignominiously toYedo, he is said to have determined to fight no more, but to yield everything. A member of his second council went to him and said, "Sir, the only way for you now to retrieve the honor of the family of Tokugawa is to disembowel yourself; and to prove to you that I am sincere and disinterested in what I say, I am here ready to disembowel myself with you." The Taikun flew into a great rage, saying that he would listen to no such nonsense, and left the room. His faithful retainer, to prove his honesty, retired to another part of the castle, and solemnly performed the harakiri.
In his bookTales of Old Japan, Mitford describes witnessing a hara-kiri:[31]
As a corollary to the above elaborate statement of the ceremonies proper to be observed at the harakiri, I may here describe an instance of such an execution which I was sent officially to witness. The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburo, an officer of the Prince ofBizen, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement atHyōgo in the month of February 1868, – anattack to which I have alluded in the preamble to the story of the Eta Maiden and theHatamoto. Up to that time no foreigner had witnessed such an execution, which was rather looked upon as a traveler's fable.
The ceremony, which was ordered by theMikado (Emperor) himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of theSatsuma troops at Hiogo. A witness was sent from each of the foreign legations. We were seven foreigners in all. After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:
I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners atKobe, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honour of witnessing the act.
Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment thekaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body.
A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible.
Thekaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of rice paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the execution. The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and, crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called us to witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been faithfully carried out. The ceremony being at an end, we left the temple. The ceremony, to which the place and the hour gave an additional solemnity, was characterized throughout by that extreme dignity and punctiliousness which are the distinctive marks of the proceedings of Japanese gentlemen of rank; and it is important to note this fact, because it carries with it the conviction that the dead man was indeed the officer who had committed the crime, and no substitute. While profoundly impressed by the terrible scene it was impossible at the same time not to be filled with admiration of the firm and manly bearing of the sufferer, and of the nerve with which thekaishaku performed his last duty to his master.
Seppuku as judicial punishment was abolished in 1873, shortly after theMeiji Restoration, but voluntaryseppuku did not completely die out.[32][33][29] It persisted still among the armed forces, with a famous example being theseppuku ofGeneral Nogi Maresuke and his wife on the death ofEmperor Meiji in 1912. It also occurred duringWorld War II.[29] The practice had been widely praised in army propaganda, which featured a soldier captured by the Chinese in theShanghai Incident (1932) who returned to the site of his capture to performseppuku.[34] Many high-ranking military officials of Imperial Japan committedseppuku toward the latter half of World War II in 1944 and 1945,[35][29] as the tide of the war turned against the Japanese, and it became clear that a Japanese victory of the war was not achievable.[36][37][38]
In 1970,ultranationalist authorYukio Mishima[39] and one of his followers performed publicseppuku at theJapan Self-Defense Forces headquarters following an unsuccessful attempt to incite the armed forces to stage acoup d'état.[40][41] Mishima performedseppuku in the office of General Kanetoshi Mashita.[41][42] Hiskaishakunin, a 25-year-old man namedMasakatsu Morita, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed, and his head was finally severed byHiroyasu Koga, a formerkendo champion.[42] Morita then attempted to performseppuku himself,[42] but when his own cuts were too shallow to be fatal, he gave the signal and was beheaded by Koga.[43][40][41]
InJoseph Keppler's cartoon published inFrank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on March 8, 1873,Uncle Sam is shown directing U.S. Senators implicated in theCrédit Mobilier Scandal to commit "Hari-Kari", clearly showing that by that time the general American public was already familiar with the Japanese ritual and its social implications.
The story of theforty-seven rōnin (Chūshingura), who commit mass seppuku after avenging their lord, has inspired numerous works of Japanese art includingbunraku puppet plays,kabuki plays and at least six film adaptations, as well as the Hollywood movie47 Ronin.[44]
The expected honor suicide of the samurai wife is frequently referenced in Japanese literature and film, such as inTaiko by Eiji Yoshikawa,Humanity and Paper Balloons,[45] andRashomon.[46]
InPuccini's 1904 operaMadame Butterfly, wronged child-bride Cio-Cio-san commits seppuku in the final moments of the opera, after hearing that the father of her child—although he has finally returned to Japan, much to her initial delight—had in the meantime married an American lady and has come to take her child away from her.[47]
Seppuku is referenced and described multiple times in the 1975James Clavell novel,Shōgun; its subsequent 1980 miniseriesShōgun brought the term and the concept to mainstream Western attention. The2024 adaptation also follows suit in this vein, in greater graphic detail.[48]
^Sonoda, Ai; Shinkawa, Norihiro; Kakizaki, Eiji; Yukawa, Nobuhiro (2022-05-31). "A Case of Fatal Exsanguination by a Japanese Short Sword".American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology.43 (3). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health):282–286.doi:10.1097/paf.0000000000000767.ISSN1533-404X.PMID35642778.
^abcdePerez LG. Hara-kiri (Seppuku). In:Japan at War. Bloomsbury Publishing USA; 2013. p. 110
^"seppuku".The Free Dictionary. Retrieved10 November 2013.
^Hosey, Timothy (December 1980).Black Belt: Samurai Women. p. 47.
^Hearn, Lafcadio (2005) [First published 1923].Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation. p. 318.
^Tsukishima, Kenzo (1984).ラフカディオ・ハーンの日本観: その正しい理解への試み [Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation]. p. 48.
^Mostow, Joshua S. (2006). Wisenthal, J. L. (ed.).A Vision of the Orient: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts of Madame Butterfly, Chapter: Iron Butterfly Cio-Cio-San and Japanese Imperialism. p. 190.
^Rij, Jan Van (2001).Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San. p. 71.
^Turnbull, Stephen (2008).The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War. p. 156.
^Blum, Mark L. (2008). "Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism". InStone, Jacqueline Ilyse; Walter, Mariko Namba (eds.).Collective Suicide at the Funeral of Jitsunyo. p. 164.
^Turnbull, Stephen (2012).Samurai Women 1184–1877.
Zuihoden – The mausoleum ofDate Masamune – When he died, twenty of his followers killed themselves to serve him in the next life. They lay in state at Zuihoden
"That the custom of following a master in death is wrong and unprofitable is a caution which has been at times given of old; but, owing to the fact that it has not actually been prohibited, the number of those who cut their belly to follow their lord on his decease has become very great. For the future, to those retainers who may be animated by such an idea, their respective lords should intimate, constantly and in very strong terms, their disapproval of the custom. If, notwithstanding this warning, any instance of the practice should occur, it will be deemed that the deceased lord was to blame for unreadiness. Henceforward, moreover, his son and successor will be held to be blameworthy for incompetence, as not having prevented the suicides."
Fuse, Toyomasa (1980). "Suicide and Culture in Japan: a study of seppuku as an institutionalized form of suicide".Social Psychiatry.15 (2):57–63.doi:10.1007/BF00578069.S2CID25585787.
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