{{Short description|Ritualistic suicide by disembowelment}} {{redirect2|Harakiri|Hara-kiri}} {{use American English|date=January 2022}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}}
{{Infobox Chinese |title=''Seppuku'' |pic=Seppuku (Chinese characters).svg |piccap="Seppuku" in ''kanji'' |picupright=0.35 |kanji=切腹 |romaji=Seppuku |hiragana=せっぷく |katakana=セップク }} {{Nihongo3|{{lit|cutting [the] belly}}|切腹|'''Seppuku'''}}, also called {{Nihongo3|{{lit|abdomen/belly cutting}}, a native Japanese kun reading|腹切り|'''harakiri'''}}, 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<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kosaka |first=Masataka |date=1990 |title=The Showa Era (1926-1989) |jstor-access=free |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20025315 |journal=Daedalus |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=27–47 |jstor=20025315 |issn=0011-5266}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Crime and Criminal Policy in Japan From 1926 to 1988: Analysis and Evaluation of the Showa Era |editor1=M Shikita|editor2= S Tsuchiya|url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/crime-and-criminal-policy-japan-1926-1988-analysis-and-evaluation |access-date=2022-12-27 |publisher=Office of Justice Programs |website=NCJRS Virtual Library |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227094305/https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/crime-and-criminal-policy-japan-1926-1988-analysis-and-evaluation |archive-date= 2022-12-27 }}</ref> (particularly officers near the end of World War II) to restore honor for themselves or for their families.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Rothman|first=Lily|date=June 22, 2015|title=The Gory Way Japanese Generals Ended Their Battle on Okinawa|url=https://time.com/3918248/okinawa-ended-1945-history/|access-date=2020-11-28|magazine=Time|archive-date=2015-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622181642/https://time.com/3918248/okinawa-ended-1945-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Frank, ''Downfall'' pp 319–320</ref><ref>Fuller, ''Hirohito's Samurai''</ref> [[File:Seppuku.jpg|thumb|Staged ''seppuku'' with ritual attire and ''kaishakunin'' assistant, 1897 |upright=1.2]]
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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Death, Honor, and Loyality: The Bushidō Ideal |first=G. Cameron |last=Hurst III |journal=Philosophy East and West |year=1990 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=511–527 |doi=10.2307/1399355 |jstor=1399355 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1399355|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ravina |first=Mark J. |date=2010 |title=The Apocryphal Suicide of Saigō Takamori: Samurai, "Seppuku", and the Politics of Legend |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40929189 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=691–721 |doi=10.1017/S0021911810001518 |issn=0021-9118 |jstor=40929189 |s2cid=155001706|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Sonoda Shinkawa Kakizaki Yukawa 2022 pp. 282–286">{{cite journal | last1=Sonoda | first1=Ai | last2=Shinkawa | first2=Norihiro | last3=Kakizaki | first3=Eiji | last4=Yukawa | first4=Nobuhiro | title=A Case of Fatal Exsanguination by a Japanese Short Sword | journal=American Journal of Forensic Medicine & Pathology | publisher=Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) | volume=43 | issue=3 | date=2022-05-31 | issn=1533-404X | doi=10.1097/paf.0000000000000767 | pages=282–286| pmid=35642778 }}</ref>
One of the earliest recorded cases of ''seppuku'' was that of Minamoto no Tametomo, who had fought in the Hōgen war<ref name=":6">Perez LG. Hara-kiri (Seppuku). In: ''Japan at War''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA; 2013. p. 110</ref> and, after being defeated, was exiled to Ōshima.<ref name=":6" /> He decided to try to take over the island. Minamoto's enemies sent troops to suppress his rebellion,<ref name=":6" /> so facing defeat, he committed ''seppuku'' in 1170.<ref name=":6" /> 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.<ref name=":6" />
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.{{cn|date=August 2025}}
==Etymology== thumb|right|280x280px|Samurai about to perform seppuku The term ''seppuku'' is derived from the two Sino-Japanese roots ''setsu'' {{lang|zh|切}} ("to cut", from Middle Chinese ''tset''; compare Mandarin ''qiē'' and Cantonese ''chit'') and ''fuku'' {{lang|zh|腹}} ("belly", from MC ''pjuwk''; compare Mandarin ''fù'' and Cantonese ''fūk''). It is also known as '''''harakiri''''' ({{lang|ja|腹切り}}, "cutting the stomach";<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/seppuku | title=seppuku |website=The Free Dictionary | access-date=10 November 2013}}</ref> often misspelled or mispronounced "hiri-kiri" or "hari-kari" by American English speakers.<ref name="Garner2009">{{cite book|author=Bryan Garner|title=Garner's Modern American Usage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVcJqKs1isUC&pg=PA410|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=United States|isbn=978-0-19-538275-4|page=410}}</ref> ''Harakiri'' is written with the same kanji as ''seppuku'', but in reverse order with an okurigana. In Japanese, the more formal ''seppuku'', a Chinese ''on'yomi'' reading, is typically used in writing, while ''harakiri'', a native ''kun'yomi'' reading, is used in speech. As noted by Christopher Ross,
<blockquote>It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a vulgarism, but this is a misunderstanding. Hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or ''Kun-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.<ref>Ross, Christopher. ''Mishima's Sword'', p.68.</ref></blockquote>
While ''harakiri'' 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.<ref name=":1" />
The practice of performing ''seppuku'' at the death of one's master, known as '''''oibara''''' (追腹 or 追い腹, the kun'yomi or Japanese reading) or '''''tsuifuku''''' (追腹, the on'yomi or Chinese reading), follows a similar ritual.
The word {{nihongo|''jigai''|自害}} means "suicide" in Japanese. The modern word for suicide is {{nihongo|''jisatsu''|自殺}}; related words include {{nihongo|''jiketsu''|自決}}, {{nihongo|''jijin''|自尽}} and {{nihongo|''jijin''|自刃}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=じがい 1 0 【自害 |url=http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/94273/m0u/%E8%87%AA%E5%AE%B3/ |work=goo 辞書}}</ref> In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with the suicide of samurai wives.<ref name="Hosey 1980 47">{{cite book|first=Timothy|last=Hosey|title=Black Belt: Samurai Women|date=December 1980|page=47}}</ref> The term was introduced into English by Lafcadio Hearn in his ''Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation'',<ref name="Hearn 2005 318">{{cite book|first=Lafcadio|last=Hearn|author-link=Lafcadio Hearn|title=Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation|orig-year=First published 1923|year=2005|page=318}}</ref> an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese.<ref name="Tsukishima 1984 48">{{cite book|first=Kenzo|last=Tsukishima|title=ラフカディオ・ハーンの日本観: その正しい理解への試み|trans-title=Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation|year=1984|page=48}}</ref> Joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term ''jigai'' to be the female equivalent of ''seppuku''.<ref name="Mostow 2006 190">{{cite book |last=Mostow |first=Joshua S. |title=A Vision of the Orient: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts of Madame Butterfly, Chapter: Iron Butterfly Cio-Cio-San and Japanese Imperialism |year=2006 |editor-last=Wisenthal |editor-first=J. L. |page=190}}</ref> Mostow's context is analysis of Giacomo Puccini's ''Madame Butterfly'' and the original Cio-Cio San story by John Luther Long. Though both Long's story and Puccini's opera predate Hearn's use of the term ''jigai'', the term has been used in relation to western Japonisme, which is the influence of Japanese culture on the western arts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rij |first=Jan Van |title=Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San |year=2001 |page=71}}</ref>
==Ritual== [[File:Wakisashi-sepukku-p1000699.jpg|thumb|right|A ''tantō'' prepared for ''seppuku'']] 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 a ''kaishakunin'' had not yet emerged; thus, the rite was considered far more painful. The defining characteristic was plunging either the ''tachi'' (longsword), ''wakizashi'' (shortsword) or ''tantō'' (knife) into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally. In the absence of a ''kaishakunin'', 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 the Edo 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 white kimono called the {{nihongo||白装束|shiro-shōzoku}}, and served his favorite foods for a last meal. When he had finished, the knife and cloth were placed on a ''sanbo'' 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 a death poem. He would probably consume a ceremonial drink of sake and would also give his attendant a cup meant for sake.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol|date=2009|publisher=Gotham Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59240-464-3|page=103}}</ref>
With his selected ''kaishakunin'' standing by, he would open his kimono, take up his ''tantō''{{snd}}held by the blade with a cloth wrapped around so that it would not cut his hand and cause him to lose his grip{{snd}}and plunge it into his abdomen, making a left-to-right cut. The ''kaishakunin'' would then perform ''kaishaku,'' a cut in which the warrior was partially decapitated. The maneuver should be done in the manners of ''dakikubi'' ({{Lit|embraced head}}), in which a slight band of flesh is left attaching the head to the body so that the head can dangle in front as if embraced. Because of the precision necessary for such a maneuver, the kaishakunin was a skilled swordsman. The principal and the kaishakunin agreed in advance when the latter was to make his cut. Usually, dakikubi would occur as soon as the dagger was plunged into the abdomen.
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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fusé |first1=Toyomasa |year=1979 |title=Suicide and culture in Japan: A study of seppuku as an institutionalized form of suicide |journal=Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=57–63 |doi=10.1007/BF00578069 |s2cid=25585787 |ref=seppuku}}</ref>
This elaborate ritual evolved after seppuku had ceased being mainly a battlefield or wartime practice and became a para-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.
In the ''Hagakure,'' Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote:
{{blockquote|From ages past it has been considered an ill-omen by samurai to be requested as ''kaishaku''. 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.|author=|title=|source=}}
A specialized form of seppuku in feudal times was known as {{Nihongo|''kanshi''|諫死|4={{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 with {{Nihongo|''funshi''|憤死|4={{lit|indignation death}}}}, which is any suicide made to protest or state dissatisfaction.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
Some samurai chose to perform a considerably more taxing form of ''seppuku'' known as {{Nihongo|''jūmonji giri''|十文字切り|4={{lit|cross-shaped cut}}}}, in which there is no ''kaishakunin'' to put a quick end to the samurai's suffering. It involves a second and more painful vertical cut on the belly. A samurai performing ''jūmonji giri'' was expected to bear his suffering quietly until he bled to death, dying with his hands over his face.{{cn|date=July 2024}}
==Female ritual suicide== Female ritual suicide (incorrectly referred to in some English sources as ''jigai'') was practiced by the wives of samurai who had performed ''seppuku'' or brought dishonor.<ref name=Turnbull /><ref name=AJFMP_Jigai>{{cite journal|last1=Maiese|first1=Aniello|last2=Gitto|first2=Lorenzo|last3=dell'Aquila|first3=Massimiliano|last4=Bolino|first4=Giorgio|title=A peculiar case of suicide enacted through the ancient Japanese ritual of Jigai|journal=The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology|date=March 2014|volume=35|issue=1|pages=8–10|doi=10.1097/PAF.0000000000000070|pmid=24457577}}</ref>
Some women belonging to samurai families died by suicide by cutting the arteries of the neck with one stroke, using a knife such as a ''tantō'' or ''kaiken''.<ref name=":7">[https://history.info/did-you-know/wives-samurai-perform-ritual-suicide/ "Did you know the wives of samurai could also perform ritual suicide?"]. ''history.info''. April 7, 2024.</ref> The main purpose was to achieve a quick and certain death in order to avoid capture or rape.<ref name=":7" /> 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.<ref name=":7" /> 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|date=October 2014}}
===History=== [[File:Femme-47-ronin-seppuku-p1000701.jpg|thumb|The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the forty-seven ''rōnin'', 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 of Taira no Tomomori, in the Battle of Dan-no-ura.<ref name=Turnbull>{{cite book|first=Stephen R.|last=Turnbull|author-link=Stephen Turnbull (historian)|title=The Samurai: A Military History|year=1996|page=72}}</ref>
{{Nihongo|Onodera Tan|小野寺 丹}}, the wife of Onodera Junai of the forty-seven rōnin, is a notable example of a wife following a samurai husband's ''seppuku'': she is said to have starved herself to death after her husband's death.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary Ritter|last=Beard|title=The Force of Women in Japanese History|url=https://archive.org/details/forceofwomeninja00bear|url-access=registration|year=1953|pages=[https://archive.org/details/forceofwomeninja00bear/page/100 100–101]|publisher=Washington, Public Affairs Press}}</ref> Her grave is located at the site where {{Nihongo|Ryokaku-in Temple|了覚院}}, a sub-temple of the {{Nihongo|Honkoku-ji Temple|本圀寺}}, once stood, in current-day Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto.{{efn|Onodera Tan's grave can be found on the northernmost point of the sidewalk in front of {{Nihongo|Kujō-in Temple|久成院}}: {{coord|34.99754|135.75148|display=inline}}. It is inscribed with: {{Nihongo|"Grave of the valiant Tan, wife of Akō samurai Onodera Jūnai"|赤穂義士 小野寺十内妻烈婦丹女之墓}}}}<ref>{{ cite web | url=https://kyotofukoh.jp/report1472.html | title=小野寺丹の墓・了覚院跡 〔本圀寺〕 (京都市下京区) | lang=ja | trans-title=Tomb of Tan Onodera and the remains of Ryokaku-in Temple [Honkoku-ji Temple] (Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto) | year=2006 | website=京都風光 (Kyotofukoh) | access-date=2025-11-29 }}</ref>
A large number of "honor suicides" marked the defeat of the Aizu clan in the Boshin War of 1869, leading into the Meiji era. For example, in the family of Saigō Tanomo, who survived, a total of twenty-two female honor suicides are recorded among one extended family.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Turnbull|title=The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War|year=2008|page=156}}</ref>
===Religious and social context=== Voluntary death by drowning was a common form of ritual or honor suicide.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The religious context of thirty-three {{lang|ja-latn|Jōdo Shinshū|italic=no}} adherents at the funeral of Abbot Jitsunyo in 1525 was faith in Amida Buddha and belief in rebirth in his Pure Land, but male ''seppuku'' did not have a specifically religious context.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mark L.|last=Blum|title=Collective Suicide at the Funeral of Jitsunyo|chapter=Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism|editor1-link=Jacqueline Stone|editor1-first=Jacqueline Ilyse|editor1-last=Stone|editor2-first=Mariko Namba|editor2-last=Walter|year=2008|page=164}}</ref> By way of contrast, the religious beliefs of Hosokawa Gracia, the Christian wife of ''daimyō'' Hosokawa Tadaoki, prevented her from committing suicide.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Turnbull|title=Samurai Women 1184–1877|year=2012}}</ref>
==As capital punishment== While voluntary ''seppuku'' is the best known form,<ref name=":1" /> in practice, the most common form of ''seppuku was'' '''obligatory ''seppuku''''', used as a form of capital punishment for disgraced samurai, especially for those who committed a serious offense such as rape, robbery, corruption, unprovoked murder, or treason.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pierre|first=Joseph M.|date=2015-03-22|title=Culturally sanctioned suicide: Euthanasia, seppuku, and terrorist martyrdom|journal=World Journal of Psychiatry|volume=5|issue=1|pages=4–14|doi=10.5498/wjp.v5.i1.4|issn=2220-3206|pmc=4369548|pmid=25815251 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Lauren |date=2016-06-21 |title=Why Did Japanese People Stop Performing Seppuku? |url=https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/06/why-did-japanese-people-stop-performing-seppuku/ |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=Gizmodo Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref> The samurai were generally told of their offense in full and given a set time for them to commit ''seppuku'', 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 of ''seppuku''; even the ''tantō'' laid out in front of the uncooperative offender could be replaced with a fan (to prevent uncooperative offenders from using the ''tantō'' as a weapon against the observers or the executioner). This form of involuntary ''seppuku'' was considered shameful and undignified.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |title=Suicide and culture in Japan: A study of seppuku as an institutionalized form of suicide |url=https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/BF00578069?sharing_token=FRfANMpsNurPevT7QNnwHfe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY72wmvVHlkcxdmrOEUTDz624Ub9ViUQ2ohEpXQRjQFGJwH5qF6cPVIf5rLbTZSYqqj5n6Agv7qyL5gmZqBEebjYREkY0OM7Li4JwLyk2BcMXw%3D%3D |access-date=2022-03-22 |journal=Social Psychiatry| year=1980 | doi=10.1007/BF00578069 | last1=Fus | first1=Toyomasa | volume=15 | issue=2 | pages=57–63 | s2cid=25585787 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Unlike voluntary ''seppuku'', ''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, and the 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. {{Nihongo|2=斬首|3=Zanshu}} and {{Nihongo|2=晒し首|3=sarashikubi}}, 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 like {{Nihongo|2=釜茹で|3=kamayude}} (death by boiling), were reserved for commoner offenders.
Forced ''seppuku'' came to be known as "conferred death" over time as it was used for punishment of criminal samurai.<ref name=":0" />
==Recorded events== thumb|right|300px|Illustration titled ''Harakiri: Condemnation of a nobleman to suicide''; drawing by L. Crépon adapted from a Japanese painting, 1867 === The Kobe Incident === {{see|Kobe Incident}} In February 1868, following the Kobe Incident, the British Ambassador to Japan, Bertram Freeman-Mitford (Lord Redesdale), was invited to witness the ''seppuku'' of Taki Zenzaburō. In his book, ''Tales of Old Japan'' (1871), he describes the event in detail:<ref name="mitford-tales">{{ cite book | first=A. B. | last=Mitford | authorlink=Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale | title=Tales of Old Japan | year=1966 | orig-date=1871 | publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Company | isbn=9780804811606 }} (text [https://archive.today/20121206013612/http://www.munseys.com/disktwo/tajadex.htm available online])</ref>{{rp|p=401–405}}
<blockquote> The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburô, an officer of the Prince of Bizen, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement at Hyogo in the month of February 1868. 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 the Mikado [Emperor] himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of the Satsuma 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:—
{{blockquote|I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kôbé, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the {{Not a typo|honour}}<!-- British spelling since quoting a British author --> 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 the ''kaishaku'', 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.
The ''kaishaku'' 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. </blockquote>
=== The Sakai incident === {{see|Sakai incident}} In March 1868, eleven French sailors of the ''Dupleix'' entered the town of Sakai, in the Osaka Prefecture, 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. This is usually referred to as the "Sakai Incident".
Upon the protest of the French representative, financial compensation was paid, and those responsible were sentenced to death. Captain Abel-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.{{cn|date=November 2025}} This incident was dramatized in a famous short story, "''Sakai Jiken''", by Mori Ōgai.
=== Other accounts === [[File:Oishi Yoshio Gishi Seppuku No Zu Painting.png|thumb|300px|Ōishi Yoshio was sentenced to commit seppuku in 1703.]] In his book, ''Tales of Old Japan'', Mitford also relates living within sight of Sengaku-ji, the temple where the forty-seven rōnin are buried. He describes a man who had come to the graves to kill himself:<ref name="mitford-tales"/>{{rp|p=40–41}}
{{blockquote|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 a Rônin and without means of earning a living, he had petitioned to be allowed to enter the clan of the Prince of Chôshiu, 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 Rônin was hateful to him, and he would serve no other master than the Prince of Chôshiu : what more fitting place could he find in which to put an end to his life than the graveyard of these Braves?}}
Mitford also describes someone else's account of a more extreme ''seppuku'':<ref name="mitford-tales"/>{{rp|p=409}}
{{blockquote|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.}}
==In modern Japan== ''Seppuku'' as judicial punishment was abolished in 1873, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, but voluntary ''seppuku'' did not completely die out.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Wudunn |first=Sheryl |date=1999-03-24 |title=Manager Commits Hara-Kiri to Fight Corporate Restructuring |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/24/world/manager-commits-hara-kiri-to-fight-corporate-restructuring.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reitman |first=Valerie |date=1999-03-24 |title=Japanese Worker Kills Himself Near Company President's Office |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-24-mn-20472-story.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> It persisted still among the armed forces, with a famous example being the ''seppuku'' of General Nogi Maresuke and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912. It also occurred during World War II.<ref name=":8" /> The practice had been widely praised in army propaganda, which featured a soldier captured by the Chinese in the Shanghai Incident (1932) who returned to the site of his capture to perform ''seppuku''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoyt |first1=Edwin P. |title=Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict |date=2001 |publisher=Cooper Square Press |isbn=978-0815411185|pages=100–101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQq_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA158}}</ref> Many high-ranking military officials of Imperial Japan committed ''seppuku'' toward the latter half of World War II in 1944 and 1945,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Porter |first=Patrick |date=2010 |title=Paper Bullets: American Psywar in the Pacific, 1944–1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26070823 |journal=War in History |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=479–511 |doi=10.1177/0968344510376465 |jstor=26070823 |s2cid=145484317 |issn=0968-3445}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> as the tide of the war turned against the Japanese, and it became clear that a Japanese victory of the war was not achievable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timeline: Last Days of Imperial Japan |url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/last-days-imperial-japan |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/japanese-war-crimes/introductory-essays.pdf|title=Researching Japanese War Crimes - Introductory Essats}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Japan's Surrender and Aftermath |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1945/victory-in-pacific.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=NHHC |language=en-US }}</ref>
In 1970, ultranationalist author Yukio Mishima<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=John |date=2020-05-21 |title=An Absurdist Noir Novel Shows Yukio Mishima's Lighter Side |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/books/review-life-for-sale-yukio-mishima.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and one of his followers performed public ''seppuku'' at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters following an unsuccessful attempt to incite the armed forces to stage a coup d'état.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Muramatsu |first=Takeshi |date=1971-04-16 |title=Death as Precept |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/16/archives/death-as-precept.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Lebra |first=Joyce |date=1970-11-28 |title=Eyewitness: Mishima |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/28/archives/eyewitness-mishima.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Mishima performed ''seppuku'' in the office of General Kanetoshi Mashita.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=1993-03-13 |title=Opinion {{!}} Enigmatic Japanese Writer Remembered |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/13/opinion/l-enigmatic-japanese-writer-remembered-145293.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His ''kaishakunin'', a 25-year-old man named Masakatsu Morita, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed, and his head was finally severed by Hiroyasu Koga, a former kendo champion.<ref name=":4" /> Morita then attempted to perform ''seppuku'' himself,<ref name=":4" /> but when his own cuts were too shallow to be fatal, he gave the signal and was beheaded by Koga.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSTuGYNB-S8C&pg=PT287 |title=Ha!: a self-murder mystery |first=Gordon |last=Sheppard |page=269 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-7735-2345-6}}Excerpt from {{cite book |title=The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima |first=Henry Scott |last=Stokes |publisher=Cooper Square Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-8154-1074-3}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
==Notable cases== List of notable ''seppuku'' cases in chronological order. {{Div col}} * Minamoto no Tametomo (1170) * Minamoto no Yorimasa (1180) * Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1189) * Hōjō Takatoki (1333) * Ashikaga Mochiuji (1439) * Azai Nagamasa (1573) * Oda Nobunaga (1582) * Takeda Katsuyori (1582) * Shibata Katsuie (1583) * Sassa Narimasa (1588) * Hōjō Ujimasa (1590) * Sen no Rikyū (1591) * Toyotomi Hidetsugu (1595) * Torii Mototada (1600) * Tokugawa Tadanaga (1634) * Forty-six of the forty-seven ''rōnin'' (1703) * Watanabe Kazan (1841) * Tanaka Shinbei (1863) * Takechi Hanpeita (1865) * Yamanami Keisuke (1865) * Byakkotai (group of samurai youths) (1868) * Maeda Jurozaemon (1870) * Saigō Takamori (1877)
* Nogi Maresuke and Nogi Shizuko (1912) * Chujiro Hayashi (1940) * Seigō Nakano (1943) * Yoshitsugu Saitō (1944) * Hideyoshi Obata (1944) * Kunio Nakagawa (1944) * Mitsuru Ushijima (1945) * Isamu Chō (1945) * Korechika Anami (1945) * Takijirō Ōnishi (1945) * Chikahiko Koizumi (1945) * Yukio Mishima (1970) * Masakatsu Morita (1970) * Isao Inokuma (2001) {{Div col end}}
==In popular culture== <!-- Please read WP:POPCULTURE and discuss any additions on the Talk page first -->
[[File:Keppler_Credit_Mobilier_Hari-Kari.png|thumb|300px|In Joseph Keppler's cartoon published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on March 8, 1873, Uncle Sam is shown directing U.S. Senators implicated in the Crédit Mobilier Scandal to commit "Hari-Kari"<!--sic-->, clearly showing that by that time the general American public was already familiar with the Japanese ritual and its social implications.]]
The story of the forty-seven rōnin (''Chūshingura''), who commit mass seppuku after avenging their lord, has inspired numerous works of Japanese art including ''bunraku'' puppet plays, ''kabuki'' plays and at least six film adaptations, as well as the Hollywood movie ''47 Ronin''.<ref name="child2007">Child, Ben. [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/dec/09/keanu-reeves-47-ronin "Keanu Reeves to play Japanese samurai in 47 Ronin"], ''The Guardian'' (London). 9 December 2008.</ref>
The expected honor suicide of the samurai wife is frequently referenced in Japanese literature and film, such as in ''Taiko'' by Eiji Yoshikawa, ''Humanity and Paper Balloons'',<ref>{{cite book|first1=Alastair|last1=Phillips|first2=Julian|last2=Stringer|title=Japanese Cinema: Texts And Contexts|year=2007|page=57}}</ref> and ''Rashomon''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Orit|last=Kamir|title=Framed: Women in Law and Film|year=2005|page=64}}</ref>
In Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oopperabaletti.fi/en/stage24/article/madama-butterfly-a-japanese-perspective/|title=Madama Butterfly: a Japanese perspective|website=The Finnish National Opera and Ballet}}</ref>
''Seppuku'' is referenced and described multiple times in the 1975 James Clavell novel, ''Shōgun''; its subsequent 1980 miniseries ''Shōgun'' brought the term and the concept to mainstream Western attention. The 2024 adaptation also follows suit in this vein, in greater graphic detail.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/6965135/shogun-episode-9-seppuku/|title=How Shōgun's Depiction of Seppuku Compares to Real History|first=Megan|last=McCluskey|date=April 16, 2024|magazine=TIME}}</ref>
==See also== {{div col}} * ''Harakiri'' – film by Masaki Kobayashi * Japanese funeral * Jauhar, Rajput honor suicide by self-immolation * Junshi – following the lord in death * Kamikaze, Japanese suicide bombers * Puputan, Indonesian ritual suicide * Shame society * Suicide in Japan {{div col end}}
== Notes == {{Noteslist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == {{Suicide sidebar}} * {{cite book | title = Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide | last = Rankin | first = Andrew | publisher = Kodansha International | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-4770031426 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/seppukuhistoryof0000rank }} * {{cite book | title = Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai | publisher = Charles E. Tuttle | others=William Scott Wilson (trans.) | year = 1979 | isbn = 1-84483-594-4 | author = Yamamoto Tsunetomo }} * {{cite book | title = Hara-Kiri: Japanese Ritual Suicide | last = Seward | first = Jack | publisher = Charles E. Tuttle | year = 1968 | isbn = 0-8048-0231-9 | author-link = Jack Seward }} * {{cite book | title = Mishima's Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend | last = Ross | first = Christopher | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-306-81513-3 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/mishimasswordtra0000ross_l7t5 }} * [http://kyushu.com/gleaner/editorspick/seppuku.shtml Seppuku] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915045135/http://kyushu.com/gleaner/editorspick/seppuku.shtml |date=2008-09-15 }} – A Practical Guide (tongue-in-cheek) * {{cite web|url=http://www.habri.co.uk/PerspectiveHfd_1_6.html#suicide |title=Japanese Society and Culture in Perspective: 6. Suicide, the Dark Shadow |last=Brinckmann |first=Hans |date=2006-07-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110222904/http://www.habri.co.uk/PerspectiveHfd_1_6.html#dropouts |archive-date=January 10, 2007 }} * {{cite journal |last = Freeman-Mitford |first = Algernon Bertram |year = 1871 |title = An Account of the Hara-Kiri |url = http://www.munseys.com/disktwo/tajadex.htm |archive-url = https://archive.today/20121206013612/http://www.munseys.com/disktwo/tajadex.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2012-12-06 |journal = Tales of Old Japan }} * {{cite web | url = http://www.win.net/ratsnest/archive-articles21/fog0000000384.html | title = The Fine Art of Seppuku }} * [http://www.zuihoden.com/ Zuihoden] – The mausoleum of Date Masamune{{snd}}When he died, twenty of his followers killed themselves to serve him in the next life. They lay in state at Zuihoden * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070313221140/http://turandot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Artworks.php?ID=168 Seppuku and "cruel punishments" at the end of Tokugawa Shogunate] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051117145055/http://www.uni-erfurt.de/ostasiatische_geschichte/texte/japan/dokumente/17/tokugawa_legislation/index_files/buke_shohatto_1663.html Tokugawa Shogunate edict banning Junshi (Following one's lord in death)] From the Buke Sho Hatto (1663) – :"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." * {{cite journal | last = Fuse | first = Toyomasa | year = 1980 | title = Suicide and Culture in Japan: a study of seppuku as an institutionalized form of suicide | journal = Social Psychiatry | volume = 15 | issue = 2 | pages = 57–63 | doi = 10.1007/BF00578069 | s2cid = 25585787 }}
==External links== * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Hara-kiri |short=x}}
{{Capital punishment}} {{Suicide navbox}} {{Subject bar|portal1=Japan|commons=Category:Seppuku|wikt=seppuku|d=y}} {{Authority control}} Category:Suicide by seppuku Category:Culture of Japan Category:Japanese words and phrases