Seppuku.......ritualistic suicide of the Japanese Samurai Class    

by Robert G. Ross

This rather unpleasant form of suicide was regarded by the Samurai class as a way of saving face or honour following an instance which would bring considerable shame or dishonour upon anyone. However the Japanese rationale and justification for committing such and act change with the passage of time.   In military terms it was considered honorable to commit seppuku to follow your master or overlord in death, other forms of justification or reasoning for taking of one's life was the feeling of guilt for one's inadequacy, from imprudent or reckless behaviour or indeed failing to fulfill one's duty to a superior.  but this became diluted following the rise of the Tokugawa to power. This form of ritualistic suicide was known as sokotsu-shi.

Another form which sprang from rage or enmity which could not be discharged agisnt its cause was known as funshi. The warrior could also chose to kill himself out of protest or outrage at a master's unfair treatment and this was know as kanshi.

Among the classical and ritualistic suicides include those who had committed a crime and wished to atone by taking an active part in his own punishment. There were strict laws regulating this.  Equally, if a warrior had caused his overlord some form of embarrassment or if the master wished to absolve his retainer (or himself) from a certain responsibility, this alone justify the commission of seppuku.

The practice of seppuku involved using a special blade to cut into the part of the body which was considered to house man's life force - the hara and source of his power. The blade would vary in specification according to the circumstances. On the battlefield the warrior would use his wakizashi.

The incision would start from the left side of his abdomen and be drawn horizontally toward the right. If his strength permitted it then it would be followed with another cut made vertically. Another variant of this would be to prolong the horizontal cut or start a new one from the middle of the first and driving the blade upwards in the direction of his throat. Originally the first horizontal cut was delivered with a long blade to sever the spinal nerve centres and the second cut complemented the first being redirected towards the aorta.

It was not always possible to ensure a quick death by such a complicated way of disemboweling and therefore warriors appointed the assistance of a second - a trusted friend - and this became a custom. The second would be perhaps a comrade,  someone of equal rank etc. His job was to decapitate the warrior once he had completed the ritualistic cuts and offered his neck or at the first sign of grimace to save the honour of his friend. 

As time passed and the ritual became clinical and almost sterile, the second played a very pivotal role. Often the role of the second was more resembling the executioner, and many times the second would not even wait for the first voluntary cut before carrying out his job of decapitation.

Seppuku was not only the domain of men, women too were often ordered to commit seppuku by either their husbands or overlords in fits of jealousy or following the betrayal through infidelity, embarrassment etc.  The process by which a women would cut herself would vary according to her social standing. Some women of the aristocracy were allowed to have a second when committing seppuku although this was not always the case.  The dagger used by  women was essentially the same but used very differently to that of Japanese men. Women would place the point at their throats and then thrust it inwards or indeed fall upon the blade.   

According to ancient Japanese belief death is a despicable even. Throughout the centuries, and to this day, seppuku has never taken place in the setting of a Shinto temple, for the act demands that the Shinto priest who officiates at the death (and this rarely happens) should afterwards undertake at least 3 days of purification. The extraordinary complexity of these ceremonies discourages the practice of funeral rites within the framework of the Shinto religion.

One of the most famous acts of seppuku is depicted in the story of the 47 Ronin:

Their tombs were dug alongside that of their master, Asano. One of them, whom Oishi had sent to inform Asano's family that their master had been avenged, did not kill himself. He was acquitted on the grounds that the trial was closed, and he lived to be 83. Even so, on his death, his tomb was put I alongside that of his friends. These tombs are still much revered in Japan. Sticks of incense burn day and night on the tombstones. The story itself has been told thousands of times in every possible way and the Japanese still find it very moving.

Hara Kiri

All to often the term harakiri is confused with the more ritualistic form of self annihilation. The two are really not connected in any way other than the final product which is death.

Japan with its persistent and prolonged period of isolation had developed a society which had not developed any form of thought about international relations. They had essentially evolved a military society that controlled with a very iron fist  bringing about the weaving of attitudes that percolated all levels of society from the lowest peasant to the highest rank.  The lower in class you were the more likely that you were owned by some overlord or master. This hierarchical structure had blossomed and the product was one of a country ruled by military ethics. The Samurai (bushi) bound by his code of honour (Bushido) considered himself already dead and that his life was not his own but of his overlord or master. His life was of subservience and absolute duty to his superior. This obligation could only be discharged in an absolute manner if he had no reservation whatsoever of confronting danger and placed his ultimate trust at his masters disposal.

With no formal plan at government level to attract international trade etc., the Japanese had to take a very serious look at its culture when the West came knocking on their doors.  Westerners found the Japanese Samurai arrogant and brutish and would slice off a persons head for looking at him the wrong way. With such a contrast to western society this form of brutality could not be tolerated by the western world and this precipitated a great cultural change in Japan at least in the way it would market itself to the western world.

In World War 2 Japanese servicemen had been roused by the propaganda of war and so determined were they to complete their missions, their own life meant nothing by comparison.  Their mission was to discharge their duty absolutely. Failure was not acceptable and would surely bring dishonour and shame to the whole family who may also end up committing seppuku to avoid the shame. A prime example of the actions carried out by the Japanese in World War 2 was the Kami Kaze pilots. Rather than return to their base not having destroyed their targets and face disgrace, these fighter pilots gave their lives in the most desperate and final action. The pressure on these soldiers must have been intense and it can be very hard for western people to grasp the notion of absolute duty. This is by no means a justification for their actions simply an explanation of how the society in Japan cultured the notion of Giri - absolute duty.

The Hagakure, a record (written at the beginning of the 18th century) of the words of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a military retainer of the Nabeshima Clan, was very specific in this respect and warned the warrior to carry out every order immediately, lest reasoning about it should make a coward of him. The commentaries attached to this military classic were also explicit concerning the elimination of thought and mental discrimination from the process of reacting to, and obeying a command. When the 3rd Shogun of the Tokugawa Clan, Iemitsu, consulted military retainers in charge of the warriors' formation in the Kii Clan concerning the essence of successful strategy, their answer was one of pragmatic simplicity unsurpassed in any other military culture:

"One should never ponder!"  - The decision after all, had already been made elsewhere, by others. Their task was to obey.

This reply understandably, pleased Iemitsu.

Having explained this notion of duty you can see distinguish the differences between Hara Kiri from Seppuku, albeit that the ends are the same, the standpoint from whence they came are very different. 

Acknowledgments to the authors of Secrets of the Samurai, Ratti & Westbrook, for invaluable research material.