Difference between revisions of "Seppuku"
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(Spelling of samurai corrected. Reference to 'compare with hara kiri' (as it is properly spelled) deleted - the two are synonymous, for heavens sake.) |
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Form of [[suicide]] practiced by [[Japanese]] samurai to avoid being captured or to restore one's [[honor]]. It involves using a samurai sword to make a lateral cut across the abdomen, followed by a vertical cut into the thorax. Seppuku-committers who fear that they might not accomplish this without the disgrace of wincing had a second standing by to decapitate them with a sword as the act was completed. | Form of [[suicide]] practiced by [[Japanese]] samurai to avoid being captured or to restore one's [[honor]]. It involves using a samurai sword to make a lateral cut across the abdomen, followed by a vertical cut into the thorax. Seppuku-committers who fear that they might not accomplish this without the disgrace of wincing had a second standing by to decapitate them with a sword as the act was completed. | ||
| − | In recent years the most notable | + | In recent years the most notable person to suicide in this manner was the novelist and ultra-nationalist [[Yukio Mishima]], who chose seppuku after a failed comic-opera coup, in which he had kidnapped the Japanese Minister of Defence. |
[[Category:Culture]] | [[Category:Culture]] | ||
[[Category:Japan]] | [[Category:Japan]] | ||
Revision as of 00:39, June 24, 2007
Form of suicide practiced by Japanese samurai to avoid being captured or to restore one's honor. It involves using a samurai sword to make a lateral cut across the abdomen, followed by a vertical cut into the thorax. Seppuku-committers who fear that they might not accomplish this without the disgrace of wincing had a second standing by to decapitate them with a sword as the act was completed.
In recent years the most notable person to suicide in this manner was the novelist and ultra-nationalist Yukio Mishima, who chose seppuku after a failed comic-opera coup, in which he had kidnapped the Japanese Minister of Defence.