Seppuku

Seppuku ( lit."stomach-cutting") is a Japanese word that means ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku is better known in English as hara-kiri () and is written with the same kanji as seppuku but in reverse order with an okurigana. However, in Japanese hara-kiri is considered a colloquial and somewhat vulgar term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of one's master is known as oibara (?? or ???); the ritual is similar.

Seppuku in modern Japan

Seppuku was officially abolished during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, but did not completely die out. Dozens of people are known to have committed seppuku since then, including a large group of military men who committed suicide in 1895 as a protest against the return of a conquered territory to China; by General Nogi and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912; and by numerous soldiers and civilians who chose to die rather than surrender at the end of World War II.

Related Topics:
Meiji Restoration - 1868 - 1895 - China - General Nogi - Emperor Meiji - 1912 - World War II

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In 1970, famed author Yukio Mishima and one of his followers committed public seppuku at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters after an unsuccessful attempt to incite the armed forces to stage a coup d'etat. Mishima committed seppuku in the office of General Kanetoshi Mashita. His second, a 25-year-old named Morita, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed; his head was finally severed by Hiroyasu Koga. Morita then attempted to commit seppuku himself. Although his own cuts were too shallow to be fatal, he gave the signal and he too was beheaded by Koga.

Related Topics:
1970 - Yukio Mishima - Japan Self-Defense Forces - Coup d'etat - Kanetoshi Mashita - Hiroyasu Koga

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In 1999, Masaharu Nonaka, a 58 year old employee of Bridgestone in Japan, slashed his belly with a sashimi knife to protest his forced retirement. He died later in the hospital. This suicide was dubbed risutora (corporate restructuring) seppuku by the mass media, and was said to represent the difficulties in Japan following the collapse of the bubble economy.

Related Topics:
1999 - Bridgestone - Sashimi knife - Suicide - Bubble economy

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