In medieval Japan, there was a samurai code of honor - bushido, which prescribes the rules of behavior for an ideal warrior. If a samurai violated these rules, he could wash off his dishonor by committing seppuku - ritual suicide. This ceremony was carried out according to strict rules, and its purpose was to demonstrate the courage of the samurai in the face of pain and death.
Code of honor
Among the military class, the bushi revered the so-called etiquette of death, according to which the samurai had to die a beautiful, dignified death, accepting it easily and calmly. Dying of old age was considered too commonplace and unworthy of a samurai. It was important not to spoil the pedigree and honor of the house with an "ugly" death. Death by the sword was considered a beautiful death. Therefore, in the ritual of performing seppuku there was an assistant - kaisaku, who stops the torment of a samurai who is killing himself with a blow of the sword. Death through seppuku was considered an honor among the privileged classes.
Samurai, who committed a crime unworthy of the path of a real warrior, were officially sentenced to seppuku. At the same time, the verdict could be passed both to one samurai and to all the men of his family. A samurai who lost his master in battle lost his status and became a ronin, after which he performed seppuku as the best proof of loyalty and loyalty.
This was done in 1703 by 47 courageous ronin, when their master Asano Takumi-no-Kami was provoked into open conflict and sentenced to seppuku. The Rhonins decapitated the offender of their master, and then they themselves all together committed ritual suicide. Today, the graves of the 47 ronin at Sengaku-ji Monastery are a place of pilgrimage as a monument to the samurai code of honor.
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Ritual
In the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, which formed the worldview of the samurai, the stomach (in Japanese "hara") was considered the center of human motor activity and the location of his soul. Therefore, the opening of the abdomen (hara-kiri) by seppuku was carried out in order to show the purity of one's thoughts as proof of rightness. This was the last opportunity to justify oneself in front of heaven and people.
Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer who committed hara-kiri in 1970.
The ceremony and rules for performing seppuku became law under the Ashikaga shogunate (1338-1573). If the ritual was performed in a room or temple, the floor was covered with white tatami mat. When seppuku was performed in the garden, a fence of stakes with panels of white matter stretched over them was erected around the place covered with sand. White is considered a mourning color in Japan.
At the time of the suicide, representatives of the shogun and others were present, performing strictly prescribed formalities. The most responsible duty was assigned to the kaisaku, who was next to the performer of seppuku and after the ritual cut off his head. The convict knew that he would not suffer for long, because the role of kaisaku was assigned to one of his close friends who could decapitate the body with one blow.
The seppuku performer was sitting on his knees in a white kimono, and in front of him was a stack of Japanese paper and a cup of sake (a traditional Japanese alcoholic drink. - Ed.). While drinking sake, the samurai wrote a final short message, usually in poetry. Then he sat down so that until the end of the ritual he could not fall back and die in an ignoble position. On the tray that had been brought, lay a naked blade without a handle. To keep the blade in hand, part of it was wrapped in paper.
The secretary of the British Embassy in Japan, Algernon Mitford, who was invited to the official seppuku ceremony in the middle of the 19th century, describes this ritual as follows: “Slowly, with a strong hand, the samurai raised the dagger lying in front of him. He looked at him sadly, almost lovingly. He stopped for a moment - it seemed that he was gathering his thoughts for the last time, and then he thrust the dagger deep into the left side of the abdomen and slowly led it to the right, then turned the blade in the wound, releasing a small trickle of blood. During these unbearably painful actions, not a single muscle on his face moved. Pulling the dagger out of his body, he leaned forward and extended his neck. It was only now that an expression of anguish flashed across his face, but he made no sound. At that moment, the kaisaku, who closely followed his every movement, raised his sword in the air. A blade flashed, a heavy one rang out,thud and falling sound. The head was cut off from the body with one blow."
Not for the faint of heart
There were various ways to perform seppuku. The most common was a straight horizontal incision in the abdomen, from left to right, at the end of which the blade made a sharp jerk upward. Thus, a place was opened so that the insides could fall out - hara, symbolically revealing the true intentions of the samurai.
Isamu Cho, a Japanese lieutenant general, committed suicide in order not to surrender to the Americans after the Battle of Okinawa.
There were various ways to perform seppuku. The most common was a straight horizontal incision in the abdomen, from left to right, at the end of which the blade made a sharp jerk upward. Thus, a place was opened so that the insides could fall out - hara, symbolically revealing the true intentions of the samurai.
Strong-minded samurai used a more complex method of performing seppuku - juumonji giri. After a conventional horizontal incision, they removed the knife and made a vertical incision up the abdomen from the navel to the diaphragm. As a result, the cut wounds formed a cross, or the Japanese number 10 - ju.
A samurai trying to wash off a special shame from himself, after falling out of his entrails, washed them in a bowl of water standing in front of him and put them back into his stomach, cleansing himself before death. After that, the samurai leaned forward without bending his back. He kept his neck straight to make it easier for the kaisaku to chop off his head.
If the severed head rolled on the floor, spraying the witnesses and those invited with blood, it was considered bad form. A properly performed ritual instructed the kaisaku to leave an uncut piece of skin on the front of the neck. Then the head did not fly off, but leaned back and hung on the samurai's chest, not staining anyone with the flowing blood.
After the ceremony, the witnesses rose and went to a special room, where the owner of the house or palace offered them tea and sweets.
Seppuku was not only committed by men. But women who were forced to commit ritual suicide often lacked sufficient self-control and inner strength. They had the right to die quickly, simply by cutting the vessels around their necks with a sharp knife, which was usually given to the samurai's wife as a wedding gift. A short sword (wakizashi) for piercing the heart was given to each samurai daughter during the coming-of-age ceremony. The weak-minded samurai simply touched the knife, without ripping open their stomach, and they immediately chopped off their head.
Modern traditions
At the end of the 19th century, with the change in the state structure of Japan and the end of the "samurai era", the official use of seppuku was canceled. The last known hara-kiri, performed with a cruciform abdominal incision, was performed by a Japanese general in the early 20th century when his beloved emperor died.
Tanto sword for ceremonial assassination.
Many professional warriors at this time were left without a job and a livelihood. Some of them became robbers, and some, on the contrary, took on the role of bodyguards in the nascent mafia organization - the yakuza, which controls the gaming and entertainment business. Being in a semi-legal position, they enjoyed authority in society.
Currently, the yakuza control in Japan not only the shadow market, but also part of the legal business and even influence politics. Many consider them to be the heirs of the samurai tradition. The Yakuza retained high discipline, hierarchy of relations within the clan and their own "code of honor", for violation of which there is a ritual punishment for ordinary clan members - cutting off the little finger on the hand. Yakuza bosses who violate the laws of the organization are sentenced to seppuku.
According to the traditions of the samurai past, if a member of a clan who is not trusted or who does not want to lay hands on himself must commit seppuku, the ritual dagger is replaced with a fan, and after the condemned person touches it, beheading is performed.