From World War II until the Emperor Showa's decree ending the war, some Japanese soldiers chose to commit suicide by seppuku. Since the Edo period, seppuku in Japan was accompanied by detailed rituals. Not only was seppuku performed on the battlefield, it was also performed in front of onlookers. The warrior would take a bath, dress in white, have a last meal or cup of sake, and the Japanese sword and cloth would be placed on separate three sides and handed to the warrior. Placing the Japanese sword in front of him, the samurai wrote a poem of resignation just before his death and wished to commit seppuku (a colorized photographic reproduction of the seppuku scene).
In Japan, Seppuku was considered to be a final suicide ritual to protect the honor of the samurai. A samurai would choose to end his life by committing seppuku when he failed to protect his lord, when he defiled his lord, or when he caused serious misconduct in the house. The Japanese believed that a samurai with a stain on his life was not worthy of the name of samurai, and that the best way to end his life was to commit seppuku. Seppuku became a way for samurai to atone for their sins, repent, relieve their shame, blaspheme others, and prove their loyalty. Although seppuku was a serious crime, it allowed the warrior to commit seppuku and retain his honor.
From the Heian to the Edo period, Japanese warriors considered it shameful to be captured or killed by someone else's sword. The first record of this practice was in 988 during the Heian period, when the nobleman Fujiwara Yasusuke was arrested as a bandit and committed suicide by seppuku in prison. Seppuku, also known as harakiri, was a common act of suicide. Seppuku was widely recognized in Japanese society as a means of demonstrating the highest virtues such as loyalty, filial piety, and courage of the samurai. In the era of militarism after the Meiji era, seppuku was glorified as the core of Japan's Yamato spirit. Seppuku was abolished from judicial punishment in 1873; Article 1 of the "Imperial Rescript for Soldiers" issued in 1882 stipulated that soldiers must commit suicide if necessary.
There are four types of seppuku: single, double, triple, and cross, as well as two limb positions: standing and sitting. The most common form of seppuku began with cutting the belly. If the seppuku resulted in blood loss but not immediate death, the seppuku victim, who did not commit suicide, would stretch his neck and have his neck cut off by an aide. This was done with the cooperation of the intercessor who usually achieved final death by cutting off the head. The core of seppuku is not to die prematurely, but to endure the pain. The complicated procedure leading up to seppuku has a more ritualistic meaning. Before committing seppuku, a samurai usually changes into a white kimono, places his favorite sake and food in front of him, and then performs the entire ritual of seppuku himself. In addition to samurai suicides, women have also been asked to commit seppuku in Japan. Most often, this happens when their husbands die or when they have done something seriously wrong. Many of the knives these women used to commit seppuku were given to them by their own fathers or the groom's father at the time of their marriage.
The Japanese chose to commit seppuku as an act of patriotic loyalty. On September 13, 1912, the day of Emperor Meiji's burial, Japanese army general Kigenori Nogi and his wife Shizuko Nogi both chose to commit seppuku at home to show their loyalty to the emperor. The Japanese people went crazy over this act, calling it a great achievement, and during the Meiji era, they revered Kishinori Nogi as a god of war and a symbol of Bushido. From World War II until the Emperor Showa's decree ending the war, some Japanese soldiers chose to commit suicide by seppuku. It was not until 1968 that the Japanese government officially banned seppuku as a form of bushido; in 1970, Yukio Mishima and others committed seppuku at the Self-Defense Forces garrison in Ichigaya. In Japan's underground underworld, seppuku is still incubated.
