Seppuku - A Practical Guide. By Nick May It is hanami time in Japan and readers thoughts turn naturally to ritual disembowelment. Here in handy cut out form is the Gleaner guide to elegant self-immolation - please don't call it hari kiri... Seppuku is highly ritualistic, exquisitely precise and earns you maximum respect from students and potential job interviewers alike. However, to avoid ...

Seppuku - Ritual Suicide Seppuku, (Sape-puu-kuu) the Japanese formal language term for ritual suicide (Hara-kiri (Har-rah-kee-ree) is the common language term.), was an intregal aspect of feudal Japan (1192-1868). It developed as an intregal part of the code of bushido and the discipline of the samurai warrior class. Hara-kiri, which literally means stomach cutting is a particularly painful ...

The ritual of seppuku varied from age to age in Japan. It was first recorded at the end of the Heian period, when a samurai from the Minamoto was in a losing battle and fell on his sword, killing himself while around him the yashiki burned to the ground. Later, it became codified as a dignified and less unsavory way to die than to face capture and torture. We're talking Dark Ages here, when all ...