Seppuku and hara-kiri are part of Japan's cultural and religious heritage. Both of these phenomena are considered methods of suicide, but they are performed almost identically.
What is seppuku?
Seppuku is ritual suicide performed by a samurai according to the code of Bushido. This method of death is resorted to when a samurai finds himself covered in shame, which can only be washed away by his death. In order for seppuku to be carried out correctly, it is necessary to strictly observe a set of rules that clearly regulate this terrible process.
A samurai could perform the ritual of seppuku by sentence or by at will. For example, if he lost his master in battle, or did his duty poorly, other warriors could force him to commit seppuku.
But, often, the samurai himself wanted to justify himself before the Gods and people. Therefore, he decided to rip open his stomach in a special way. It was necessary to rip open the stomach while sitting, so as not to fall on your back and embarrass yourself. Having exposed his stomach, the samurai made two cross-shaped movements with his sword or ripped open his flesh from one side to the other, and then from the navel to the chest.
Later, seppuku committed suicide by leaning on a sword. This method was considered more humane. Samurai were not supposed to scream and writhe during the ritual. Therefore, some of them used the services of a special assistant, who, after cutting the samurai’s stomach, cut off his head, but not completely, so that the head did not fall to the floor.
Women from the samurai class also performed this ritual in case of disgrace, betrayal of their husband, betrayal or failure to keep their word. A woman who was threatened with dishonor through no fault of hers could do the same.
Female seppuku was committed with a knife given to the Japanese woman by her husband or father. She used it to pierce her heart, or, according to other sources, to cut her throat. Before the ritual, the woman tied her own feet in order to die in a dignified and chaste position.
What is hara-kiri?
Harakiri is still the same ritual suicide, only this word has taken root more in the West, so it is widely known. Translated from Japanese, this term means "belly" and "cut". The word seppuku is written with the same hieroglyphs, but is read from the word “to cut.” This transcription refers to Chinese linguistic roots.
History of seppuku
IN Ancient Japan The ritual of seppuku was not widespread. It became popular in the Middle Ages. In 1156, the daimyo of Minamoto committed the first hara-kiri in history. He did this to avoid capture, since being captured was considered a shame. Since then, many military personnel began to use this ritual in critical situations.
Then, over time, seppuku began to be widely used for any reason. But with the advent of reforms during the Meiji period, such suicides officially began to be condemned, and in 1968 the ritual was prohibited at the legislative level. But seppuku still occupies an important place in Japanese culture.
Ritual suicides today
Japanese religion does not condemn suicide. On the contrary, this method of death is considered thoughtful and dignified. Doesn't hurt to go to better world, helps wash away shameful stains from your reputation.
Suicides around the world are committed by various reasons. For example, this could be a business failure, financial problems, romantic difficulties, or illnesses that prevent you from living a full life. In many world religions, hara-kiri is condemned, considered weakness, an escape from problems. But not in Japan. Since the Japanese believe that seppuku requires great willpower, as well as the ability to admit one’s mistakes.
Harakiri and seppuku were originally the privilege of the nobility. But then they began to be used not only by the military, but also simple people. Do people commit seppuku today? Of course, such cases can be found in our century. But they are less common and more justified by modern realities.
Seppuku and hara-kiri differ from each other only in the sound of the hieroglyphs. Otherwise, this phenomenon characterized as a rite, at the end of which a person faces the inevitable onset of death. Is this good or bad? Let the Japanese themselves answer this question, because their culture is fundamentally different from the culture of other peoples. Their lives are completely different. Values are based on respect for ancestors and the historical foundations of society. For them, hara-kiri is a part of life, and death is a natural phenomenon that must be met with dignity.
Estates of Medieval Japan.
Accepted among the samurai, this form of suicide was committed either by sentence as a punishment, or voluntarily (in cases where the honor of a warrior was affected, as a sign of loyalty to one’s daimyo, and in other similar cases). By committing seppuku, samurai demonstrated their courage in the face of pain and death and the purity of their thoughts before gods and people.
In cases where seppuku was to be committed by persons who were not trusted, or who were too dangerous, or did not want to commit suicide, the ritual dagger (kusungobu) was replaced by a fan, and thus seppuku was reduced to beheading.
It should be noted that penetrating wounds of the abdominal cavity are the most painful compared to similar injuries to other parts of the body. Women from samurai clans could cut their own throats.
Etymology
"Seppuku" and "harakiri" are written with the same two characters. The difference is that “seppuku” is written 切腹 (first comes the hieroglyph “cut” and then “stomach”; when reading, “on”, Chinese-Japanese readings are used), and “harakiri”, on the contrary, is written 腹切り (the first hieroglyph is “stomach” , “kun”, Japanese readings are used). It is often pointed out that “harakiri” carries a certain everyday and derogatory connotation: if “seppuku” implies a ritual suicide committed according to all the rules, then “harakiri” is translated rather as “rip open one’s stomach with a sword.” In fact, 切腹 (“seppuku”), the “on” reading, is used only in official speech, while in colloquial speech the Japanese use “harakiri”, respectively, without putting any derogatory meaning into it. Thus, "harakiri" is a colloquial term and "seppuku" is a written term, and they refer to the same action.
History of origin
In ancient times, seppuku was not common in Japan; Other methods of suicide were more common: self-immolation and hanging. The first sepukku was committed by a daimyo from the Minamoto clan in the war between Minamoto and Taira, in 1156, under Hegen. Minamoto no Tametomo, defeated in this short but brutal war, cut his stomach to avoid the shame of captivity. Seppuku quickly takes root among the military class and becomes an honorable way for a samurai to commit suicide.
Seppuku consisted in the fact that the suicide cut across the stomach, from the left side to the right, or, in another way, cut it twice: first horizontally from the left side to the right, and then vertically from the diaphragm to the navel. Subsequently, when seppuku spread and began to be used as a privileged death penalty, a special complex ritual was developed for him, one of important points which consisted in the fact that the assistant (kaishaku) of an involuntary suicide, usually his best friend, with one swing of his sword, he cut off his head at the right moment, so that seppuku in its meaning was reduced to ritual beheading. Decapitation was carried out when the body of the suicide began to lean forward. The samurai stoically endured the torment, showing the strength of his spirit (hara), and as soon as his body swayed, a swing of the sword ended his life.
A legal difference was established between beheading by seppuku and ordinary beheading, and for privileged persons, starting with the samurai, the death penalty was replaced in the form of leniency by death by seppuku, that is, the death penalty, but only in the form of ritual beheading. Such a death penalty was imposed for offenses that did not disgrace samurai ethics, so it was not considered shameful, and this was its difference from the ordinary death penalty. This was the ideology, but to what extent it was implemented in practice is difficult to say. The only fact remains that seppuku in the form of execution was applied only to the privileged class of samurai and so on, but in no way to the classes of the population considered lower than the samurai.
This official use of seppuku dates back to a later time, namely the Tokugawa period of the shogunate, but regardless of it, this method of suicide in its private application became very widespread throughout the entire population, almost becoming a mania, and the most insignificant reasons began to serve as reasons for seppuku . After the Meiji restoration, with the beginning of the organization of the political system on the European model and the change in the entire way of life that began under the pressure of new ideas, the official use of seppuku was eventually abolished, and at the same time its private use began to be withdrawn, but did not disappear. Cases of seppuku often occurred in the 20th century (for example, the suicide of the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima in 1970), and each such case was met with the hidden approval of the nation, creating an aura of glory and greatness in relation to some persons who used seppuku in a more prominent position.
Ideology
There is a point of view according to which seppuku was intensively implanted by the religious dogmas of Buddhism, its concept of the frailty of existence and the impermanence of everything earthly. In the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, the center of a person’s life and the location of his soul was considered not the heart or head, but the stomach, which occupies a kind of middle position in relation to the whole body and contributes to a more balanced and harmonious development of a person. In this regard, a lot of expressions have arisen that describe different states of mind person using the word "belly", in Japanese hara [fuku]; For example, Haradatsu- “walk with a raised belly” - “get angry” hara kitanai- “dirty belly” - “low aspirations”, hara no kuroi hito- “a man with a black belly” - “a man with a black soul”, hara no nai hito- “a man without a belly” - “a soulless person.” It is believed that opening the abdomen through seppuku is carried out in order to show the purity and untaintedness of one’s thoughts and aspirations, the discovery of one’s innermost and true intentions, as proof of one’s inner rightness; in other words, seppuku is the last, extreme justification of oneself before heaven and people.
It is also possible that the emergence of this custom was caused by reasons of a more utilitarian nature, namely the constant presence of a suicide weapon - a sword. Ripping open the abdomen with a sword was a very effective means, and it was impossible to stay alive after such a wound. In Europe there was some analogy to this ritual: the custom of throwing oneself on a sword in ancient Rome arose not due to any special ideology of this phenomenon, but due to the fact that the sword was always with oneself. Both in the West and in the East, the use of the sword as a weapon for suicide began precisely among the warrior class, who constantly carried it with them.
see also
- Suicides who committed seppuku
Notes
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
Links
- Jack Seward Hara-Kiri: Japanese Ritual Suicide(Charles E. Tuttle, 1968)
- Christopher Ross Mishima's Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend(Fourth Estate, 2006; Da Capo Press 2006)
- Seppuku - A Practical Guide (tongue-in-cheek)
- Zuihoden - Mausoleum of Date Masamune - When he died, twenty of his followers killed themselves to serve him in the next life
- Seppuku and “cruel punishments” at the end of Tokugawa Shogunate
- SengokuDaimyo.com The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.:Synonyms
See what "Harakiri" is in other dictionaries: - (Japanese). A Japanese custom in which those sentenced to death, as well as those depressed by hopeless grief or despair, took their own lives by cutting open their stomachs. Dictionary foreign words , included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. HARAKIRI... ...
Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language hara-kiri - HARAKIRI, uncl., p. Punishment, scold. Make hara-kiri for someone, scold someone, scold someone, beat someone. Japanese "harakiri" samurai suicide by cutting open the abdomen...
Dictionary of Russian argot Scold, punishment, suicide Dictionary of Russian synonyms. hara-kiri noun, number of synonyms: 3 scold (44) ...
Modern encyclopedia - (from Japanese hara belly and kiri cut) in Japan suicide by cutting open the belly. Known since the Middle Ages. Accepted among the samurai, this form of suicide was committed by sentence or voluntarily (in cases where honor was affected... Big
encyclopedic Dictionary
New tatami mats were prepared for the ceremony, and the samurai took a bath and put on formal clothes.
There are quite a lot of suicides in Japan, living today in globalization, computerization, constant stress and pressure from society. In Japanese society and culture, saving face and the opinions of others play an important role. Moreover, in the religions of Buddhism and Shinto, suicide is not considered a sin, although it is not approved. At one time, the religion of Japan did not prevent its followers from passing away through the hara-kiri ceremony. Harakiri is a traditional Japanese method of suicide. Moreover, previously this was the only way for soldiers to save their honor, the honor of their family and master. This is how samurai passed away. In Japan, hara-kiri is more often called seppuku; for them this word is more euphonious. In essence, harakiri is a kind of execution. The condemned man had to take his own life, which was considered honorable, since not all samurai received such an honor. Seppuku was also performed after the death of the master as a sign of fidelity. Although in modern Japan
It should be noted that there have been few cases of harakiri in the history of Japan as a whole. In the Middle Ages, among the samurai, dying after the master was considered good manners. But in early XVIII century, this was legally prohibited. And hara-kiri was finally banned in the second half of the 19th century after Japan established permanent ties with Europeans.
What did hara-kiri, a cruel and painful ceremony for saving human honor, look like? Why was it struck in the stomach during hara-kiri? According to Japanese beliefs, the stomach contains the soul and life of a person. When doing hara-kiri, the samurai showed his soul so that everyone would be convinced that it was pure. In addition, bloody hara-kiri gained a foothold in the samurai class, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their courage and composure.
New tatami mats were prepared for the ceremony, and the samurai took a bath and put on formal clothes. He was accompanied by an assistant kaishaku to cut off the head after the suicide bomber had ripped open his own stomach. As in all Japanese traditions, in hara-kiri everything was thought out before the smallest details. The samurai carefully tucked the wide sleeves of his clothing under his knees to prevent the dead body from falling backwards, which was considered inappropriate.
During the ritual itself, the samurai exposed his stomach and cut it with a cross, first from one side to the other, then from the chest to the navel. Sometimes they cut in the shape of the letter X. Later, the method was simplified: the samurai stuck the wakizashi sword into the stomach, leaning on it with his whole body.
During hara-kiri, the samurai was obliged to behave as befits a true warrior: not to writhe in pain, not to scream, not to fall, not to do anything unnecessary. Otherwise, such actions were considered a great shame. The cutting off of the head also had to take place in an appropriate manner. The kaishaku's assistant tried to cut off the head so that it remained hanging on a strip of skin. Bouncing and rolling your head on the floor was considered unsightly. After performing the ritual, the kaishaku wiped the blade with white paper. Then he lifted his head by the hair and showed it to witnesses, after which he covered the body with a white cloth. By the way, harakiri was done not only by samurai men, but also by women of the samurai class. True, in their case, suicide was committed by plunging a dagger into the heart or cutting the throat.
Harakiri, or seppuku, is a very complex ritual during which samurai demonstrated their courage in the face of pain and death and the purity of their thoughts before gods and people. This ritual execution was elevated to the level of art by the Japanese. And how to do hara-kiri correctly:
The first thing to do is find an assistant (kaishaku or kaishakunin). Contrary to popular belief, harakiri is not technically suicide. literally this word, but causing fatal bodily harm to oneself. The kaishakunin actually kills. If the bakufu (shogun's government) ordered seppuku to be carried out, an official assistant was appointed. In other cases, it was necessary to ask for help from a close friend or from a person who wielded a sword sufficiently to kill with one blow. If a friend refuses to act as a kaishakunin on the grounds that he is not skilled enough with a sword, he can be asked to do so again. The friend must agree, since now all the mistakes that he may make will be forgiven.
The ideal place for the seppuku ritual is a garden or a Buddhist temple (Shinto shrines are not suitable for this purpose, as they cannot be desecrated by murder). The person committing hara-kiri must be dressed in white clothes, symbolizing purity of intentions. He should sit in the seiza position (the traditional Japanese way of sitting on one's knees). The servant brings a wooden table on which are placed a cup of sake and sheets of traditional Japanese washi paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree. Also on the table are writing utensils and a kozuka knife. You can also use a tanto as a knife - a dagger without a hilt, wrapped in several sheets of paper so that it can be held by the blade. A samurai can use his wakizashi sword.
In some cases, for example, when a person is too young or too dangerous for others, a fan is used instead of a knife.
The cup is filled with sake by one of the assistants participating in the ritual. The cup is filled with the left hand, which in other circumstances would be considered unforgivable rudeness. The person committing hara-kiri drinks sake in two doses, taking two sips each time. If you drink sake in one go, it will be a sign of greed, and if you drink sake in three or more, it will be a sign of indecisiveness. In total, four sips are taken. The word "four" in Japanese is similar to the word "death".
Then you need to write a farewell verse in the waka genre (the first and fourth lines have five syllables each, the second, third and fifth lines have seven syllables each, for a total of five lines). Waka should be graceful, natural, something about the transience of our existence. Under no circumstances should the fact of impending death be mentioned. Asano, whose seppuku was sparked by the famous "Forty-Seven Ronin" incident, is said to have written a particularly poor farewell poem, showing the immaturity and weakness of character that in some ways was the reason he was ordered to commit seppuku.
At this point, the person committing hara-kiri takes off his outer clothing (kamishimo) and tucks his sleeves under his knees, while trying to prevent the clothing from falling sharply to one side. He then takes the kozuka knife in one hand, while with the other hand he lifts the sanbo table and places it under his buttocks. At the same time, the body leans slightly forward, taking the correct position.
If the person committing hara-kiri is so young or so dangerous that his knife has been replaced with a fan, the kaishakunin uses his sword to apply a kirioroshi - a vertical downward strike as soon as the person touches his stomach with the fan. If hara-kiri is performed with a knife, then kaishakunin will wait until the person plunges the knife blade deep into left side abdomen, and then draw the blade to the right with a sharp upward cut at the end.
A samurai who finds the strength can then plunge the blade into the groin and cut upward towards the chest, finishing with a horizontal cut under the ribs. However, a kaishakunin must pay close attention and strike with his sword at the first sign of pain or hesitation.
The Kaishakunin must strike so that the head is not completely cut off, but remains connected to the body with a piece of skin in the throat area. It is necessary to strike accurately, otherwise it will be disrespectful towards the person committing hara-kiri. With a weak blow, a person may begin to move, splashing blood. It is especially unacceptable to hit someone in the jaw with a katana, as kaishakunin Yukio Mishima did in 1970. As noted above, minor lapses in finishing technique may be forgiven if the kaishakunin accepted his role out of friendship.
After the end of the ritual, all knives and swords involved in hara-kiri are thrown away, as they are considered defiled by death.
It may also be noted that some bullies killed themselves in a ritual known as jumonji giri. This is exactly the same ritual as seppuku, except that there is no kaishakunin. After the incisions are made, the person sits quietly for about half an hour and bleeds. Last Man The person who made the jumonji giri was General Noji, who made it as a junshi (committing suicide out of loyalty) after the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912. Not only did he perform jumonji giri, but he also managed to button up his white naval jacket afterwards.
The reasons for committing seppuku were junshi (suicide of the faithful - although this reason was not encouraged by the government because it claimed too many lives), funshi (suicide in protest), kanshi (as a reproach to one's master for his behavior), to atone for shameful actions or to avoid captivity in battle. Under such circumstances, there was usually no time to carry out the ritual in full, so they often ended their lives by simply cutting their throats.
02DecWhat is seppuku (harakiri)
Seppuku (less formal Harakiri ) is a form of ritual suicide that was practiced among samurai and daimyo ( elite among samurai) in Japan.
As a rule, suicide consisted of cutting the stomach with a short sword, which in turn was considered to be an instant release of the samurai's spirit and a transition to the afterlife.
The word “seppuku” itself comes from the words “ setsu» — « cut" And " fuku" - meaning " stomach».
Harakiri or seppuku? What is the difference?
Seppuku- this is a purely ritual suicide, so to speak, a beautiful death for the elite. Harakiri, this is actually also suicide, only devoid of various rituals and conventions.
Why did samurai commit seppuku (harakiri).
Samurai committed ritual suicide for a variety of reasons. According to Bushido, the samurai code of conduct, motives for suicide may include personal shame for cowardice in battle, shame for a dishonorable act, complete betrayal, or loss of sponsorship from a daimyo.
Often samurai who were defeated in battle, but remained alive, committed suicide to restore their own honor.
It is worth noting that this affected not only the reputation of the samurai himself, but also his entire family and their position in society.
Ritual of seppuku (harakiri).
The most common form of seppuku was a single horizontal cut in the abdomen. After which, if circumstances permitted. A friend or servant of a samurai committing seppuku saved the latter from the terrible agony of death by ritually cutting off his head. It should be noted that even this process of beheading had certain significance. The blow with the sword had to be carried out in a masterful manner, so that the severed head would fall forward, but still remain hanging on a piece of skin (not fall to the floor).
There were also more painful versions of seppuku, when it was necessary to make 2 cuts, vertical and horizontal, or in the form of the letter “X”.
The ritual itself and preparation for it are a very subtle and complex oriental theme. A person preparing for seppuku, by a court decision or his own choice, prepared for death very thoroughly. The samurai dressed in beautiful clothes, after which he sat down on a specially laid cloth. There he wrote a poem about death, after which he opened the upper part of the kimono and inflicted himself death blow in the stomach.
Usually, the ritual of seppuku (harakiri) was performed in front of spectators who witnessed last moments the life of a samurai and the process of restoring his honor.
Did women commit seppuku?
Yes, ritual suicide was not an exclusively male “affair.” Many women from the samurai class committed suicide if their husband died in battle. There are also cases where women ended their lives with the help of seppuku while in a besieged castle, thus saving themselves from the fate of being raped when the castle falls.
