Online dictionary of history and traditions in Japan: Harakiri

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French version

Harakiri

切腹腹切り
alternative words: Seppuku, Hara kiri
keywords: law
related topics: Sengoku period , Edo period , Bushido
related web sites: http://www.mm-taiga.com/genrock/service/taiga/top/g_club/daigaku/20/fu20_15.htm , http://members.tripod.co.jp/yanparayanyanyan/index-5.html
explanation: Suicide method practiced by samurai, which consists to cut off his own abdominal. During Sengoku period, harakiri was considered a way to show the courage when his lost a battle. When a peace arrived with Edo period, it was formalized and became a kind of punishment for samurai. In this case, the jailer cut off the head of a condemned, when the latter began just a gesture. The last famous harakiri is committed by a Japanese novelist Mishima Yukio in November 1970.