For a warrior, it is not death itself that matters, but the determination to die at any moment of one's own free will. Suicide was sharply condemned by Christian civilization, while in Japan, on the contrary, it was praised and extolled. Suicide was seen as the last and perhaps decisive act of the human will, the most beautiful act of his life.
The apologetics of death has both a negative and a positive side for human life. They say that going to extremes is a kind of stupidity. The wise always keep balance. To cling too much to life is to become a coward. Bringing oneself to an unnecessarily “light” attitude towards death, bordering on recklessness, is another extreme.
A warrior needs be ready to die in order to live with dignity, to see the world with a free look, throwing off from your eyes the veil of fear and stupidity that this fear generates.
Death is the starting point of the Bushi-Do philosophy, which directly encourages you to pass through the idea of death, as through a prism, all your thoughts and actions.
© A. R. Basov "The Spirit of the Warrior"
Harakiri... Thousands and thousands of warriors chose this special way to end their lives, it was their privilege and absolute proof of supreme prowess.
A real Warrior must always be ready to meet his death. He must be in constant readiness to give up his life at any moment without hesitation.
Fear blinds the mind and paralyzes the will. A warrior needs a conscious and calm determination, a mind free from delusions, a will stronger than metal."
© A. R. Basov"Rise"
A samurai doing hara-kiri and a kaishaku. Staged photo
What is hara-kiri and why was it performed?
Harakiri, in other words seppuku - ritual suicide by ripping open the abdomen, performed by a samurai according to the ancient Japanese code of honor bushido. It was a complex ritual during which the samurai demonstrated the courage to look into the eyes of death and the courage to ignore pain, as well as the purity of thoughts before the gods - kami and people. Samurai committed seppuku in order to atone for guilt, to wash away shame and to save the lives of their families and vassals. It was also a type of execution: a person sentenced to death was obliged to take his own life, which was considered more honorable than hanging or beheading by the hands of an executioner. Also, seppuku was performed after the death of the master as a sign of boundless loyalty and devotion to him (the so-called. junshi) to continue serving him in the other world.
Painting by Tatyana Basova "Samurai. Skull"
What is the difference between hara-kiri and seppuku?
The thing is that in Japanese, both of these words are written in the same hieroglyphs, but in a different order, respectively, hence their different reading. As you know, the hieroglyphs that came to Japanese from Chinese have two types of readings - “Chinese” (upper) and Japanese (lower). As a result, it turns out that seppuku and hara-kiri are, respectively, the upper and lower readings of the same hieroglyphs ( setsu + Fuku- cut + stomach; hara + kiru- belly + cut). However, not all so simple. Regarding "hara-kiri", in Japanese literature this word is used very rarely and only when they want to emphasize that someone simply committed suicide by cutting his stomach. Europeans most often use it only for the reason that for them it is more harmonious or easier to pronounce than "seppuku". Thus, the Japanese term "hara-kiri" was considered more "vulgar", colloquial, but it most accurately expresses the spiritual meaning of the rite - namely, the "opening" of "hara" - the soul.
In order to understand the etymological origin of the word« hara-kiri» , let's turn to the book by A. B. Spevakovsky« Samurai - the military class of Japan» :
Literally translated, hara-kiri means« cut the stomach» (from« hara» - belly and« kiru» - cut). However, the word« hara-kiri» also has a hidden meaning. If we consider the composite binomial« hara-kiri» - concept« hara» , you can see that in Japanese the words correspond to it« stomach» , « soul» , « intentions» , « secret thoughts» with the same spelling of the hieroglyph. According to the philosophy of Buddhism, in particular the teachings of the sect« zen» , as the main, central vital point of a person and thus the seat of life, it is not the heart that is considered, but the abdominal cavity” .
Hieroglyphs harakiri .
Hieroglyphs seppuku
.
As we can see, the hieroglyphs are in reverse order. According to the rules for transcription of Japanese words, Cyrillic must be written with uh ppuku, but recently the spelling through "e" - seppuku has spread on the Internet. Perhaps one day this softened spelling will take hold, as happened with some other Japanese words and names, for example, with the word zen / zen and kamikaze / kamikaze.
How was the rite of hara-kiri (seppuku) performed?
In order for seppuku to be performed correctly, the strictest observance of a set of rules was required, which clearly regulated each step of the ritual. First, it was necessary to find an assistant (who was called “kaishaku” or “kaishakunin”), who was appointed as an official (if the order to make seppuku came from the government of the shogun) or a close friend or relative of the samurai who wielded the sword to the proper degree (in the event that when the decision to commit ritual suicide was voluntary).
The best place for the seppuku ritual was a garden or a Buddhist temple (Shinto shrines are not suitable for this purpose: they cannot be defiled by murder). The samurai, who was to commit hara-kiri, dressed in white clothes, symbolizing the purity of intentions. He had to sit in a pose seiza(traditional Japanese way of kneeling). A servant brought a wooden table on which sat a cup of sake and sheets of traditional Japanese washi paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree. In addition, there were writing instruments and a knife on the table. kozuka. It could also be used as a knife. tanto- a dagger without a hilt, wrapped in several sheets of paper so that it can be held by the blade.
Sometimes the samurai used not a steel, but a bamboo sword (!), cutting the stomach of which was extremely difficult and extremely painful. The samurai rather did not cut, but tore it apart, which required special endurance and willpower. Such a death was considered especially honorable, glorifying the samurai, exalting his name and the glory of his family. In some cases, for example, when a person was too young or too dangerous for others, a fan was put instead of a knife. The cup was filled with sake by one of the assistants with the left hand, which in other circumstances would be considered unforgivable rudeness. The performer of hara-kiri drank sake in two steps, each time taking two sips. If you drink sake in one go, it could be considered a sign of greed, and if in three or more - a manifestation of indecision. In total, four sips were taken (the word "four" in Japanese is consonant with the word "death", both words sound like shi). Then it was necessary to write a farewell verse in the genre waka(the first and fourth lines have five syllables, the second, third and fifth lines have seven syllables each, five lines in total). Waka it was supposed to be graceful, natural, and in no case should it mention the fact of impending death.
tanto knife
After that, the perpetrator of hara-kiri threw off his outer clothing ( kamishimo) and tucked the sleeves under the knees, while trying to prevent the clothes from falling sharply on one side. Then he took a knife kozuka in one hand, lifting the table with the other sanbo and placing it under the buttocks. At the same time, the body leaned slightly forward, taking the correct position. If the sword was replaced with a fan to the perpetrator of hara-kiri, the kaishaku inflicted kirioroshi - a vertical blow with a sword from top to bottom, as soon as a person touches his stomach with a fan. If hara-kiri was performed with a knife, then the kaishaku waited until the person had plunged the blade deep enough into the left side of the abdomen and then swiped it to the right with a sharp upward cut at the end. The samurai who found strength in himself could then plunge the blade into the groin and cut upwards towards the chest, ending with a horizontal cut under the ribs. Thus, the introduction of an assistant into the seppuku ritual also had the purpose of a safety net in case of unforeseen circumstances. It happened that because of the terrible pain, the samurai began to lose consciousness and could lose control of their actions and die "ugly", falling backwards and thereby dishonoring their name. Kaishaku had to catch the moment of loss of control and immediately finish off the mortally wounded samurai.
The institute of hara-kiri was a method of achieving complete inner freedom, a precondition for going beyond human capabilities, achieving superhuman consciousness and will, unclouded by the animal life instinct.".
© A. R. Basov "Ascent"
Did women do hara-kiri?
A shot from the film "Patriotism" where the main characters, husband and wife, both commit ritual suicide.
Based on the story of the same name by Yukio Mishima, who also starred in it.
Women of the samurai class also performed this rite in the event of the death of a husband or a betrayal committed against him in order to avoid shame. A woman who was threatened with dishonor through no fault of her could do the same. If there was a real threat of being captured by the enemy, the Japanese women not only bravely and fearlessly accepted death at the hands of their husbands or their overlords, but, if necessary, they themselves killed men who, for whatever reason, could not or did not want to commit seppuku, and at such a moment They gave no mercy to themselves or their own children. For men, the most cruel and bloody method of ripping open the stomach was chosen, which left them practically no chance of survival. The woman did not need to open her stomach, but it was enough to cut her throat or pierce her heart with a special dagger. At the same time, an important requirement for the correct performance of the ritual was the binding of the ankles, so that after death the woman's body would remain in a chaste pose, outwardly resembling a withered flower, and would have a dignified appearance. Ritual suicide by slitting the throat jigai) was usually done with a small dagger ( kaiken), which the girl received as a gift during the rite of majority from her father or from her husband on the wedding day. By analogy with wakizashi samurai, a samurai woman constantly held kaiken with you - behind the belt or in the sleeve.
Seppuku and hara-kiri today
There are no more samurai in Japan, but the idea of seppuku as an honorary death for a warrior still remains in the minds of many Japanese. The bushido code of honor was mandatory for Japanese officials and high-ranking military personnel. The military caste, which in Japan has always been considered the most influential, has retained its traditions. The ritual suicide of samurai as an idea of self-sacrifice for the sake of the motherland found spiritual heirs in the person of kamikaze suicide pilots (translated from Japanese as “Divine Wind”) during the Second World War, which to this day is considered in Japan to be the highest manifestation of valor and loyalty debt. So a glaring fact is the wave of suicides committed by officers of the Japanese army, when it became known that Emperor Hirohito had abdicated. Hundreds of Japanese military and high command officers committed seppuku during World War II and immediately after Japan's surrender. Each of them had their own motives, but for the most part it was an atonement for the defeat in the war or for war crimes.
Officially, the rites of seppuku and hara-kiri were banned in Japan only in 1968, but to this day it happens that the descendants of samurai settle scores with life in a similar way. An incident that at one time shocked not only the Land of the Rising Sun itself, but the whole world, was the ritual suicide of the famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima on November 25, 1970, when he, during a visit to the base of the Ground Forces of the Self-Defense Forces in Tokyo's Ichigaya district, called on the soldiers gathered there to a coup d'état, and immediately after the failure of this venture, he committed suicide by committing seppuku. Another no less famous Japanese - Olympic judo champion Isao Inokuma - on September 28, 2001, lost his life by stabbing his neck with a sword due to the fact that the Tokai Kensetsu company, which he led, as a result of the collapse of the "soap bubble" economy ” in Japan and the betrayal of partners suffered huge losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
It is clear that for the samurai, hara-kiri served as unconditional proof of the priority of his spiritual values over everything that was in the world.
His will is absolute.
His ideals are higher than animal life. He is alien to the consciousness of a slave who, for the sake of saving life, bows and falls on his knees before the threat of death.
The consciousness of the Samurai is the consciousness of the Lord.
Honor and praise to you, valiant Samurai!"
© A. R. Basov "Ascent"
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Ritual murders are known to many peoples of the world: slaves and concubines were killed along with their master so that they would serve him in the afterlife, captives were sacrificed to the gods. But in addition to the murders, there were also suicides - a voluntary decision to die for any reason. For example, poisoning and falling on a sword were common in the Ancient One, but the most famous ritual suicides are Japanese hara-kiri and seppuku.
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Literally translated, it means "to rip open the stomach". This is a ritual suicide, a rite adopted among the samurai class. Harakiri could be:
- voluntary-compulsory: appointed as a punishment. A samurai sentenced to death could voluntarily commit suicide in such a way as to preserve the honor of the family;
- Voluntary: applied solely on their own free will. Usually samurai made such a decision if their honor or the honor of the feudal chief (daimyo) was affected.
The action itself is distinguished by a rather complex order and is a privileged variant of death only for a samurai. Ordinary peasants were not allowed to perform the ritual. Carrying out hara-kiri was supposed not only to kill a person, but also to demonstrate his steadfastness, strength and fortitude.
Many people only know the term hara-kiri, but there is also the word "seppuku" or "seppuku", which also denotes ritual suicide. Both words are written in the same hieroglyphs, and the whole difference lies in the shades:
It is believed that hara-kiri is a more “everyday” name for an action with a derogatory, degrading connotation. In other words, hara-kiri is a simple ripping of the abdomen, and seppuku is a ritual sublime action. However, Wikipedia says that the Japanese themselves, by saying "hara-kiri" in conversation, do not try to belittle the action.
Where did it come from
It is believed that hara-kiri as ripping open the stomach correlates precisely with the philosophy of Buddhism and its tenets about the frailty of life and everything earthly. According to this religion, it is in the stomach of a person that the center of his life, his soul, and not the heart or head, is located. Being in the center of the body, the stomach helps the harmonious development of the body.
Examples of such an attitude to the stomach (“hara”) can be traced in some Japanese phraseological units:
- "Hara kitanai" - "Dirty belly" or "Low aspirations";
- "Hara no nai hito" - "A man without a stomach" or "A man without a soul";
- "Hara-no kuri hito" - "A man with a black belly" or "A man with a black, cruel soul";
- "Haragitanai" - "Dirty belly" or "Mean person";
- "Haradatsu" - "Rise to the stomach" or "Get angry";
- "Hara o Watte Hanashimasho" - "Let's talk with our bellies open" or "With pure thoughts."
It is worth noting that the soul in the Japanese sense is not equivalent to the soul in the European one. It is rather a concentration of thoughts and feelings, a source of emotions. Opening the abdomen is the opening of all thoughts.
There are 3 options for the popularity of this variant of suicide:
In ancient times, ritual ripping of the abdomen was not common: burning and hanging were used instead. The first seppuku was made in 1156 feudal lord Minamoto no Tametomo: because of the lost war with the Taira clan, the samurai ripped open his stomach, not wanting to be captured. So he retained military honor.
Subsequently, the need for seppuku was spelled out in the samurai code of honor - Bushido. It said that a samurai should constantly think about death and die if his honor or the honor of his master was hurt, if the battle was lost or a mortal wound was inflicted, if his master was killed in a lost battle. He must do this calmly, with dignity, maintaining presence of mind and firmness of intention to the end. In other words, in any strange situation, a samurai could always commit suicide and remain in people's memory as a worthy and beneficent warrior.
How is it carried out
The main task of hara-kiri is incision of the abdomen. To do this, they prepared a one-sided short ritual sword - kusungobu. Its length was approximately 30 cm. It was an auxiliary weapon in battle for finishing off the enemy or cutting off heads.
The man sat on his heels, touching the floor with his knees, and exposed the upper part of the body. Clothes were placed under the knees so that the samurai would not fall forward. Falling on your back was a disgrace.
Opening the stomach could be done in several ways:
The first centuries of hara-kiri were carried out only by a samurai, who had to patiently wait for death, without screaming, without falling and without expressing pain in any way. If a samurai lost control of himself, it was considered a disgrace to him and his family. After the ritual was complicated and at the same time made more “simple”: as soon as the samurai began to lose consciousness or fall, his assistant (kaishakunin) cut off his head with one stroke.
Cutting off the head wasn't easy either.: it was required that the head remained hanging on a thin piece of skin. A completely blown off head, rolling on the floor, was considered an unaesthetic sight. After the final fall of the body, the assistant wiped the blade with white paper, the head itself was raised and shown to those present (if any), only then the body was covered with a white cloth and preparations for burial began.
Some Features
Not everyone could calmly endure such a painful procedure silently and with honor, and therefore rules have been added:
Conclusion
Among the ritual suicides, the most famous is hara-kiri The Japanese version of suicide. It was widespread in the Middle Ages and was of great importance for representatives of the samurai class. Among the most recent suicides are several military figures who died after the defeat in World War II (including the "father of the kamikaze" Takajiro Onishi), the writer Yukio Mishima and the judoka Isao Inokuma, who died in 2001. The death of many of them caused some approval in Japanese society, as these people died, as befits a samurai.
For an uninitiated person, Japan seems to be a distant country, in which samurai still walk the streets, only sushi is served on the table, and everyone, without exception, makes hara-kiri for themselves. To think so is not entirely correct, and to speak of it is to appear ignorant. However, in reality, everything is far from being the case. Japan is the country where long-standing traditions have been followed the longest, and some of the rituals continue to be relevant today. Japanese rituals for a secular person may seem very cruel and inhuman, but if you delve into the essence of civil-social relations, understand the ongoing processes in the life of Japanese society, much will become clearer. This fully applies to hara-kiri, a phenomenon in Japanese life and culture about which we know very little. We like this word, but its meaning is far from the one we put into it.
Where did it come from and what does it mean? What is the main confusion?
Harakiri is a colloquial word in Japanese that literally means "to cut the belly". Although if you go into the analysis of the word and put it on the shelves, a slightly different meaning appears. The hieroglyph "hara" in Japanese means soul, meaning, or means intention. Needless to say, many peoples have a special ritual attitude towards the soul. So for the Japanese, the stomach is exactly the place where the human soul is stored and the intention to release it in this way becomes clear. From this moment, a picture begins to emerge that explains many things. Let's call a spade a spade. What we usually associate hara-kiri with is a suicide committed by any person out of voluntary moral and ethical motives. In Japan, this expression has a different connotation, more social. In Japanese society, when they want to say that someone committed suicide by cutting their stomach open, they say hara-kiri.
You will never find such an expression in Japanese history and literature. Here they talk about such things in a different perspective. Ritual suicide, committed according to all the canons and rules, is called seppuku. What is the difference if both words are written with the same hieroglyphs. The differences are that hara-kiri is the Japanese reading of hieroglyphs, and seppuku is the Chinese reading of the same set of hieroglyphs. Seppuku and hara-kiri literally mean the same thing, i.e. a way of suicide, only in each individual case there is its own interpretation of the expression and meaning.
The main differences between the rituals of Harakiri and Sepukku
It should be noted right away that seppuku is a medieval custom and today in Japan they talk about it only remembering historical facts. If hara-kiri took root and became a household name in modern society, then seppuku gradually began to be forgotten. This expression is found in Japanese poetry and epic. There is no fundamental difference in meaning. It’s just that hara-kiri, as a rule, were made by commoners, then seppuku is the prerogative of the elite class. It was never possible to hear that a noble warrior or official, a member of the samurai clan, made hara-kiri for himself. It was customary to present this event to society with special brilliance. For this, there was a special set of rules that clearly defined not only the motives that pushed the samurai to commit suicide, but also regulated the process itself.
It was not enough to take an ordinary knife and rip open your stomach. It was necessary to observe a lot of subtleties and nuances before the soul of a samurai passes into another world. It should be borne in mind here that the life of a samurai has always evolved in strict accordance with the code of honor - bushido. It was in it that a special place was assigned to the death of a samurai. Samurai from childhood had a special relationship with death. The most worthy death for members of the elite warrior caste was considered seppuku, committed in accordance with all the rules and canons. Let us dwell separately on some moments of the ritual.
- Firstly, seppuku was often used as the execution of a guilty person. Instead of the procedure of ripping open the stomach, the samurai, on the orders of the lord or emperor, could be deprived of their heads;
- Secondly, the ritual itself should show the samurai's voluntary attitude to the act of suicide, reveal the purity of his thoughts, the depth of repentance;
- Thirdly, the method of depriving oneself of life played a huge role.
It has always been considered important for a samurai to accept a dignified death. Often this was done revealingly, in a specially played scene. When seppuku was done by order, cutting off the samurai's head, they tried to save his honor and dignity. An independent decision to die meant ripping open the stomach. This act was preceded by careful preparation. Of great importance was the choice of weapons for this purpose, the position of the body of the suicide. It is important to note the fact that every samurai was trained in this ritual from childhood. For men, the most bloody method of ripping open the abdomen was chosen, which left practically no chance of survival. Samurai girls for these purposes managed with a simpler procedure, using kaiken. To take her own life, it was enough for a girl to stick a knife in her heart or cut a jugular vein in her neck.
It was important for the girl to take a chaste pose, tying her legs. The suicide pose should be similar to a withered flower.
The murder weapon was the personal weapon of the samurai, knives and swords, which he received when he was initiated into the military caste. Less commonly used was a special knife - kugunsobu. Commoners usually used a special knife for hara-kiri. It could be a tanto - a cold weapon with a long and sharp blade, or any other cold weapon with a sharp blade.
In order for the act of suicide to be carried out in accordance with all the rules, a special person, a kaishaku, was watching the state of the suicide, ready at any moment to cut off the samurai's head and end his suffering.
The ethical side of hara-kiri and seppuku
In Japanese traditions, rooted in the distant past, it was customary to believe in the repeated rebirth of the human soul, so it was important to die with dignity. Harakiri did not require special conditions. It was enough for a samurai to simply make a decision himself and commit an act of suicide in accordance with traditions. Seppuku, on the contrary, required the creation of special conditions for the ritual. The place for the ritual was carefully chosen. The ceremony was necessarily attended by representatives of the authorities. The ceremony was conducted by a specially trained person in the presence of a kaishaku.
If a samurai died in battle, there was no point in the ceremony. It is a completely different matter when the misconduct or misbehavior of the samurai fell on peacetime. Then the seppuku ceremony was mandatory. It is seppuku, not hara-kiri. There were plenty of reasons for the samurai to commit suicide. The most common reasons for the ceremony include the following facts:
- "death in the wake", i.e. the suicide of a samurai following a dead master or suzerain;
- suicide due to awareness of one's own responsibility for the negative consequences that have occurred;
- voluntary death due to one's own convictions;
- suicide due to the inability to realize one's own rage towards the enemy;
- hara-kiri due to their own financial or social insolvency.
Often acts of collective suicide were committed in Japan. Harakiri was often made by couples in love, whose life together was impossible due to caste prejudices. In a difficult situation, during famine, hostilities and great family disgrace, parents and children committed a collective act of suicide.
The samurai must go through the entire ceremony from beginning to end, behave with dignity, not scream and writhe in pain. The main thing is to show your death beautiful and be worthy of it. If during the act of suicide a samurai loses control over himself, this equated to even greater shame. In Japan, there was an unspoken statistics that kept records of acts of seppuku. In the literature, one could often find fragments of the act of suicide of some noble nobleman. It was customary to furnish seppuku in poetic and lyrical tones, comparing voluntary death with an act of purification.
Modern attitude to hara-kiri and seppuku
Over time, Japanese society, previously closed from the outside world, began to transform. The attitude towards death has also changed. Despite the fact that a respectful attitude towards samurai has been preserved in society, seppuku and hara-kiri have become the exclusive prerogative of noble people. The poor nobles preferred to look for other ways out of situations instead of suicide. The long peaceful period that reigned in Japan, starting from the second half of the 18th century, was the reason for the fact that some rituals from the life of the samurai began to be purely symbolic.
The bushido code of honor remained mandatory for officials and high-ranking military. The military caste, which in Japan has always been considered the most influential, has retained its traditions. A special place was given to them and seppuku, which could still be heard during the Second World War. Hundreds of Japanese officers made seppuku before being taken prisoner. A glaring fact is the mass seppuku, which was completely by the officers of the Japanese army, when it became known that Emperor Hirohito had abdicated. Cases of hara-kiri among ordinary Japanese soldiers were not as massive as among the officer class. The simple origin of the military personnel and the natural desire to survive, having endured the horrors and hardships of war, affected.
Officially, the rites of seppuku and hara-kiri were banned in Japan only in 1968, however, even today there are cases when the descendants of samurai commit suicide in this way.
If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.
Quite often, many fans of Japanese culture and customs have quite reasonable questions related to one of the most exotic and extravagant traditions. Of course, we are usually talking about the ritual of hara-kiri or seppuku. What is the essence of this action and is there any difference between seppuku and hara-kiri?
And, indeed, the word "hara-kiri" is one of the most famous on the European continent of all the words of Japanese origin. As a result, it is quite familiar to the average person. Moreover, 70% of European residents believe that they have information about the true meaning of this word.
In addition, another 20% have heard of it at some point but have never used it in their vocabulary. And the other 10% generally believe that they do not need to study the culture of other countries. Be that as it may, but there is also such a category of Europeans who are always interested in such issues. So, are there any differences between these terms, and if so, what is it expressed in?
In fact, there is practically no difference in these two concepts, except in the process of pronunciation and use. Both hara-kiri and seppuku are referred to as "ritual suicides". And even in writing, they are outlined to the same extent.
The only difference is that in the first case, a hieroglyph symbolizing the belly is first drawn, and only after that comes the verb form “to cut”. Whereas with the hieroglyph seppuku, things are exactly the opposite.
You should also know that the very word "hara-kiri" among the Japanese is still considered almost abusive, derogatory, and generally colloquial, and as a result, it is not used at all. In our country, only the word "hara-kiri" is used. However, every more or less literate Japanese scholar knows for certain that this is just such a sophistication in the Russian language.
But that's not all. In ancient times, this supposedly "village", "common people" word "hara-kiri" meant suicide. And not simple, but such that it was not produced in accordance with the rules of the samurai code, in fact, without due respect for this document. Whereas the seppuku ritual was meticulously prepared, and it seemed that this was perhaps the most terrifying theatrical performance. If we move on to translating these two words according to the level of phraseological units, it turns out that hara-kiri will simply mean "giving up the ends", and seppuku more elegantly - "departure to another world."
Conducting a ritual
The process itself took place mainly in public, and struck with its composure, restraint and aspiration of the warrior to the arrival of a “noble” death. Actually, on the basis of this, the samurai prepared for the hara-kiri ritual in advance.
The warrior began his day with a bath, dressed in his best white kimono, and ate his favorite dishes. After he felt complete physical saturation and saturation with the fact that for the last time he was able to enjoy the joys of earthly life, he sat down on the rug in front of the audience. In front of the warrior, a sword was placed on a cloth or on a plate.
Particular attention was paid to the choice of weapons with which the samurai was going to take his own life. It is for ordinary people there is no difference. Whereas the Japanese samurai took this event seriously.
Among the samurai, it was believed that with the help of this ceremony they would be able to truly purify themselves before heaven and people. According to the established tradition, hara-kiri was performed with the help of a special Kusungobu dagger, and in the most exceptional cases, for these “noble” purposes, the samurai used the Wakizashi sword.
However, the event did not end with the choice of weapons for "self-destruction" alone. All processes proceeded rather slowly. In addition, the samurai should have had time to declare his dying poem. This work was written about death and things dear to a warrior.
Samurai could choose assistants for themselves, who were most often close friends or relatives. Such assistants were chosen in order to immediately cut off the head, saving the samurai from terrible torment, but not everything is so simple here either. At the same time, one more goal was pursued besides saving a friend. Such friends were given a unique opportunity to demonstrate the level of their mastery of the sword.
Subsequently, the hara-kiri ritual was transferred to the battlefields. There, the defeated warriors, after a strong upset from the fiasco, decided to take their own lives, and the winners, out of a sense of nobility, agreed to cut off their heads. And this practice is firmly established in the courts. Thus, judges could impose sentences on guilty citizens in the form of a seppuku ritual.
Bushido - the code of honor of the samurai
The process of suicide due to stabbing a dagger in the abdomen is closely related to bushido, the code of honor of the samurai. Then it was generally accepted that by retreating to another world, samurai avoided the dishonor and undesirability of captivity, which would affect the reputation of certain warriors. After the seppuku began to spread, samurai who were at fault were allowed to kill themselves on their own.
In addition, the samurai had the right to demand the appointment of seppuku for their enemies. As a result, they could vent all their rage. At the same time, for other people it could look like a noble samurai wants the soul of a sinner to be saved and reborn. In addition, the code of samurai honor meant that the main purpose of ritual suicide was to demonstrate to Heaven their good intentions. For example, a vassal was killed in a battle. Then his subordinate may come up with the idea to perform a hara-kiri rite in order to prove his devoted attitude towards the ruler, etc.
The attitude of women towards seppuku
Women were also "granted" the right to take their own life by suicide. However, they did it in a quieter environment, without excessive pathos, and even more so, without witnesses. Each of them always carried a kaiken self-defense dagger, which could be used as a hara-kiri knife. With the help of a kaiken, they cut their cervical arteries, but even here it was necessary to observe a certain formality, namely, to lean to the side. This is such a Japanese association with the withering of a flower.
Harakiri as a ritual was abolished in 1968. However, incidents with similar suicides still occur today.
Vitaliy Lozovsky's socio-journalistic, philosophical work "How to survive and spend time usefully in prison" is the first book in the "Freedom Instinct" series. This is a unique study of life in prison, the punitive system of the post-Soviet period, the human soul and the creative potential of those who, by the will of fate, were "thrown overboard". In the book you can find practical recommendations: how to survive, how to preserve human dignity, how to temper the spirit and will, without losing the interest and energy of life. Vitaly Lozovsky uses materials from real correspondence and the style of LiveJournal, which makes the work lively and relevant. And the polemical nature of the book testifies to the objectivity of the author.
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