harakiri
Samurai's honorable exit
Harakiri is ritual suicide by disembowelment, practiced by Japanese samurai to preserve honor or avoid capture.
The blade is thrust into the abdomen and drawn across.
The word is used figuratively for self-destructive acts: The candidate's gaffe was political harakiri.
Also spelled hara-kiri.
Seppuku is the more formal Japanese term.
Samurai honor system
- katanaCurved Japanese fighting blade
- wakizashiJapanese auxiliary blade
- tanto"So much" in scores
- seppukuRitualized Japanese self-disembowelment
ronin · daimyo · shogun · warrior · honor · loyalty · dojo · sensei
Painful awareness of failure
- disgraceLoss of honor
- atonementCompensation for wrongdoing
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
- dignityInnate personal worth
valor · courage · loyalty · duty · obligation · failure · defeat · responsibility
Formal event marking occasions
- purificationRemoval of contaminants
- preparationArranging things in advance
- witnessOne who attests
- secondUnit smaller than minute
death poem · tanto · incision · precision · composure · solemnity · tradition · formality
East Asian archipelago nation
- feudalOf tiered landownership
- restorationReturning something to condition
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
- imperialRelating to supreme rule
historical · cultural · tradition · samurai class · military · shogunate · daimyo · caste
bushido
Samurai honor system
seppuku · ronin · daimyo · shogun · warrior · honor · loyalty · dojo · sensei · kendo
shame
Painful awareness of failure
- disgraceLoss of honor
- atonementCompensation for wrongdoing
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
dignity · valor · courage · loyalty · duty · obligation · failure · defeat · responsibility · reputation
ceremony
Formal event marking occasions
- purificationRemoval of contaminants
- preparationArranging things in advance
- witnessOne who attests
second · death poem · tanto · incision · precision · composure · solemnity · tradition · formality · protocol
Japan
East Asian archipelago nation
- feudalOf tiered landownership
- restorationReturning something to condition
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
imperial · historical · cultural · tradition · samurai class · military · shogunate · daimyo · caste · obligation
- Bushidobushido, samurai code, warrior code, honor code, samurai ethics
- samuraisamurai, katana, ronin, bushido, shogun
- JapanTokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Mount Fuji, Hokkaido
- Japanese culturesamurai, kabuki, sumo, origami, tea ceremony
- warrior culturesamurai, knights, warrior, gladiators, berserkers
- Imperial JapanEmperor Hirohito, Hirohito, Rising Sun, Meiji, kamikaze
harakiriexecution
Completing a planned task
murder · assassination · homicide · capital punishment · lynching
harakiricowardice
Absence of bravery
fleeing · escape · denial · shamelessness · evasion
harakirisurvival
Remaining alive against odds
self-preservation · perseverance · living · endurance · rescue