ritual suicide
Ceremonial self-ending
Ritual suicide is the act of killing oneself as part of a religious, cultural, or ceremonial practice.
The term often refers to Japanese seppuku (or hara-kiri), in which a samurai would disembowel himself to preserve honor or avoid capture.
Other traditions have practiced ritual suicide in contexts of defeat, grief, or religious devotion.
The phrase sometimes appears loosely to describe any deliberate, methodical self-destruction: Voting against the bill would be political ritual suicide.
- seppukuRitualized Japanese self-disembowelment
- atonementCompensation for wrongdoing
- self-immolationSuicide by fire
- honorHigh regard, moral dignity
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
sacrifice · autonomy · stigma · purification · redemption · kamikaze · grief · karma · shame · falling on one's sword · asceticism · final act · last resort · catharsis · loyalty · noble death · heroism · martyrdom
- Bushidobushido, samurai code, warrior code, honor code, samurai ethics
- samuraisamurai, katana, ronin, bushido, shogun
ritual suicideaccidental death
Unintentional fatal outcome
natural death · death by misadventure · natural causes · freak accident · sudden death
ritual suicideself-preservation
Instinct to survive danger
survival · life-saving · will to live · survival instinct · rescue
ritual, rituals, ritualistic, ritually, ritualize, ritualized, rite, rites, suicide