seppuku
Samurai suicide ritual
Seppuku is ritual suicide by disembowelment, practiced by Japanese samurai as an honorable alternative to capture, disgrace, or execution.
The warrior would cut open his abdomen with a short blade, often with an assistant standing by to deliver a finishing beheading stroke.
The term is more formal than hara-kiri, which has the same meaning but sounds cruder in Japanese.
Samurai honor system
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- disgraceLoss of honor
- atonementCompensation for wrongdoing
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
dignity · loyalty · obligation · duty · face · reputation · integrity · rectitude
Curved Japanese fighting blade
- wakizashiJapanese auxiliary blade
- roninFeudal drifter-warrior
- daimyoJapanese feudal landowner
- shogunJapan's military supreme commander
retainer · warrior · Tokugawa · vassal · shogunate · lord · feudal · clan
"So much" in scores
- disembowelmentRemoval of intestines
- kneelingLowering onto bent legs
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- witnessOne who attests
purification · incense · tatami · preparation · solemnity · formality · composure · rites
bushido
Samurai honor system
redemption · dignity · loyalty · obligation · duty · face · reputation · integrity · rectitude · valor
katana
Curved Japanese fighting blade
shogun · retainer · warrior · Tokugawa · vassal · shogunate · lord · feudal · clan · master
tanto
"So much" in scores
- disembowelmentRemoval of intestines
- kneelingLowering onto bent legs
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
witness · purification · incense · tatami · preparation · solemnity · formality · composure · rites · death poem
Meiji
Japanese modernization era
- Edo Japanshogun, samurai, shogunate, daimyo, Tokugawa
- Old Japansamurai, shogun, daimyo, katana, kimono
- Shogunate Japanshogun, shogunate, samurai, daimyo, Tokugawa
- Asian Warfaresamurai, ninja, katana, shogun, bushido
- Bushidobushido, samurai code, warrior code, honor code, samurai ethics
- Feudal Asiashogun, daimyo, samurai, shogunate, feudal lord
seppukuexecution
Completing a planned task
murder · assassination · capital punishment · natural death · homicide
seppukusurvival
Remaining alive against odds
self-preservation · endurance · perseverance · living · will to live
seppukuself-preservation
Instinct to survive danger
survival instinct · will to live · Christian martyrdom · forgiveness · second chances