Leviathan Press: In fact, the source of the abdomen cut due to defeat mentioned in the text may not be the "first person to cut the abdomen". In 989, a rogue descendant named Fujiwara Yoshi was born in the Fujiwara clan of Kyoto's large household. This man has an aristocratic style during the day, but at night he acts with force everywhere. Late at night, Fujiwara returned home after his evil deeds, unaware that there were already officers and soldiers waiting outside the courtyard. When the officers and soldiers launched the operation, they found that the courtyard door was wide open and the lights in the house were bright. Fujiwara Yoshitan sat in the middle of the hall with his chest exposed, leisurely blowing a pipe, but on his lap was a face-rubbing knife.
After the song was finished, the officials were still very confused and did not dare to rush forward. Fujiwara Yoshi picked up the tai knife, stabbed the tai knife into his left abdomen at the moment when the official was most nervous, and used the tip of the knife to pick out his own internal organs and throw it at the official, falling to the ground and dying.
In addition, highly recommend Masaki Kobayashi's movie "Belly Cutting", you can not only appreciate the whole ceremony of cutting the abdomen, but also truly recognize Kobayashi's profound skills as a director (the screenwriter is Hashimoto Shinobu!). ）。 And, of course, my favorite Tatsuya Nakadai...
Poster of "Cut belly" (1962)
Text/Joel stice
Translation/Que Zhengli
Proofreading/sure enough
Original/all-that-is-interesting.com/seppuku
This article is based on the Creative Commons License (by-nc) and is published by Que Zhengli in Leviathan
The bushido code values honor above all else. In order to avoid becoming a captive or being punished by insulting the spirit of the samurai, the samurai would choose to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen.
In this illustration, a samurai prepares to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen, in 1850. Source: Wikimedia Commons
This tradition of cutting the abdomen handed down by the Japanese samurai is a terrible and painful way of dying. Abdominal cutting is a highly formalized ritual process in which the cessator, after disemboweling his stomach with a short sword, either bleeds to death or asks his companions to help cut off the head to end the pain.
This centuries-long pattern of suicide was common in the former Japanese military. It wasn't until during World War II that this tradition of suicide by cutting one's abdomen seemed to come to an end. In the 19th century, Japan was drawn into the wave of modern world, and like many old world cultures, the culture of Japanese samurai cutting their stomachs was gradually diluted.
Prior to this, japan was largely isolated from most countries, except for contact with Chinese merchant ships and occasional contacts with Dutch merchant ships. It was not until europeans and Americans forcibly opened Japan's trade market that Japanese society underwent tremendous changes and began to move toward a modern society. During this period, the Japanese government began to implement reforms, and the samurai class withdrew from the stage of history.
It is not uncommon for foreigners or people who have business dealings with foreigners to be killed by Japanese samurai. In 1863, Emperor Kōmei ordered "the expulsion of all foreigners (Westerners)", and the samurai began to raise their samurai swords and frantically drive away foreigners.
In 1868, Japanese samurai killed 11 unarmed French sailors while the French were trading in Sakai. In an effort to get justice, the French consul in Japan, Léon Roches, insisted that the samurai involved be sentenced to death.
Roche had thought that the samurai would be beheaded or shot, and planned to send one of their officers, Bergasse du petit-thouars, to supervise the execution site. However, du Petit Tuars saw this scene: the samurai came out in a line, one by one, cutting their own abdomen, and then asking their assistants to make up for the decapitation. After seeing the scene of the 11 samurai committing suicide by caesarean section, Tuars decided to cancel the execution of the remaining 9 samurai.
The incident made it clear to the Japanese diplomats that for the samurai, the punishment of cutting the abdomen did not prevent them from killing foreigners. So the diplomats drew up a decree stipulating that samurai who killed foreigners would be stripped of their samurai titles and punished accordingly. That is, the samurai were not allowed to end their lives with the glorious cut in their hearts.
However, the culture of cutting the abdomen seems to have made a comeback during World War II. Because the Japanese officers would rather choose to kill themselves by cutting their stomachs with their own swords than surrender to the Allies. But after the Allies occupied Japan, they forced the country to abandon the Meiji Constitution and adopt the Constitution of Japan, which ushered in another cultural revolution.
According to the Constitution, the Emperor is only the nominal master of the country, while real power is controlled by the parliamentary government. As a result, since the second half of the 20th century, the tradition of suicide by cutting one's abdomen has no place in Japan.
The earliest documented suicide was the Hokumoto Rebellion in 1156 (Note: The Hogen Rebellion was a civil war in Japan that took place in July 1156 against Emperor Go-Shirakawa and his supporters, Hira Kiyomori, Genyoshi, and others. Both sides of the Hokumoto Rebellion fought with the help of samurai, marking the beginning of the samurai class's entry into the Japanese political arena and becoming the beginning of Japanese samurai politics.) It is said that during this war there was a samurai named Minamoto no tametomo, who committed suicide by cutting his abdomen because of his defeat.
This colored image (perhaps a representation of the situation) depicts a defeated samurai committing suicide by cutting his stomach. It happened in 1890.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
By the mid-19th century, the ritual of committing suicide by cutting one's abdomen gradually decreased as the samurai's lifestyle changed. But in fact, it took about 100 years for this ritual to fade away from Japanese culture.
The picture shows a samurai committing suicide by cutting his abdomen, with a death poem at his feet. Circa 1880. Image source: Getty Pictures
The translation of "seppuku" is "cutting the abdomen", and the sharp weapon used is usually a short knife called tanto, which is a short dagger.
The picture shows an ancient short knife that has been pulled out and a small version of a short sword. Source: British Museum/Wikimedia Commons
Everything related to abdominal cutting has already been mentioned, so what is the specific method of inserting this short knife into the intestine?
Insert the knife from the left side of the stomach, cut it from left to right, and cut it upwards to the far right.
This Kabuki performance depicts a samurai committing suicide by cutting his abdomen while being pursued by heavily armed soldiers. The time is 1856. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Before the 17th century, this suicide ritual of abdominal cutting was not very formal, and the caesareaner slowly bled to death, a process that was extremely painful.
It was probably not until 1700 that caesareaners were assisted by "kaishakunins" or "second knives". After the samurai had cut his abdomen and put the short sword back into its sheath, the wrong person would make up for the fatal sword and cut off the samurai's head with a sword. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The wrong person will not completely cut off the cesarean section's head, but will make the head and neck still have a trace of entanglement in the throat. If the wrong person fails to do this, the reputation will be damaged.
The anxious look of the wrong person in the picture may be understood as embarrassment at his imperfect performance. Source: Library of Congress
Later, the connotation of the abdomen cut changed, and people sometimes used the cut belly to express their dissatisfaction with the ruler.
This kind of belly cutting is called "kanshi". After the samurai cut his abdomen, he would quickly bandage the wound, and wait until he ran to the lord to express his dissatisfaction before he could untie the fatal wound. In 1895. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Isao inokuma (second from left) won a gold medal for Japan in the men's heavyweight judo competition at the 1964 Summer Olympics. And he was the last known person to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen. In 2001, his company suffered huge financial losses. As the company's ceo, he chose to commit suicide by caesarean section. Image source: Mario de biassi/Wikimedia Commons
Coincidentally, thirty years before ino-ko Ino-kun's suicide by caesarean section, Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima instigated a coup d'état at a military base in Tokyo in an attempt to restore the emperor's power, and as a result of the failed coup, he committed suicide by caesarean section. (Photo taken on November 25, 1970) Source: Bedman Photo Archive/Contributor/Getty Pictures
On November 25, 1970, Mishima led five uniformed retinues into the Ichigaya station of the Japanese Ground Self-defense force, killed soldiers who came to obstruct him, and kidnapped Lu as hostages and occupied the general's office.
Mishima is standing on a balcony and speaking to the 2,000 SDF non-commissioned officers who came to watch, saying, "Japan's current policy is extremely corrupt. He ended his speech by shouting the wartime slogan of the old Japanese army, "Long live the Emperor" (Long live the Emperor). Mishima then retreated from the balcony into the room and committed suicide by cutting his abdomen. Source: Deman Photo Archive/Contributor/Getty Photo Agency
On November 25, a coffin containing Mishima's body was carried from the office of General Lu of kanetoshi mashita, the eastern superintendent of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Source: Deman Photo Archive/Contributor/Getty Photo Agency
Committing suicide by cutting the abdomen is an incredible ritual process, and the samurai need to make a series of preparations before cutting the abdomen.
Before committing suicide, samurai must write a poem of death, which should reflect the heroic heart of death, but cannot directly mention death.
This image depicts a 1582 general Akashi gidayu preparing to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen after losing a battle for the monarch. We can see that in the upper right corner is his death poem. Pictured in 1890. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The wives of the samurai had their own suicide ritual called "jigai" (self-harm). This method of suicide is very similar to cutting the abdomen with a knife. If their husbands have committed suicide by cutting themselves off their stomachs or are about to be captured by enemy forces, they will choose to commit suicide in order to avoid rape. Source: Wikimedia Commons
The abdominal cutting performed for punishment is generally not carried out in secret, but is chosen in the courtyard of a temple to commit suicide in front of his companions.
The suicidal person will dress appropriately before cutting his abdomen, and after the bath, he will wear white clothes to symbolize purity.
In 1867. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Usually, the assistant next to him would place a small wooden table in front of the caesareaner, on which he would place a sake cup, a short sword, and a piece of paper for writing a poem.
Even the way to drink sake is very exquisite. There are two small cups of sake in ceremonial ceremony, one sip at a time, and one cup can be drunk twice. Drinking it in one sip will appear greedy, and it will appear hesitant to drink it three or more times. Four small sips can show the determination to die. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Illustration of a suicide by abdominal cut. Circa 1815 to 1818. Source: Library of Congress
The person on this hand-drawn drawing is planning to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen. Circa 1800 to 1850. Source: Library of Congress
Several people committed suicide by collectively cutting their abdomen. Circa 1804 to 1812. Source: Library of Congress
"Leviathan" (WeChat liweitan 2014), basic neurologic research, brain science, philosophy... There's a mess of everything. Anti-fresh, anti-soul chicken soup, anti-general two-forced literature and art, anti-foundation, anti-essence.
Submission email: [email protected]
Cooperation contact: WeChat thegoatjoe