jigai
suicide
Quick Summary
The term "jigai" refers to a form of ritual suicide practiced by women in the samurai class in Japan. Unlike seppuku, which men performed by cutting their abdomen, women practicing jigai would cut their throat with a dagger. This practice was a way for women to die with honor, often to avoid capture or disgrace. While seppuku sometimes involved a second person to decapitate the samurai to end suffering quickly, jigai was a self-inflicted act focused on a throat incision.1
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