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seppuku
seppuku Gen. Akashi Gidayu preparing to commit seppuku in Akashi Gidayu, print no. 83 in the Aspect of the Moon series by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, c. 1890.

seppuku

suicide
Also known as: hara-kiri, harakiri
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ā€¢History

seppuku, the honourable method of taking oneā€™s own life practiced by men of the samurai (military) class in feudal Japan. The word hara-kiri (literally, ā€œbelly-cuttingā€), though widely known to foreigners, is rarely used by Japanese, who prefer the term seppuku (written in Japanese with the same two Chinese characters but in reverse order). The proper method for committing the actā€”developed over several centuriesā€”was to plunge a short sword into the left side of the abdomen,...

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