Today, I’d like to take you on a tour of “justice” in samurai-era Japan. The medieval Japanese justice system actually consisted of two parallel systems: one for commoners, and the other for samurai. Did you know that 16th century Japan had a functional (and well-organized) police force and court system?
Read moreseppuku
Kaishakunin – the Seppuku “Wingman”
Seppuku is a form of ritual suicide practiced in Japan for hundreds of years. Many Westerners recognize the ritual, in which a person (often but not always male) slits his own stomach with a sword, thereby disemboweling himself and causing his own death. Seppuku has a long and complex history in Japan, and many associated rituals, among them the use of a second, the kaishakunin, whose primary role is easing the suffering and speeding the death of the person committing seppuku. The kaishakunin stands behind and to the left of the person committing seppuku (as shown in the staged photo
Read moreA Word or Two About Seppuku
Seppuku (sometimes also referred to as hara-kiri) is a form of Japanese ritual suicide. Throughout most of Japanese history, only samurai were allowed to commit seppuku. The first recorded seppuku was that of Minamoto no Yorimasa, a warrior and poet who committed suicide by slashing his stomach open with his sword after suffering defeat in battle. During the medieval period, samurai committed seppuku for several reasons, most commonly to avoid being captured after suffering a defeat (in the manner of Minamoto no Yorimasa), as a penalty for shameful or criminal activity, or to expunge the shame of surviving a battle in which
Read moreKyoto’s Bloody Ceilings
In 1600, rebel samurai attacked Fushimi Castle, south of Kyoto, in an attempt to kill five year-old Toyotomi Hideyori, the son and heir of the general who had recently united Japan. After a two-week siege, the rebels breached the walls, set fire to the castle and killed the garrison commander. With their leader dead, the remaining samurai defenders (approximately 400 men) committed seppuku (ritual suicide) inside the keep. The mass suicide flooded the wooden floor with blood, staining the timbers permanently. That portion of the keep survived the fire, although the structure was subsequently dismantled by the new Shogun, Tokugawa
Read more