Seppuku

Seppuku,"stomach cutting" or "belly slicing," also known in English as hara-kiri (a term regarded as vulgar by the Japanese), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was a key part of bushido, the code of samurai warriors. It as an act of bravery used to avoid surrender, capture, or shame. Seppuku could used to demonstrate loyalty toward one's deceased lord or husband, to show one's disagreement with their daimyo (feudal lords), performed upon the order of their daimyo, or it could be permitted as an alternative to execution. Sometimes a daimyo was called upon to perform seppuku as a part of a peace agreement to weaken the defeated clan sand cease resistance.

Seppuku meant a samurai could die with his reputation intact or even enhanced; it could free the samurai's family from any culpability from his acts. Since the main point of the act was to restore or protect one's honor as a warrior, those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to commit seppuku.

Samurai women could only commit seppuku with permission. The methods of seppuku for men and women are different. Men cut open their midsections, but the women would cut their throats, in version of seppuku called jigai. The difference was probably not to make it easier for women to die, but because of a reverence for the womb where all human life begins. The woman's legs were tied together to ensure a "decent" posture in death.