noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb
seppuku; harakiri; ritual suicide by disembowelment
Refers to the formal Japanese ritual suicide by cutting the abdomen, historically practiced by samurai to restore honor or avoid capture.
武士は主君への忠誠を示すために切腹した。
The samurai committed seppuku to show loyalty to his lord.
切腹は江戸時代に制度化された。
Seppuku was institutionalized in the Edo period.
noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb
seppuku as a death penalty; judicial seppuku
Historical term for seppuku carried out as a formal death penalty, where the condemned was decapitated by a second as they made the motions to disembowel themselves; specific to the Edo period.
江戸時代には、切腹が刑罰として用いられることがあった。
In the Edo period, seppuku was sometimes used as a form of punishment.