Literary or historical term for cutting off the head. Often appears in the set phrase 刎頸の交わり (friendship so deep one would risk decapitation for the other).
The phrase 刎頸の交わり expresses a friendship for which one would risk one's life.
Standard kanji spelling for this literary term.
Variant with simplified second character; less common but attested.
The exact derivation is uncertain; the kanji 刎 (cut off) and 頸 (neck) combine to mean 'cutting the neck'. The term is preserved mainly through the classical Chinese-derived idiom 刎頸の交わり.