Seppuku

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Seppuku (切腹, lit. 'cutting [the] belly') also called harakiri (腹切り, lit. 'abdomen/belly cutting'), is a form of ritual suicide that was practiced by samurai in Japan. It involved cutting the abdomen and was seen as a way to preserve honor, especially in the face of defeat, disgrace, or punishment. Seppuku followed a strict ceremonial process and reflected the samurai code of loyalty and courage.

In the Middle Ages, warriors valued glory, courage, honor, and self-sacrifice, but these were closely tied to victory. Defeat often meant disgrace, so many preferred death over dishonor. For samurai, a glorious death—even through seppuku after a loss—was seen as a final chance to preserve their dignity and legacy.

Ritual

The practice of seppuku was not standardized until the 17th century, although it had been in effect since the 14th century, and had even been started to be used a further two centuries prior. By the late Edo period, the practice became formally codified as an honorable way to be sentenced to death in the shogunate or seignorial court. The samurai would take their short blade, either the wakizashi or tantō and slice into their abdomen above the navel. The samurai was often accompanied by a kaishakunin (介錯人, lit. "assist mistake person"), a trusted attendant whom would fully decapitate the samurai. On occasion, the samurai would write a death poem beforehand; surviving records are in either 4-8 line kanshi (漢詩, "Han poetry") or 5-line waka (和歌, "Japanese poem") forms, with over half done in the waka form called tanka (短歌, "short poem").

Notable cases

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• Ōuchi Yoshitaka (1551)
• Hirate Masahide (1553)
• Azai Nagamasa (1573)
• Bessho Nagaharu (1580)
• Oda Nobunaga (1582)
• Mori Ranmaru (1582)
• Sen no Rikyū (1591)
• Toyotomi Hideyori (1615)

Appearances

• Echoes of History – Shadows (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows (first appearance)