Samurai suicide

Seppuku, or "samurai suicide", is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai honor code, seppuku was used either voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely suffer torture) or as a form of punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed because they had brought shame to themselves.

Minamoto no Tametomo was likely the first to use a "samurai suicide" technique, the seppuku ritual.

by Arcane_ June 24, 2015