Rankin Andrew. Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide

Tokyo ; New York : Kodansha International, 2011.
— 255 p. : ill.The tradition of seppuku--Japanese ritual suicide by cutting the stomach, sometimes referred to as hara-kiri--spans a millennium. Samurai revered seppuku as the most honorable form of death. Here, for the first time in English, is a book that charts the history of samurai suicide from antiquity to modern times. Author Andrew Rankin traces the origins of seppuku in ancient myth, and guides us from the death of legendary warrior Minamoto no Tametomo in 1170 to the celebrated ritual suicide of General Nogi Maresuke in 1912. In between are countless examples of heroic courage, loyalty, and sacrifice.Drawing on never-before-translated medieval war tales, samurai clan documents, and execution handbooks, and rare eyewitness reports, Rankin also provides a fascinating look at the seppuku ritual itself, explaining the correct protocol and etiquette for seppuku, different stomach-cutting procedures, types of swords, attire, location, even what kinds of refreshment should be served at the seppuku ceremony. The book ends with a collection of quotations from authors and commentators down through the centuries, summing up both the Japanese attitude toward seppuku and foreigners’ reactions.This fascinating and accessible study will appeal both to the scholar and to the general reader.Andrew Rankin is a Japan scholar studying for his Ph.D. on Yukio Mishima at Cambridge University, in the U.K. He lived in Japan for twenty years and attended Tokyo University. Rankin worked as a translator at the National Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo; his work includes Snakelust by Kenji Nakagami, published by KI in 1998.