“At a factory? Packing fish?” Kazuo finally turned. His face was young—thirty at most—but his eyes held the exhausted fury of a caged hawk. “My father cut open his belly in 1945 rather than see an American general walk through his gate. He did it with a broken tanto, alone, in a toolshed. No second. No kaishakunin to end his suffering. He bled for twelve hours.” Kazuo’s voice cracked. “And now I am to sell the gate itself for scrap?”
The practice was officially outlawed in following the Meiji Restoration, though it persisted in various forms into the 20th century. Seppuku and Harakiri Explained: Facts and Differences harakiri y seppuku
The practitioner would bathe, dress in white robes (symbolizing purity), and eat a final meal of his favorite foods. “At a factory
This uses On-yomi (Sino-Japanese reading). It is considered the more formal, "high-brow" term. In written documents and official records of the Samurai class, Seppuku was the preferred term. “My father cut open his belly in 1945