Seppuku Vs Harakiri Today

If you’ve watched enough samurai movies or played enough feudal Japan video games, you’ve undoubtedly witnessed the scene: a disgraced warrior, kneeling on a white mat, blade in hand. He takes a deep breath, steels his nerves, and commits the act.

In Harakiri, the condemned samurai would perform a similar series of cuts into the abdomen, but the context and implications were different. Harakiri was seen as a way for the samurai to redeem their honor in the face of a dishonorable death. seppuku vs harakiri