One of the key part of Bushido is the ritual of seppuku. Somehow in English we use commonly the word hara-kiri instead of seppuku. There are important differences between two words. Basically, for samurai, the ritual is called seppuku, he would never use the word hara-kiri. Only ordinary Japanese people called this ritual hara-kiri, which is a colloquialism, that means “belly-cutting”.

Samurai warriors was used seppuku to avoid falling into enemy hands and to attenuate shame. Samurai women could only commit the act with permission. The feudal lords of samurai could also order samurai to commit seppuku. During seppuku samurai would cut his abdomen. He was supposed to be still alive when he finished the cutting and stretch out his neck for an assistant to cut his head off. The main point of the act was to restore or protect samurai’s honor as a warrior. This is why ordinary Japanese people were never ordered or expected to commit seppuku.

Among samurai seppuku was considered an act of great courage. It meant that samurai completed his life with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The spirit of a samurai was released when he cut his abdomen in the most dramatic fashion. As it is an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes during the agony the samurai asked a loyal comrade to decapitate him.