==JAPAN: KM== [Culture]

Why did samurais commit harakiri? Why did they disembowel themselves in a ritual act of harakiri? Why did they cut their abdomens, not their heart, nor their throat?
It is very difficult for Japanese to answer these questions simply. And it is not easy for people, who are not Japanese, to understand the answers to those questions. Because all of Japanese understand the heartfelt cooperation behind the reasons, we Japanese have a tacit understanding of that. Of course it is very difficult for me, even though I am also a Japanese, but I will do what I can to explain this dramatic phenomenon. Needless to say, things that I will express in words about the reasons for harakiri are hypothetical, because I am not a samurai and I have never met a samurai and I have never put questions about harakiri to the samurai.
What is an outstanding implication of harakiri? To answer this question, I'll try to give attention to the importance of the abdomen. Among Japanese there is a way of thinking that abdomens mean mind, ideas, feelings that are a kind of identity that Japanese have willpower, energy and bravery and so on.
At one time in Japanese they thought a potbelly was better than a firm, flat abdomen like that of Apollo, the god of the sun in Greek and Russian mythology, because Japanese once thought that a potbelly had enough space to put as much virtue as possible.
So even though a potbelly was not good at all aesthetically, they admired a man who had a potbelly as a man having a desirable Japanese-style character. Furthermore, in Japan there was a way of thinking that an abdomen was holding the center of one's body and this was important for Japanese; it still is so, for the center of things is considered especially important in Japan.
On the other hand, we Japanese call brothers and sisters "hara-kata" and call half-brothers and sisters "hara-chigai". In such a case hara means women's abdomens and in Japan it formerly was thought that a family line was able to be continued through a woman's abdomen.
Thus in the world it was very rare that former Japanese admired and attached great importance to their abdomens and that was related to harakiri which also was very rare in the world.
Harakiri was not a mere kind of suicide. It was compulsory suicide and a samurai, who was forced to commit harakiri, tried to leave something to those he had connection with. It was not a visible thing that the samurai left. A man cannot be killed on the spot by cutting his abdomen, but rather must bleed to death gradually. It was thought that after having committed harakiri, the samurai's faith, ideas, feelings, willpower and so on poured out from the cut and then samurai saw himself with his own soul, not his own eyes, as his consciousness dimmed while dying. It was his faith, ideas, feelings, willpower and so on that the samurai tried to leave to others he was close to.
During the feudal times in Japan (1192-1867), it often happened that a samurai committed hara-kiri to show his faith to a feudal lord when there was no other way to make his allegiance to his lord understood. In this case the samurai intended to reveal his inner most self and that he was true to and did not plot wicked things against his master. Because we Japanese call a wicked man a "haraguroi-hito", a wicked man with a dirty black and dark center, so it was thought a samurai cut his abdomen open to prove his purity.
Furthermore during the age of battles in Japan samurais thought that being taken prisoner was very disgraceful, so they voluntarily killed themselves by committing harakiri. On a field of battle a body with its abdomen cut demonstrated that the samurai had committed harakiri by himself, because in a field of battle a samurai did not give an enemy a finishing blow by cutting the abdomen, which took greater effort, but generally by cutting the throat or by stabbing the chest. In such a case, committing hara-kiri protected a samurai's honor and he was said to have died with dignity in battle.
Leaving something to people they were devoted to and protecting their honor--these are two reasons that have something in common. It was the way of thinking that samurais made much of spiritual things which are invisible, but not occult. Surely no one has ever desired to die, but former Japanese valued spiritual things, believing they would continue to exist after the body had died. So they left their allegiance, brave hearts, and honor to others.
To commit harakiri was not an escape from reality and not to shrink one's responsibility. It was a sublime act for samurais, but I personally think it was wrong. I think however noble committing harakiri was thought to be among former Japanese, it was impossible to protect one's allegiance to somebody by killing oneself, but more possible by continuing to live bearing shame in order to wipe away a disgrace.
But I admire the samurai way of thinking that everything should be done at the risk of one's life.

"Getting It Together"

There are many books that write about Japanese culture and I have read some of them before. But almost all books about Japanese culture are not quite satisfactory. Therefore, I wanted to write about the Japanese way of thinking about hara-kiri and I hope people who will read this essay will understand at least a part of Japanese thinking about it and guess something else about the way of things by reading this essay.
However, to tell the truth, it was very difficult for me to write about my topic in a limited number of words, so I was satisfied when I completed this essay, but I was more satisfied that I had pondered over the way of thinking and culture of my own country.