American Hara-Kiri

Hara-kiri, also known as seppuku, is a ritual form of suicide historically associated with the samurai class of premodern Japan. It was regarded as an honorable means of ending one’s life in the face of defeat, failure, or the loss of dignity. In the rite, the individual would cut his abdomen with his own short sword; immediately afterward, a trusted attendant or companion (the kaishakunin) would perform a swift decapitating stroke intended to spare the sufferer prolonged agony.