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| {{afd-mergeto|Seppuku|Jigai|27 February 2013|date=February 2013}} | |||
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| ] prepares to commit suicide to accompany her husband in death. Her legs are tied to maintain a decorous position during death throes. Death will be administered by a cut of a ] or ] to the throat - distinct from ] for men. Print by ] from the series ''Seichu gishin den'' (Stories of the Faithful Hearts) 1848.]] | |||
| '''Female ritual suicide in pre-modern Japan'''. | |||
| ==History== | |||
| ] provides extensive evidence for the practice of female ritual suicide, notably of samurai wives, in pre-modern Japan. One of the largest mass suicides was the 25 April 1185 final defeat of ] establishing Minamoto power.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen R.|last=Turnbull|authorlink=Stephen Turnbull (historian)|title=The Samurai: A Military History|year=1996|page=72}}</ref> The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the ], is a notable example of a wife following by suicide the ] (disemboweling) of a ] husband.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary Ritter|last=Beard|title=The Force of Women in Japanese History|year=1953|page=100}}</ref> A large number of honour suicides marked the defeat of the Aizu clan in the ] of 1869, leading into the Meiji era. For example in the family of ], who survived, a total of twenty-two female honour suicides are recorded among one extended family.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Turnbull|title=The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War|year=2008|page=156}}</ref> | |||
| ==Religious and social context== | |||
| Voluntary death by drowning was a common form of ritual or honour suicide. The religious context of thirty-three ] adherents at the funeral of Abbot Jitsunyo in 1525 was faith in ] and belief in ] in the ], but male seppuku did not have a specifically religious context.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mark L.|last=Blum|title=Collective Suicide at the Funeral of Jitsunyo|chapter=Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism|editor1-first=Jacqueline Ilyse|editor1-last=Stone|editor2-first=Mariko Namba|editor2-last=Walter|year=2008|page=164}}</ref> By way of contrast, the religious beliefs of ], the Christian wife of ] ], prevented her from committing suicide.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Turnbull|title=Samurai Women 1184-1877|year=2012}}</ref> | |||
| ==In literature and film== | |||
| The expected honour-suicide of the samurai wife is also frequently referenced in Japanese literature and film, such as in '']''<ref>{{cite book|first1=Alastair|last1=Phillips|first2=Julian|last2=Stringer|title=Japanese Cinema: Texts And Contexts|year=2007|page=57}}</ref> and '']''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Orit|last=Kamir|title=Framed: Women in Law and Film|year=2005|page=64}}</ref> | |||
| ==Terminology== | |||
| The word {{nihongo|'''''jigai'''''|自害}} means "suicide" in ]. The usual modern word for suicide is {{nihongo|''jisatsu''|自殺}}. Related words include {{nihongo|''jiketsu''|自決}}, {{nihongo|''jijin''|自尽}} and {{nihongo|''jijin''|自刃}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/94273/m0u/%E8%87%AA%E5%AE%B3/|title=じがい 1 0 【自害|work=goo 辞書}}</ref> In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Timothy|last=Hosey|title=Black Belt|chapter=Samurai Women|title=Black Belt|month=December|year=1980|page=47}}</ref> The term was introduced into English by ] in his ''Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation'',<ref>{{cite book|first=Lafcadio|last=Hearn|authorlink=Lafcadio Hearn|title=Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation|origyear=First published 1923|year=2005|page=318}}</ref> an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese and Hearn seen through Japanese eyes.<ref>{{cite book|first=Kenzo|last=Tsukishima|title=ラフカディオ・ハーンの日本観: その正しい理解への試み|trans_title=Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation|year=1984|page=48}}</ref> Joshua S. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of ].<ref>{{cite book|first=Joshua S.|last=Mostow|chapter=Iron Butterfly Cio-Cio-San and Japanese Imperialism|title=A Vision of the Orient: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts of Madame Butterfly|editor-first=J. L.|editor-last=Wisenthal|year=2006|page=190}}</ref> Mostow's context is analysis of ]'s '']'' and the original Cio-Cio San story by ]. Though both Long's story and Puccini's opera predate Hearn's use of the term jigai, the term has been used in relation to western ].<ref>{{cite book|first=Jan Van|last=Rij|title=Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San|year=2001|page=71}}</ref> | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| <!--Categories--> | |||
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| {{death-stub}} | |||
| {{Japan-hist-stub}} | |||
| {{Women's-History-stub}} | |||
| <!--Other languages--> | |||
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