For the interest of readers, let me briefly describe the way seppuku is done. According to tradition, when a man performs seppuku, he has to be careful not to insert more than three-tenths of the blade into his stomach; otherwise, it would injure the bowels and cause him unbearable pain. The seppuku performer begins by putting a sampo (a wooden tray) under his hips so that he will fall frontward rather than die in an ignominious posture. The sampo has a stand on which a sword blade wrapped with white cloth or paper is set. The performer holds the blade by the wrapped portion, sets it to the left side of his stomach, and exhales. On inhaling, he inserts the blade (it goes in much easier than when he is exhaling) and then pulls it to the right side at a stroke.
The inserting and cutting described above do not lead to immediate death. So to die easily, the performer sets the blade against his carotid artery with his right hand and presses it down with his left hand to cut the artery. (He doesn't have to do this when a man whose role is called kaishaku—a second—is present. The second cuts off the head of the seppuku performer after he has cut his stomach himself.)
The other kind of seppuku is the self-willed act of annihilation, the destruction of the self without a formal sentence. But I would like to interpret this kind of seppuku as an attempt at self-assertion, an effort to liberate the self in glory when all other alternatives are blocked. When a person chooses seppuku as the only solution to an unsolvable dilemma, the decision derives not from self-denial but from a glorious self-affirmation. It is an attempt to express the glorious end of the self in the most unfavorable or disgraceful circumstances.
Let me give an example. The suicide of novelist Yukio Mishima, once a Nobel prize nominee, shocked the world. Mishima had formed his own militaristic group, Tate-no-kai, and was spreading rightist ideology. On November 25, 1970, taking the Director General of the Eastern Sector of the Self-Defense Forces as his hostage, he stepped out onto the balcony of the building and hailed the soldiers below to throw their lot in with him. When this failed, he decided to commit seppuku as a last resort. In order to demonstrate the strength of his determination, and to persuade the members of the Self-Defense Forces to follow him, he chose a glorious death by seppuku.
In the act of seppuku is revealed the unbending will of the self, a firm determination to face down the impasse that confronts it, and an almost arrogant will to triumph over it Seppuku is the ultimate self-justification. Mishima's seppuku was just that, as is the seppuku of the soldier in the battlefield who refuses to surrender or be taken prisoner.
I was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Navy at the close of World War II. When the message of the Japanese surrender came through, one of our admirals gathered all the young officers and cadets in the lecture hall and instructed them earnestly about Japan's recovery. The next morning, news of the admiral's death by seppuku reached us. On the surface, this was merely a self-destructive act on the part of tab admiral; but it was also a message of encouragement to us (at least every one of us felt so at the time). The message of the admiral's death was this: "As long as possible, I will preserve my integrity. Therefore I will die holding it." Again, this form of seppuku is a glorious means of self-expression. Unlike the form of seppuku used as a punishment for the samurai class, it is a matter not of self-denial but of self-affirmation.
Many foreigners have difficulty understanding this concept because they confuse seppuku with simple suicide. And they seem to think that whenever the Japanese commit suicide, they do it by seppuku (harakiri). In fact, the Japanese usually commit suicide by taking pills or hanging themselves (private ownership of guns is prohibited). Nowadays, very few people have the determination to die by seppuku. When faced with impossible difficulties, only those with great strength of mind choose to die without surrendering to their opponent, or make no attempt to escape but rather affirm the self and the will in a grand manner to the end by choosing seppuku. In contrast, simple suicide is only a means of escaping an impasse, of avoiding the immediate suffering at hand. The mind of the person who attempts seppuku is quite different. In the act of slashing the belly is symbolized the righteousness of the self.
Japan is known worldwide for its large number of suicides, but Sweden has an even greater number. When we compare the victims of suicides in these two countries, we find that the elderly make up the large majority of suicides in Sweden, whereas in Japan suicide is most frequent among the middle-aged. Lately in Japan suicides among people in their thirties and forties have increased. How can we explain these two phenomena?
As everyone knows, Sweden has one of the most complete social welfare systems in the world. The elderly are well provided for and suffer no lack of life's essentials. Their nursing homes are surrounded by greenery and seem like palaces to the Japanese experts who tour these facilities. The Japanese visitors are always greatly impressed with the luxury of the equipment and the setting, but it is reported that in those same luxurious facilities suicides are an all too frequent occurrence. Apparently, when people are placed in such surroundings, with a complete support system that frees them from any need or want, they lose their desire to live. Without any work to devote themselves to, without emotional contact with family and friends, they become increasingly alienated from and uninterested in this world. This is especially true for the elderly, who know what end faces them all too soon. There is no value in living if you are totally alone and isolated. As a result, many decide to hurry their death with their own hands.
These are people who have lived within the tradition of Western individualism. Individualists can survive only as long as they have a personal goal to challenge them, and an opponent to compete with. Without a goal that defines the self, without other people to offer a challenge, individualists don't feel "alive" even though they may be physically existing. Thus despite their independence, individualists cannot survive in isolation.
In contrast, suicide among the middle-aged in Japan seems to occur when, frustrated on all sides, the victim cannot find anyone who understands him well. The group-oriented Japanese tend to head in the direction of suicide when they lose a relationship with colleagues or a family member who will comfort them in their weakness and provide psychological support. A part of the self gives way when this support is withdrawn or denied, and suicide often follows.
Young people sometimes commit suicide because they have failed their entrance examinations. Others commit suicide because of disappointment in love. The Japanese thrive on mutual dependence. Anyone loses self-reliance in direct proportion to his degree of dependence on a group. The greater the degree of dependence encouraged by the group, the weaker a person's own desire for self-affirmation becomes, and the easier it is for him to feel hopelessly frustrated when he is excluded from the group. This form of social ostracism is known as mura-hachibu.