Vocab Lesson 2--New Word of The Day--SEPPUKU

Warning: This post contains graphic material (can't say I didn't warn ya)

My fascination with this word stems back to fall 2006 when I first entered college. I'd met a couple of guys who were into Japanese anime and culture, so much so that they took a Japanese language class that same semester. These guys lived on my floor (yes, co-ed dorms with dudes staying right around the corner. It was convenient for some...), and 2 out of the 4 residents were from my city. Their fellow high school classmate had introduced me to them the night of the Freshman dance.

Anyhoo. SEPPUKU. So one day, I'm just chilling in the guys' room. These dudes love to joke, so as they went around the room picking each other apart with their words, I hear one, named EB, say, "COMMIT SEPPUKU". These niggas already knew the word and what it meant, mind you. But I didn't, so quietly I asked, "What the hell is seppuku?" They chuckled and the small red one with long dreds, B.ran answered in a loud voice, half laughing, "It means, KILL YO SELF!!!!"

Okay, so you have to realize that I am but 20 years old. The stuff that we say sometimes can be taken seriously/literally but is generally said in jest. As I mentioned earlier, these dudes were having a roast-fest. The other 3 girls and myself looked at each other and fell out laughing. Suicide IS NOT funny, but the connotation (don't rappers say "Kill yo self" all the time?) and context was hilarious to us. Seppuku has been a part of my general vocabulary ever since.

*Side note: I do realize that the power of life and death is in the tongue, so when speaking to others, especially people we don't know, we should always strive to watch WHAT we say and HOW we say it.*

So on to the general history and meaning of the word. Excerpts are taken from the good people over at wikipedia.

Seppuku which translates into "stomach cutting" is a ritualistic suicide typically reserved for Japanese samuri, although it has permeated into the general culture and at one point became a means of capital punishment.

Part of the samurai honor code, seppuku has been used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who have committed serious offenses, and for reasons that shamed them. Seppuku is performed by plunging a sword into the abdomen and moving the sword left to right in a slicing motion.

In time, committing seppuku came to involve a detailed ritual. This was usually performed in front of spectators if it was a planned seppuku, not one performed on a battlefield. A samurai was bathed, dressed in white robes, fed his favorite meal, and when he was finished, his instrument was placed on his plate. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special cloths, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem. With his selected attendant (called a second) standing by, he would open his kimono, take up his knife and plunge it into his abdomen.

Seppuku, often thought to be a traveler's myth by many Westerners, is known to be one of the most, IF NOT THE MOST, painful ways to commit suicide.



You learn something new every day, because where I thought seppuku was just the GENERAL term for suicide in the Japanese lanugage, I learned that it is a special method set aside for special people (samuri), and these men committed this act to restore honor to themselves and the family members they would leave behind. Not to glorify suicide, because I think it's disgusting, but the way I was introduced to the word incited my curiosity about its origins, since I had never bothered to look it up until yesterday. Like my guy friends from school, Japanese culture does intrigue the hell out of me, hence why Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my favorite movies. I just wanted to share this tidbit of knowledge with those of you who care, lol.

FYI: The female equivalent of seppuku is called jigai, pronounced "jih-gye".

For more info, click here or here. Yes, at times my young mind wanders off into the land of morbidity. Oh well, *shrugs*