The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-07-14
THE JAPANESE PEOPLE.
AS Sketched by Japanese Student.
rs Kurine, Harvard Law School, in an article
in tho Boston Herald.l

AS Sketched by 3 Japanese Student.
rs Kurine, Harvard Law School, in an article
in tho Boston HERALD
WHAT HARIKARI IS.
desire to speak few words concerning
hariknri, as the meaning Of it is very much
misunderstood in this country. It is often
translated by foreigners, happy self-dis-
patch, simply to enhance the feeling of
wholly disregarding the true significance of
the term. It might well be translated as
self dispatch, as it was supposed to be
committed by tho party himself. It must
not, however, be COMPOUNDED with common,
ignoble suicide; it was, on the contrary,
public act, attended with great ceremonies,
and kind of capital punishment intended
for the privileged class. This high priv
lege, harikari, was granted by the code of
honor only when a military retainer was
guilty of some high political offense not un-
worthy of his rank, in order to save him
from the infamy of being abandoned to the
ignominious hands of the common execu-
toner. Indeed it was high privilege.
In this it resembied that accorded in Eu-
rope during the middle ages, only to be
the offenders of knightly or noble rank,
of desth by the axe or the sword instead
of by hanging. But this immunity was
not in all cases allowed to him; when his
oHense was of sucha nature as derogatory
| to his personal status, as murder o larceny,
the forfeiture of all his feudal privileges
and the degradation from the rank Of SAM
urai necessarily followed; then he had no
more right to claim the privilege of harikari
than ordinary people had, and had to suf-
fer the common and Infamous punisnme MT
of death. Then the law of forfeiture and
attainder taking effect, even his wife and
children had to share the disgraceful deg
radiation, and seldom escape a life of pow
erty and hardship, as consequence of tn e
forfeiture of fudal grants, which were the
only means of subsistence of all the samu-
ria class, the law of feudalism forbidding
them to engage in any trade of commerce
as inconsistent with their dignity and feu-
del duties. Let us now see the consequent
4 ces of suffering harikari. Neither forfeit
ure of feudal grants nor degradation from
the rank enhanced the sorrow and miseries
of his surviving families. He having here
ended his life as military retainer, and in
manner most beftting his rank, his re-
tainership, with all feudal inheritences, de-
scended to his heir: and the family contin.
ued as that of Samurai, as though no mis-
fortune had ever happened to his head. I
was OulS kIdutdU1o Wncu ulS 1aue VI AOAO
as samurai was not forfeited. Thus it i
seen that the institution of harikari wasa
most significant incident Of our feudalism
The execution of it was attended with mos
solemn ceremonies and formalihes devise
during the chivalrous age of the Ashikaga'
dynasty of Shogunate, which fonrished fro1
1885, to 1868 A. D. All officers and witnesse
: were required to appear in q formal dress
:, and the rules laid down for the ceremon
were most strictly observed. The perso
sentenced sometimes performed the Who'll
act of harikari without borrowing another
hand, only to show the soldierly intepidit
and defiance Of death but generally, he oni
went through certain formalities prescribe
by the code of honor, and the final act wa
!. invaribly done by second person appoint
ed for the purpose. This mode of put
ting an end to life was sometimes voluntaril
:, resorted by man of the samurai clat
. When he had no alternative but to die
order to redeem what was done at the ex
. pense of his personal honor. This anciel
Institution of fuedalism has been severl
condemned and stigmatized by foreigner
I ever brought into existence by human b.
: ings. It is clear on the face of our histo
q that even one most arbitrary despOt was n
4 such blood thirsty tyrant as to condemn
at his pleasure, any of his retainers to con
n NIT harikari, unless the culprit deserve
D death. It was as aforesaid, a mode of cal
I ital punishment, only attended with solen
n formalities, prompted by the broud spil
It of that fudal age. and it is almost imposs
70 BILE to preceive any more cruelty or inh
x mainly in this than the common punis
1t ment of hanging. s gsa fsG
/ In one Of the dramas lately represent
Z? in Boston the author ignorantly quot
e barilkari as Japanese mode of duel. /.
far as know, this was the greatest mi
e construction ever yet made in regard to Il
d institution. a1 lss ts#
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