Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-11-28

Toxic advocating the abolition OF the
practice of hara-kiri or seppuku, as it
! is more commonly called in Japan.
During the debate which followed 1t
was described as "the shrine OF the
national spirit and the embodiment in
practice of devotion to principle, as
8 a pillar of the constitution" as "a pill
lar of religion and a spur to virtue"
and as zone of our most valuable and
time honored Institutions and the
motion was defeated by the over
whelming vote of 2O5 to 8, the pro-
proser, one One Seigoro, Icing muir
dered not long afterwards.
Origin of Hara-kiri Obscure.
No one knows exactly when the prac-
tice of harakari originated. For the
Oldest annals in existence contain ref
erence to it as a national custom.
But it was in the twelfth century OF
our era that it was first Instituted as
judicial means of ending the lives
of those mobiles and Samurai who were
regarded as meriting death, but not
dishonor. Rules of procedure were
devised, the etiquette in connection
with the affair being as elaborate and
as strict as in the case OF duels IN
Europe. Whereas, ho~0,.cr, IN the
case Of meetings on the field OF honor
in western countries, the best friend
of the principal acts as his second, IN
Japan the best friends-in the case OIL
u Judicial hara-kiri-acted aa his ex-
ecutioner appearing from behind a
screen, ano with one sweep OF his
long sword cutting off the lead OF the
principal at the moment VT en- the lat
ter. while squatting on the floor, haV-
ing drawn rhe smaller CT his two
swords across his barred stomach from
the extreme left to right below the
waist line. was in the act of sinking
face forward on the ground.
Obsolete as Form of Execution.
The last of these judicial suicides, so
far as foreigners are aware, took
place a little over thirty years ago,
when Samurai of the name OF Zenza-
buro atoned in this manner, by order
Of the mikado. for an armed attack up
on members of the British legation.
The ceremony took place in the pres
ence Of Sir Ernest Satow, now Eng
lish envoy at Pelin, and OF Lord Red
csdale. to whom Zenzaburo's head
was presented for inspection, by his
''karshku,'' or best friend, who had
decapitated him at the moment when
he had completed his disemboweling
process.
While the judicial hara-kiri is I'M
derstood to have ceased, the unof-
fetal seppuku remains, as is apparent
from the scenes on board the trans
port Kinshu Maru the other day a
national custom of the people, and
continues to be practiced. Indeed, &C.
cording to one of those unwritten laws
which are so much more binding than
the ones that figure in the judicial
code, a man of the Samurai class who
is not prepared to die by his own hand
rather than suffer disgrace is sub
jected to the same sort of ostracism as
the continental European who declines
a challenge and is barred from the &C
ceptance of a commission in the army
In all cases where man who finds
himself face to face with trouble com
mits harakiri, any offense Of which he
may have been guilty, or wrong that he
may have done, is regarded by the law
and by the public alike as nonproven
since he is no longer there to defend
himself. In one word, he saves by
means of suicide his own honor and
that of his family, and as long as these
ideas prevail so long will hara-kiri
continue feature of Japanese civiliza'
ton.
It may not be in consonance with
our western ideas. Indeed, the sur
yival Of this form of self-destructlon
! in Japan serves to remind us OF the
fact which we are SO often tempted
to forget namely: that between the
orient and the occident there is a
great and deep gulf, and that where
as we belong to the occident, the
Japanese will always remain Aslatics,
no matter how many Of our ways they
rnay adopt Hara-kiri is not pleas
ant CUSTOM and by many it will be de-
inounced as savoring of barbarism. And
vet underlying this particularly ghast-
~ method of suicide there is an under
lying ideal Of chivalry and of honor,
without which the world would be
poorer.
Suicide by Royal Order.
The notion that it is possible to
preserve by means of suicide honor
that would otherwise be forfeited is,
however, by no means confined to
Japan, though it is the only country in
the world where hara-kiri prevails.
Thus in China princes, great mobiles,
and mandarins of the highest rank, If
they are considered by the dowager
empress as meriting death, are permit
ted to put an end to their lives by
means of strangulation or poison,
thus escaping the infamy of decapita-