page_title: Decapitation
section_title: Japan
hierarchical_section_title: Decapitation / Historical practices by nation / Asia / Japan
caption_attribution_description: “Illustration of the Decapitation of Violent Chinese Soldiers” by Utagawa Kokunimasa Japanese soldiers educating other Chinese captives not to commit violence by beheading 38 Chinese soldiers who committed acts of assault on a Red Cross hospital and killing injured and ailing person in the 1st Sino-Japanese War 日本語: 暴行清兵ヲ斬首スル圖（暴行清兵を斬首する図） 我軍隊の正義慈仁なるは欧米各文明国に対して慙ぢざるのみならず却てこれに優るものあるは世間既に公評あり　これに反して清兵の残忍暴虐なる彼の赤十字病院に乱入して手足自由ならざる負傷病者を殺害するが如きは天人ともに怒る所之　今回の俘虜に対しても我軍隊は極めてこれを優待し決して苛酷の取扱を為さゞるは勿論なるに　彼れ清兵は残虐なる己れが国風の脳裏に浸染しあるを以て捕るれば殺さるゝものと思ひ警護の巡査に向かい暴行を働きその帯剱を奪いて切り付けなどするものありしにより　いかに寛仁大度を以てこれに處するも此暴兵に対しては止を得ず軍律に處せざるべからざるにより暴行を為せしもの三十八名を引出し数多の俘虜の面前に於て其頭を刎ね他の俘虜に向ひ諭して曰　我軍隊は決して汝等を故なく殺戮するものにあらず　戦ひ終らば厚く遇して本国に送り還すべきも我に対して暴行を為すに於ては已むを得ず斯の如く罰せざるべからず　汝等恭順よく我命に従べし　俘虜等一同感泣して我帝国軍隊の仁義慈愛なるに心服せりといふ　恩威ならび行はるるものと謂うべきなり 甲午冬十月 櫻花生識
context_page_description: Decapitation, also known as beheading, is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function.
  The term beheading refers to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may be accomplished with an axe, a sword, a knife, a machete or by mechanical means such as a guillotine or chainsaw. An executioner who carries out executions by beheading is sometimes called a headsman. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, a car or industrial accident, improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent injury. Suicide by decapitation is rare but not unknown. The national laws of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Qatar permit beheading; however, in practice, Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders regularly as a punishment for crime.
  Less commonly, decapitation can also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead.
context_section_description: In Japan, decapitation was a common punishment, sometimes for minor offences. Samurai were often allowed to decapitate soldiers who had fled from battle, as it was considered cowardly. Decapitation was historically performed as the second step in seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment). After the victim had sliced his own abdomen open, another warrior would strike his head off from behind with a katana to hasten death and to reduce the suffering. The blow was expected to be precise enough to leave intact a small strip of skin at the front of the neck—to spare invited and honored guests the indelicacy of witnessing a severed head rolling about, or towards them; such an occurrence would have been considered inelegant and in bad taste. The sword was expected to be used upon the slightest sign that the practitioner might yield to pain and cry out—avoiding dishonor to him and to all partaking in the privilege of observing an honorable demise. As skill was involved, only the most trusted warrior was honored by taking part. In the late Sengoku period, decapitation was performed as soon as the person chosen to carry out seppuku had made the slightest wound to his abdomen.
  Decapitation (without seppuku) was also considered a very severe and degrading form of punishment. One of the most brutal decapitations was that of Sugitani Zenjubō (杉谷善住坊), who attempted to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, a prominent daimyō, in 1570. After being caught, Zenjubō was buried alive in the ground with only his head out, and the head was slowly sawn off with a bamboo saw by passers-by for several days (punishment by sawing; nokogiribiki (鋸挽き). These unusual punishments were abolished in the early Meiji era. This scene is described in the last page of James Clavell's book Shōgun.
caption: Japanese illustration depicting the beheading of Chinese captives. Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95
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