This astonishing book charts the history and practice of ritual samurai suicide from ancient times until the 20th century through primary sources, both literary and historical, many of them never befo
The history of seppuku — Japanese ritual suicide by cutting the stomach, sometimes referred to as hara-kiri — spans a millennium, and came to be favored by samurai as an honorable
Half a century after his shocking samurai-style suicide, Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) remains a deeply controversial figure. Though his writings and life-story continue to fascinate readers around the wo
