Seppuku (切腹, lit. 'cutting [the] belly'), also known as harakiri (腹切り, lit. 'abdomen/belly cutting', a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era[1][2] (particularly officers near the end of World War II) to restore hono
