Die By The Sword Wikipedia

Cover art to Exiles (vol. 2) #1.Art by.Publication information#1 (August 2001)(writer)(artist)In-story informationBase(s)Panoptichron, the 'crystal palace' outside space and timeMember(s)RosterSee:The Exiles are a group of appearing in published by commonly associated with The. They feature in three series, New Exiles, and Exiles vol. The Exiles consists of characters from different universes, or realities, which have been removed from time and space in order to correct problems (often called 'hiccups') in various alternate worlds and divergent timelines in the.Created by writer and artist, Exiles features a revolving team roster with new characters introduced and others replaced when they are killed or returned to their home reality. The series is notable for the number of characters who stay dead, in contrast to the that occur in the main and continuities. It has featured familiar characters or settings from previous Marvel storylines, such as the ' and '.The first volume of Exiles ran for 100 issues, ending after a with the members of in and the one-shot Exiles: Days of Then and Now.

X-Men: Die by the Sword is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in 2007. It was written by Chris Claremont, drawn by Juan Santacruz, and inked by Raul Fernandez. The story featured the teams New Excalibur and Exiles. Chris Claremont came onboard as of issue #90 and ended the series with the crossover X-Men Die by the Sword, before restarting the series as New Exiles. New Exiles ran for 18 issues before being canceled. A few months later the series was restarted again with a second volume of Exiles, written by Jeff Parker. This relaunch only lasted 6 issues before being canceled as well.

In March 2008 New Exiles began with and artist Tom Grummett at the helm. Writer and artist Salvador Espin relaunched the series with a new #1 in April 2009, but the book was canceled after only six issues. Contents.Publication history Exiles was created by Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Judd Winick and also artists Mike McKone and Jim Calafiore. Exiles was created after a period of development aimed at creating a new book for Marvel.Raicht and Winick would develop the initial formula of Exiles' reality-hopping adventures.

Came aboard as interim writer after Winick's move to. Took over, writing roughly half the series, from #46-89. Chris Claremont came onboard as of issue #90 and ended the series with the crossover X-Men Die by the Sword, before restarting the series as New Exiles.

New Exiles ran for 18 issues before being canceled. A few months later the series was restarted again with a second volume of Exiles, written. This relaunch only lasted 6 issues before being canceled as well. A third series was launched as part of, written by joined by the art team of, and and.A number of artists have penciled the series including Mike McKone, Jim Calafiore, Kev Walker, Clayton Henry, Mizuki Sakakibara, Casey Jones, Steve Scott, Paul Pelletier, and Tom Mandrake. Tom Grummett, Roberto Castro, Paco Diaz, and Tim Seeley worked on New Exiles.Fictional team biography. Art by Mike McKone.

This cover features the original roster. First Series Tallus Initially, the Exiles are employed by the to fix broken realities.

The Tallus is a communications device, which is worn by the leader of the group in order to communicate with the Timebroker. Through it, he would assign missions to the team and inform them of any changes, etc. Blink wears the Tallus in the beginning, but it is later transferred to Sabretooth when Blink rebels against the Timebroker. Mimic also wears the Tallus for a time in Blink's absence. It is now used as a means of communication between its wearer and whomever is operating the Crystal Palace on various missions. It has a slightly different appearance for each wearer.

For the first time ever, Sabertooth has used the Tallus to transport himself back to the Crystal Palace, without anyone on the other side recalling him.Exiles When Magnus dies, he is replaced by (Mariko Yashida). (Heather Hudson) arrives when becomes comatose during a battle with the world-eating.The Exiles then discover there is a second team conscripted by the Timebroker, whose missions typically involve killing or maiming innocents and heroes. The two teams join forces to rescue a group of children from a prison camp. However, the teams are told the second stage of the mission is to kill one of the children – David Richards (son of and ) – who will apparently grow up to become a powerful supervillain. Weapon X is willing to kill him, but the Exiles are not and the two teams fight until the Timebroker intervenes. Sabretooth (of the Weapon X team) agrees to stay behind and raise David Richards himself.The Timebroker sends Blink home after a visit to a world plagued by a variant of the, since the team had repaired her personal broken chain in time and (Illyana Rasputin) takes her place. Mimic then replaces Blink as leader, gaining the Tallus.The Exiles arrive in the main where they meet the after 's canceled wedding.

The Exiles team up with the X-Men against an evil Havok from the universe, who shares a body with the good Havok. After Havok is subdued, the Timebroker arrives to personally eliminate the Mutant X Havok's consciousness.After Sunfire is killed by a -infected Mimic, she is replaced by the Exiles' former teammate Blink.

During the next mission, the Exiles and Weapon X are forced to battle each other until only six remain alive. Magik is killed by when she attempts to switch sides and betray the Exiles. King Hyperion is eventually defeated by Blink, who teleports his own heat vision into his back, paralyzing him. (of Weapon X) is allowed to deliver the killing blow against King Hyperion with a kinetically charged sword of the slain Magik which causes an explosion that kills them both, leaving five Exiles alive and their mission complete.The Exiles visit the main Marvel Universe for a second time where they are joined by, who replaces Magik, and are instructed to 'leave their possessions and earn their wings'. Reed Richards deduces this means they are to leave behind (whose power involves possession) and have join the Exiles, which is confirmed by the Timebroker.Timebrokers The team is told by to 'beware the Timebreaker sic, he is not what he seems'. After this, the Timebroker's behavior becomes increasingly strange.

Heather Hudson is removed from the team without explanation and replaced with former member. The Tallus orders the Exiles to kill Mimic and despite their refusal, they are allowed to move onto a new mission (normally a mission must be completed for the Exiles to move on). Next, the Timebroker replaces Beak with, which they are informed is a punishment for disobeying previous orders.Eventually, the Exiles break free of the Timebroker and stage a raid on Panoptichron (also known as the 'Crystal Palace'), home of the Timebroker and a location from which many parallel universes can be monitored. Here they discover that the Timebroker is an alien race of bug-like beings that found the Panoptichron and accidentally broke a series of timelines. Lacking the power to repair the timelines, they concocted this scheme of recruiting heroes from various worlds to do their work for them. Not only that, all previously 'returned' heroes are actually in Panoptichron, frozen in blocks, along with the killed heroes. As a final twist, the evil King Hyperion has fully regenerated from being blown up by Gambit, broken free of his stasis and has taken over Panoptichron.

The Exiles are nearly defeated with both Namora and Holocaust dying in the battle. Beak returns from stasis and saves the day by calling on two good versions of Hyperion for help, fulfilling his destiny as an Exile. King Hyperion is subdued and exiled to his home reality which is completely devoid of life. Only Blink, Mimic, Morph, Sabretooth, Beak, and Heather Hudson remain to pick up the pieces. World Tour The Exiles then return to to take Beak home. Unfortunately, Earth-616 is dominated by the.

During their stay, the Exiles run afoul of the serial killer, who steals data from the Panoptichron and escapes from, leaving Beak back home. The Exiles chase Proteus through several realities, including an alternate version of the, an alternate version of, and, before finally bringing Proteus down by trapping him in Morph’s body, which does not decay, unlike all of Proteus’ other host bodies. During the 'World Tour' of hunting down Proteus, Mimic is possessed by Proteus and dies, forcing the Exiles to pick up new members, and to restore their diminished numbers.Post-World Tour The Exiles begin cleaning out the stasis gallery of former Exiles and Weapon X members and send them back home., and are sent back to their respective realities alive, while every other Earth with a missing superhuman holds a funeral. Blink, at the suggestion of, takes Mimic home to be buried with his X-Men instead of burying him in Panoptichron., Sabretooth, and Heather Hudson all decide to visit their home realities. Unfortunately, the Timebreakers ditch the Exiles when the Timebreakers believe that they are not saving realities as they should be. However, after using several squads of to complete the next mission and failing, Logan (from ) and young James Howlett convince the Timebreakers that the Exiles are needed. The Exiles finally resume their reality-saving missions for the first time since they discovered Panoptichron when they save a reality where the has already destroyed the Earth and is trying to destroy, who is the restorer of worlds in this reality.Then, Heather discovers an Earth inhabited by a disturbingly close approximation of the original Exiles team, complete with their own Timebroker.

After the 'classic Exiles' fight 'the all-new Exiles' (as Morph put it), it is later revealed that the whole thing was a scheme orchestrated by the, who seeks revenge on the Exiles for freeing on their first mission and ruining a bet. The Exiles, past and present, join forces with the of that Earth to defeat the Grandmaster. The current team then leaves the Earth in the hands of the approximation Exiles.The Exiles then take three weeks to save a chain of cracked realities, injuring Blink, Morph,.

They also discover that Proteus is possibly immune to metal while in Morph’s body. Meanwhile, former Exile, is in the stasis gallery, dreaming of what might have been had he not become comatose.Enter Psylocke leaves the team to return to the and is brought on board to replace her. Blink, Longshot, and Spider-Man are brainwashed by HYDRA leaving only Sabretooth to pick up Morph and Psylocke. They are sent to kill Reed Richards.

's arrival makes them fail as Betsy faints before killing Reed. The world is erased, with the Exiles still there, but it is magically restored by Reed Richards, and ' amulet restores the world's population because they were being stored in the amulet. The Exiles are still there so they can help Psylocke recover from wounds inflicted by, and to help rebuild the planet. Meanwhile, another Slaymaster slays another Psylocke on another world.After the Exiles return to Panoptichron, they find it empty, with no equipment, Timebreakers, or Heather.

Blink and Morph eventually visit Heather, who thought the Exiles were dead and left Panoptichron. Heather is now pregnant and out of commission, so stays behind to learn more about the Panoptichron while the other Exiles resume their missions. There she experiences visions which warn her of something bad to come, and an alternate version of appears from nowhere with no warning. The Exiles go to a seemingly perfect world led by but when Blink is caught by she begins to discover what hides behind this facade. She then recruits Longshot and Morph, who also sense something amiss with this world. They flee with that world's Reed to begin a resistance.

Meanwhile, meets and Sabretooth has a with this world's. In reality, she was assigned to get close to him so Doom could copy the Tallus, which he does.

He then sends a team of soldiers to Panoptichron. They take out and assume is a freaked out child, though she appears to be faking that. The soldiers are attacked by, who is no longer comatose. (who goes by ), uses her phasing powers to create a diversion long enough to allow Thunderbird to free. Together, they defeat the soldiers and send them home, just in time for them to see Doom's defeat, whose Earth is destroyed by as there is no way to turn the humans back to their normal emotional state.As a result the Exiles are scattered to various dimensions, much like had done previously., and Cat are able to work on the equipment and retrieve Blink, Morph, and Sabretooth, and new members and are brought along.

Finds a girlfriend and stays on the world on which he landed. Longshot, once again, got lucky and landed in the Crystal Palace after the transport went wrong.Die by the Sword. Main article:and travel to Earth-616 to visit and during 's victory party. During the party, is wounded by a strike force led by an armored lady called Rouge.

While Betsy tries to care for her brother everybody else tries to fight, even and, who were about to have sex, but, realizing they cannot win they teleport to the Panoptichron. There, Dazzler discovers that Longshot, while alive, doesn't remember her and is about to kill herself to ease her pain when Mystiq comes to talk her out of it. TJ happily reunites with her former teammates while is deemed the best option to care for Brian. Meanwhile Cat, using the scanner, realizes that and are in trouble. The Corps then suffers a lot of losses, despite Saturnyne's intervention. While Cat checks on Brian, Blink, Morph, Sabertooth, Thunderbird, and Dazzler join the battlefield. Dazzler battles Rouge-Mort, who has badly wounded Roma, and Longshot gets concerned about her, making both himself and Sage wonder why/how, while Morph battles Jaspers by morphing into the Fury but his plan is quickly foiled.

Sage, Psylocke, and Wisdom recruit Albion to their cause, who proves to be a match for James Jaspers until Jaspers turns into the Fury. Merlyn then comes to his daughter to finish the job only to be beaten by Psylocke. Cap then makes his move on the Fury and with the help of Blink and Albion vanquishes him for now, leading to Merlyn's defeat. However, this victory comes with a price as Roma dies, though not before transferring her knowledge into Sage's mind. Saturnyne then promises to free Albion from jail to lead the Corps while Sage and TJ switch teams with Longshot who now remembers the highlights of his past.The events of Die by the Sword take place between Exiles #99-#100.Exiles #100 In Exiles #100 Blink, Nocturne, and Thunderbird decide to leave the team because they are physically and emotionally exhausted and need a break. They leave for Heather Hudson's reality so that Heather can keep track of Nocturne's progress as she continues to recover from her stroke.

Sage struggles with her new knowledge gained from Roma and accidentally fights the other Exiles. Cat and Rogue explore the palace and almost die in a bungee-jumping accident, prompting Rogue to reveal flying powers.In the Exiles: Days of Then and Now, Blink discovers an Earth they were supposed to save, but did not because they were chasing Proteus during the World Tour. Iron Man, Nighthawk, Wild Child, and Luke Cage from that reality died because they did not receive help from the Exiles.

So, Blink decides to help an alternate by acting as the Timebroker through 's old Tallus, which is given to him by the from the reality where the Exiles had battled after Quentin is able to transport himself there on his own. Then, he meets and, from the reality, and an alternate.

Finally, he ends up in the where he saves. Blink then sends all five heroes (Luke Cage, Quentin, Nighthawk, Spitfire, and Wild Child) to replace Iron Man, Nighthawk, Wild Child, and Luke Cage from Quentin's reality.' New Exiles. All time members, from X-Men Messiah Complex: Mutant FilesThe team went to Earth-6706 to recruit Gambit and found themselves in a three-way war between, and the. The team was separated with Rogue, Gambit and Namor, Mystiq in disguise with the Panther's team, and Sabretooth and Psylocke with Ororo.

They eventually reunited for a final fight against the Panther and would have died if not for Psylocke and the powers of Gambit's mother,. Their mission was eventually revealed to them and they left the Earth despite the fact that the Panther had taken control of it.

Meanwhile, Morph, Sage, and Cat are sucked into a world were Kitty shifts to another form. Sage regains her telepathic powers, as they defend a man who has fallen in love with a dragon.After some fighting, the parents eventually surrender against true love and the dragon becomes human, while the Exiles are brought back to the Panoptichron, where Cat reveals that Gambit was listed as a member even before he was recruited. In the meantime, recruits a Wolverine-like man to her cause. Afterwards, Sage, Psylocke, Morph, Mystiq, Rogue, and Gambit help a team of X-Men on another Earth fight off the French during a French and British war. Psylocke receives some training from that world's Ogun.

Cat discovers realities upon realities coming to their end and finds she can do nothing to stop it. However, she and Sabretooth face off against Empress Hydra after she locks them alone in a particular reality. Cat kills Wolverine by removing his claws and slashing him with them.

The Exiles then enjoy a quick break in the Panoptichron, where Morph gives Rogue a new costume and Psylocke deals with her fear of Slaymaster.The Exiles then visit a reality where Valeria Richards has traveled and has called them for help to save the world from the Fearsome Quintet of Gold Goblin, Magneta, the Blood Skull, Black Baron, and Doom. They defeat the quintet, but their leader, the Maker, is about to defeat them when Proteus' persona re-emerges. However, Morph's persona merges with that of Proteus in the nick of time, stopping Proteus from killing the Exiles and saving the day.

Valeria offers to assist them in fighting her mom, but Morph tells her that she would regret it and they suggest she go home. They then go to a reality where the main heroes are the human Daughters and Saurian Sons of the Dragon. There, they fight Lilandra, who has allied herself with Empress Hydra and they try to save Lilandra's sister Neramani from her. During the fight, Cat merges with Mystiq and kills Empress Hydra, thanks to an unplanned diversion by Gambit, who called her 'mom'. Meanwhile, Sage and Diana Fox are forced to unite to face off against Merlyn in Sage's mind. Diana eventually lets Sage take her over and Sage merges with the Crystal Palace, stopping the multiverse from destabilizing. Cat dies after the battle with Madame Hydra.

The other Exiles save Neramani's world, with Rogue remaining behind since she has fallen in love with one of the Saurians.Valeria Richards arrives at the Crystal Palace and joins the team, having been able to discern its location. Some time later, the New Exiles return to Gambit's world, where he discovers his father has died and he takes over as king, leaving the Exiles. Sabertooth and Psylocke begin a relationship. They, Sage, Morph, Valeria Richards, and Mystiq are the New Exiles.Second Series The series was once again relaunched in April 2009, written by and drawn by Salvador Espin, but canceled in September 2009. Alternate versions of, and are picked up right before their intended deaths and put together as a team with the returning, though she pretends to be new to all of this just as much as the others.

Morph acts as the Timebroker and this version of the Black Panther is T'challa's son, T'chaka. On their first mission, they are teleported away without finishing their mission, to Blink's shock.The team then goes to an Earth where Cerebro has killed all humans in North America. Working with the renegade Vision, Ultron, and Machine Man, the Exiles manage to disable Cerebro and give all the humans life model decoy bodies. After that mission, Morph tells the Exiles that they still have time to break up the X-Men/Brotherhood alliance from their first mission.

They head back to that Earth and replace the native Scarlet Witch for their own. She reveals to Jean that Scott and Emma are having an affair, turning the telepaths against each other and dissolving the alliance.

Emma Frost eventually kills the Witch from the Exiles' team, leaving the native Scarlet Witch to secretly join the Exiles.The team then takes a vacation on a peaceful Earth. During this time, Polaris reveals she can tell Blink is lying, so Forge builds a device to send everyone to where the Tallus was transmitting from. Forge plants the device on the Tallus during the next teleport and Panther knocks Blink out. The Exiles then discover and head inside the Crystal Palace.There, they see multiple teams of Exiles being trained by various 'Timebrokers'.

Blink finds them and decides to explain everything. She says she was going to wait until the team got the hang of saving broken realities, then fake her own death, at which point a new member was to replace her.

The team is teleported to the main room, where they find Heather (no longer pregnant), Nocturne (recovered from her stroke), and Morph waiting.The three of them reveal to the latest Exiles team that the last Exiles team, Sage, Sabretooth, Mystiq, Valeria, Rogue, and Gambit eventually became immersed within the Crystal Palace. Only Morph was spared, since he had Proteus possessing him, and the Crystal Palace absorbed Proteus in Morph's place. Heather reveals that she came up with the idea of snatching the new recruits at the moment of death, as it seemed to be 'the least disruptive way to go'.Polaris, Forge, Beast, and Panther all look at how their homeworlds turned out after they died.

They all decide to continue working as a team and are each given their own Tallus. Nocturne goes with them in Blink's place for the next mission while Blink begins to train a new team. After the series' end. was returned to Earth-616 via the 's magic and was briefly brainwashed into fighting alongside her sisterhood against the X-Men before being freed. Psylocke has also been shown to lose her immunity to magic spells, telepathic attacks, and reality alterations, as she was later possessed by Earth-616.

was somehow liberated from Panoptichron's stasis gallery and returned to the. He later met up with Psylocke when she visited his reality and he and his X-Men helped her and steal a celestial artifact. After the two teams parted ways, most of his reality's X-Men were killed.

Only he and were spared, but depowered. They escaped into the hands of William Stryker's 'X-Terminated,' who arrested and imprisoned Sabretooth almost immediately. Sabretooth later sacrificed himself to save the rest of his team during the 'X-Termination' event. was also liberated from Panoptichron's stasis gallery and served as SWORD's ambassador on another world.

She met up with her former teammate, who was visiting that reality to rescue a teammate. Sage left her job with SWORD behind to join Dazzler's team, who were hopping around realities throughout the multiverse and performing missions to save realities, much like the Exiles. and Mary Jane are still together when the attacks of during the ' storyline are felt. Miguel learned about Morlun during his tenure with the Exiles, and senses Morlun is out there killing spiders. He gathers some of the Exiles' old equipment and prepares to flee to Earth-616, where Morlun was once killed. However, just as Miguel and Mary Jane are about to make the jump, Morlun arrives and kills that Miguel in front of the Miguel from the original timeline stranded in the present. Morlun disappears and the portal closes, leaving the Exiles' Miguel dead and the 616 Miguel desperate to find Peter Parker.Third Series The man once known as recruits champions from alternate universes when a mysterious threat casts its shadow on the multiverse.

A different Blink will be joined by a from a post-apocalyptic reality, and in her journey to save the multiverse. The team is later joined by as the Captain America of her universe, and a reality-reincarnated of.

Weapon X First seen in Exiles #5, they are a team that complete missions more ruthlessly than those of the Exiles. This team had various members and its roster changed more than the Exiles. Weapon X was originally composed of, and.Weapon X was finally disbanded when the Exiles arrived and both and Gambit received the mission: Weapon X and the Exiles were meant to fight to the death until only six remained., and Hulk were killed by Hyperion, while Firestar killed the Spider, herself in the process. Marvel was killed in battle with and finally, Hyperion was killed thanks to Gambit's sacrifice.

Instead of six survivors, there were only five: Blink, Morph, and.The Exiles wouldn't meet any member of Weapon X until their visit to the Panoptichron, in which they saw all former members of Exiles and Weapon X placed in stasis in one of the galleries of the Crystal Palace. After the Exiles contained the threat of they went about returning the bodies of the deceased to their native homeworlds, including all former Weapon X members, for proper burials.Other versions In Uncanny X-Men #461, summons a team of lawyers modeled after the Exiles team to capture his recently created. The team consisted of versions of Blink, Morph, Mimic, Sunfire, Sasquatch, and Nocturne.References.

'Seppuku' inJapanese name切腹TranscriptionsSeppukuSeppuku (: 切腹, 'cutting the belly'), sometimes referred to as harakiri (腹切り, 'abdomen/belly cutting', a native Japanese ), is a form of Japanese ritual. It was originally reserved for (see ), but was also practiced by other Japanese people later on to restore honour for themselves or for their families. As a samurai practice, seppuku was used either voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely be tortured), as a form of for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed because they had brought shame to themselves.

The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a, into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever the, causing a rapid.

Samurai about to perform seppukuThe term 'seppuku' is derived from the two roots setsu 切 ('to cut', from tset) and fuku 腹 ('belly', from MC pjuwk). It is also known as harakiri (腹切り, 'cutting the stomach'); the term harakiri (often misspelled/mispronounced hiri-kiri or hari-kari by English speakers ) is more familiar to non-Japanese speakers than the term seppuku. Harakiri is written with the same as Seppuku, but in reverse order with an. Farm up help. In Japanese, the more formal seppuku, a Chinese reading, is typically used in writing, while harakiri, a native reading, is used in speech.

Ross notes,It is commonly pointed out that hara-kiri is a, but this is a misunderstanding. Hara-kiri is a Japanese reading or Kun-yomi of the characters; as it became customary to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a spoken term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term, but spoken amongst higher classes for the same act.The practice of performing seppuku at the death of one's master, known as oibara (追腹 or 追い腹, the or Japanese reading) or tsuifuku (追腹, the or Chinese reading), follows a similar ritual.The word jigai ( 自害) means 'suicide' in Japanese. The modern word for suicide is jisatsu ( 自殺). In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by in his Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese.

Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the. Overview. Illustration from Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs, by J. Silver, Illustrated by Native Drawings, Reproduced in Facsimile by Means of, London, 1867The first recorded act of seppuku was performed by during the in the year 1180. Seppuku was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to attenuate shame and avoid possible. Samurai could also be ordered by their ( lords) to carry out seppuku.

Later, disgraced warriors were sometimes allowed to carry out seppuku rather than be executed in the normal manner. The most common form of seppuku for men was composed of the cutting of the abdomen, and when the samurai was finished, he stretched out his neck for an assistant to sever his spinal cord. It was the assistant's job to decapitate the samurai in one swing, otherwise it would bring great shame to the assistant and his family. Those who did not belong to the samurai caste were never ordered or expected to carry out seppuku.

Samurai generally could carry out the act only with permission.Sometimes a daimyō was called upon to perform seppuku as the basis of a peace agreement. This weakened the defeated clan so that resistance effectively ceased. Used an enemy's suicide in this way on several occasions, the most dramatic of which effectively ended a dynasty of daimyōs. When the were defeated at in 1590, Hideyoshi insisted on the suicide of the retired daimyō, and the exile of his son; with this act of suicide, the most powerful daimyō family in eastern Japan was put to an end.Ritual. A prepared for seppukuThe practice was not standardised until the 17th century. In the 12th and 13th centuries, such as with the seppuku of Minamoto no Yorimasa, the practice of a (idiomatically, his 'second') had not yet emerged, thus the rite was considered far more painful. Seppuku's defining characteristic was plunging either the tachi (longsword), wakizashi (shortsword) or tantō (knife) into the gut and slicing the abdomen horizontally.

In the absence of a kaishakunin, the samurai would then remove the blade, and stab himself in the throat, or fall (from a standing position) with the blade positioned against his heart.During the Edo Period (1600–1867), carrying out seppuku came to involve a detailed ritual. This was usually performed in front of spectators if it was a planned seppuku, not one performed on a battlefield. A samurai was bathed, dressed in white robes, and served his favorite foods for a. When he had finished, the knife and cloth were placed on another sanbo and given to the warrior. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special clothes, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a. He would be dressed in the shini-shōzoku, a completely white kimono worn for death.

The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the, prepares for her suicide; note the legs tied together, a feature of female seppuku to ensure a decent posture in deathFemale ritual suicide (incorrectly referred to in some English sources as jigai), was practiced by the wives of samurai who have performed seppuku or brought dishonor.Some women belonging to families committed suicide by cutting the arteries of the neck with one stroke, using a knife such as a. The main purpose was to achieve a quick and certain death in order to avoid capture. Before committing suicide, a woman would often tie her knees together so her body would be found in a dignified pose, despite the convulsions of death. Invading armies would often enter homes to find the lady of the house seated alone, facing away from the door.

On approaching her, they would find that she had ended her life long before they reached her. History provides extensive evidence for the practice of female ritual suicide, notably of samurai wives, in pre-modern Japan. One of the largest mass suicides was the 25 April 1185 final defeat of establishing Minamoto power. The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the, is a notable example of a wife following seppuku of a husband. A large number of honor suicides marked the defeat of the Aizu clan in the of 1869, leading into the Meiji era.

For example, in the family of, who survived, a total of twenty-two female honor suicides are recorded among one extended family. Religious and social context Voluntary death by drowning was a common form of ritual or honour suicide. The religious context of thirty-three adherents at the funeral of Abbot Jitsunyo in 1525 was faith in and belief in rebirth in His, but male seppuku did not have a specifically religious context.

By way of contrast, the religious beliefs of, the Christian wife of daimyō, prevented her from committing suicide. Terminology The word jigai ( 自害) means 'suicide' in Japanese. The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu ( 自殺). Related words include jiketsu ( 自決), jijin ( 自尽) and jijin ( 自刃). In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is associated with suicide of samurai wives. The term was introduced into English by in his Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, an understanding which has since been translated into Japanese and Hearn seen through Japanese eyes. Mostow notes that Hearn misunderstood the term jigai to be the female equivalent of seppuku.

Mostow's context is analysis of 's and the original Cio-Cio San story. Though both Long's story and Puccini's opera predate Hearn's use of the term jigai, the term has been used in relation to western which is the influence of Japanese culture on the western arts. As capital punishment. Was sentenced to commit seppuku in 1703While the voluntary seppuku described above is the best known form, in practice the most common form of seppuku was obligatory seppuku, used as a form of for disgraced samurai, especially for those who committed a serious offense such as rape, robbery, corruption, unprovoked murder or treason.

The samurai were generally told of their offense in full and given a set time for them to commit seppuku, usually before sunset on a given day. On occasion, if the sentenced individuals were uncooperative or outright refused to end their own lives, it was not unheard of anywhere in Japan for them to be restrained and the seppuku carried out by an executioner, or more often, for the actual execution to be carried out solely by decapitation while retaining only the trappings of seppuku; even the short sword ( tantō) laid out in front of the uncooperative offender could be replaced with a fan (to prevent the uncooperative offenders from taking and using the tantō as a weapon against the observers or the executioner). Unlike voluntary seppuku, seppuku carried out as capital punishment by executioners did not necessarily absolve, or pardon, the offender's family of the crime.

Depending on the severity of the crime, all or part of the property of the condemned could be confiscated, and by being stripped of rank, sold into long-term servitude, or execution.Seppuku was considered the most honorable capital punishment apportioned to Samurai. Zanshu (斬首) and Sarashikubi (晒し首), decapitation followed by a display of the head, was considered harsher, and reserved for samurai who committed greater crimes. The harshest punishments, usually involving death by torturous methods like Kamayude (釜茹で), were reserved for commoner offenders.European witness The first recorded time a European saw formal seppuku was the ' of 1868. On February 15, eleven French sailors of the entered a Japanese town called without official permission. Their presence caused panic among the residents.

Security forces were dispatched to turn the sailors back to their ship, but a fight broke out and the sailors were shot dead. Upon the protest of the French representative, financial compensation was paid and those responsible were sentenced to death. The French captain, was present to observe the execution. As each samurai committed ritual disembowelment, the violent act shocked the captainand he requested a pardon, as a result of which nine of the samurai were spared. This incident was dramatised in a famous short story, Sakai Jiken, by.In the 1860s, the British Ambassador to Japan, lived within sight of where the are buried. In his book Tales of Old Japan, he describes a man who had come to the graves to kill himself:I will add one anecdote to show the sanctity which is attached to the graves of the Forty-seven.

In the month of September 1868, a certain man came to pray before the grave of Oishi Chikara. Having finished his prayers, he deliberately performed hara-kiri, and, the belly wound not being mortal, dispatched himself by cutting his throat. Upon his person were found papers setting forth that, being a and without means of earning a living, he had petitioned to be allowed to enter the clan of the Prince of, which he looked upon as the noblest clan in the realm; his petition having been refused, nothing remained for him but to die, for to be a Ronin was hateful to him, and he would serve no other master than the Prince of Choshiu: what more fitting place could he find in which to put an end to his life than the graveyard of these Braves? This happened at about two hundred yards' distance from my house, and when I saw the spot an hour or two later, the ground was all bespattered with blood, and disturbed by the death-struggles of the man.Mitford also describes his friend's eyewitness account of a seppuku:There are many stories on record of extraordinary heroism being displayed in the harakiri. The case of a young fellow, only twenty years old, of the Choshiu clan, which was told me the other day by an eye-witness, deserves mention as a marvellous instance of determination.

Not content with giving himself the one necessary cut, he slashed himself thrice horizontally and twice vertically. Then he stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side, with its sharp edge to the front; setting his teeth in one supreme effort, he drove the knife forward with both hands through his throat, and fell dead.During the, the Tokugawa Shogun's aide performed seppuku:One more story and I have done. During the revolution, when the, beaten on every side, fled ignominiously to, he is said to have determined to fight no more, but to yield everything. A member of his second council went to him and said, 'Sir, the only way for you now to retrieve the honour of the family of Tokugawa is to disembowel yourself; and to prove to you that I am sincere and disinterested in what I say, I am here ready to disembowel myself with you.' The Taikun flew into a great rage, saying that he would listen to no such nonsense, and left the room.

His faithful retainer, to prove his honesty, retired to another part of the castle, and solemnly performed the harakiri.In his book Tales of Old Japan, describes witnessing a hara-kiri:As a corollary to the above elaborate statement of the ceremonies proper to be observed at the harakiri, I may here describe an instance of such an execution which I was sent officially to witness. The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburo, an officer of the Prince of, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement at in the month of February 1868,—an to which I have alluded in the preamble to the story of the Eta Maiden and the. Up to that time no foreigner had witnessed such an execution, which was rather looked upon as a traveler's fable. In 's cartoon, published in on March 8, 1873, is shown directing U.S. Senators implicated in the to commit Hara-Kiri - clearly showing that by that time the general American public was already familiar with the Japanese ritual and its social implicationsThe ceremony, which was ordered by the (Emperor) himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of the troops at Hiogo. A witness was sent from each of the foreign legations.

We were seven foreigners in all. After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at, and again as they tried to escape.

For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honour of witnessing the act.Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards.

During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the kaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body.A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible.The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of rice paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the execution. The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and, crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called us to witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been faithfully carried out.

The ceremony being at an end, we left the temple. The ceremony, to which the place and the hour gave an additional solemnity, was characterized throughout by that extreme dignity and punctiliousness which are the distinctive marks of the proceedings of Japanese gentlemen of rank; and it is important to note this fact, because it carries with it the conviction that the dead man was indeed the officer who had committed the crime, and no substitute. While profoundly impressed by the terrible scene it was impossible at the same time not to be filled with admiration of the firm and manly bearing of the sufferer, and of the nerve with which the kaishaku performed his last duty to his master. In modern Japan Seppuku as judicial punishment was abolished in 1873, shortly after the, but voluntary seppuku did not completely die out. Dozens of people are known to have committed seppuku since then, including and his wife on the death of in 1912, and numerous soldiers and civilians who chose to die rather than surrender at the end of. The practice had been widely praised in army propaganda, which featured a soldier captured by the Chinese in the (1932) who returned to the site of his capture to perform seppuku.In 1970, the author, and one of his followers, performed public seppuku at the headquarters, following an unsuccessful attempt to incite the armed forces to stage a.

Mishima performed seppuku in the office of General Kanetoshi Mashita. His second, a 25-year-old man named, tried three times to ritually behead Mishima but failed, and his head was finally severed by, a former kendo champion. Morita then attempted to perform seppuku himself, but when his own cuts were too shallow to be fatal, he gave the signal and was beheaded by Koga. Notable cases This list of notable seppuku cases is in chronological order. (1139–1170).

(1106–1180). (1159–1189). (1398–1439).

(1545–1573). (1534–1582). (1546–1582).

(1522–1583). (1538–1590). (1522–1591). (1539–1600). (1606–1634). Forty-six of the (1703). (1793–1841).

(1832–1863). (1829–1865). (1833–1865). (group of samurai youths) (1868).

(1828–1877). (1849–1912) and Nogi Shizuko (1859–1912). (1879–1940). (1898–1944). (1887–1945). (1891–1945).

(1895–1945). (1887–1945). (1925–1970). (1938–2001)In popular culture The expected honor-suicide of the samurai wife is frequently referenced in Japanese literature and film, such as in Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa,. Seppuku is also referenced and described multiple times in the 1975 novel,; its subsequent the 1980 miniseries brought the term and the concept to mainstream Western attention.

It was staged by the young protagonist in the 1971 dark American comedy.In, a mortally wounded Samurai leader Katsumoto performs seppuku with Former US Army Captain Nathan Algren's help.