切腹には作法というものがある。
切腹する人を切腹人、これに付き添い切腹人の首を切り落とし
検視役に首を見せるなど、切腹の補助を行う者を介錯人と呼ぶ。
腹部を切り裂いただけでは死に至るまでに時間がかかり
非常な苦痛を強いるため、通常は介錯人が切腹直後に介錯を実行する。
切腹の際の腹の切り方は、腹を一文字に切る「一文字腹」、さらに
縦にみぞおちからへそ下まで切り下げる「十文字腹」が望ましいとされた。
しかしながら、体力的に実行は難しく、介錯人がいない場合
喉を突いて絶命することが多かったそうである。
切腹人は、検視役に黙礼し、右から肌脱ぎする。
左手で刀を取り、右手を添えて押し頂いてから右手に持ち替える。
左手で三度腹を押し撫で、へそを避けた高さに左から刀を突き立てる。
切腹人が刀を引き回す頃合いで、介錯人は首を皮一枚残して斬る。
皮一枚残して斬ることを「抱き首」といい、こう斬るのが礼儀とされた。
抱き首の形にするのは、首が飛んで落ち、土砂で汚れるのを防ぐため。
または「身体を分割するは親不孝」との儒教思想の影響があるため。
あるいは「討ち死には敵に頭を向ける前のめりの形が美しい」とされ
胸にぶら下がる首の重みで体を前に倒すためともいう。
ただし、切腹人があえて首を切断することを希望する場合もあり
必ずしも抱き首にしなければならないということはなかった。
首を一刀で切り落とすのは剣術に長けた者でないと勤まらず
下手な介錯ではしくじっては何度も斬りつける事態になりかねない。
介錯人は預かり人の家中の者が務める建前になっていたため
介錯の失敗は武術不心得として預かり人の家の恥とされた。
そこで、家中に腕の立つ者なければ、他家から人を借りることもあった。
江戸時代中期には切腹自体も形式的なものとなり、短刀でなく扇子を置き
それに手をかけんとした瞬間に介錯人が首を落とす方法が一般的となる。
なお、平穏な江戸時代には、どうしても腹を切れぬ武士も少なからずおり
そのため切腹ならぬ「一服」という服毒自殺の方法も用意されていた。
以上、Wikipedia「切腹」より編集引用。
自殺および自殺幇助の作法まであるとは、じつに日本的。
つくづくパターン化するのが好きな国民である。
Manners of Seppuku
There are manners in seppuku.
The person who performs seppuku is called seppukunin,
the attendant who cuts off the neck of seppukunin
and shows the neck to the post-mortem examiner,
and the person who assists the abdomen is called kaisyakunin.
Torn the abdomen only takes time to death,
and usually causes kaisyakunin to perform immediately
after tearing, as it is time-consuming and extremely painful.
In the case of seppuku,
the preferred way of cutting the belly is “one letter belly,”
which cuts the belly into one letter, and “cross letter belly,”
which further cuts the belly vertically
from the groove to the bottom of the navel.
However, it is difficult to physically carry it out,
and it seems that in the absence of kaisyakunin,
it was often killed by tapping the throat.
seppukunin scorns to the postmaster
and takes off the skin from the right.
He takes a sword with his left hand,
holds it with his right hand and pushes it to his right hand.
He pushed his belly three times with his left hand
and thrust the sword
from the left at a height that avoided the navel.
Kaisyakunin cuts a neck leaving only a piece,
as seppukunin pulls a sword around.
It is called "hugging head" to leave one skin and kill it,
and it was polite to do this.
The form of the hugging head is to prevent the head
from flying down and getting soiled.
Or because there is the influence of Confucian
thought with "dividing the body is a profane."
Or, it is said, "It's beautiful to turn your head to the enemy
and to fall forward to the avenging death is beautiful,"
and it is also called to push the body forward
with the weight of the head hanging on the chest.
However, when seppukunin dared to cut the neck in some cases,
he did not necessarily have to make it a hugging head.
Cutting off the neck with a single sword is not a good job
unless you are skilled in swordsmanship,
and a bad kaisyaku can lead to a number of cuts.
Since Kaisyakunin was in charge of being served
by the housekeepers of the depositors,
the failure of kaisyaku was regarded
as shame of the depositors' house as martial arts inconspicuous.
Therefore, they could borrow people
from the rest of the house unless they were skilled in the house.
In the middle of the Edo period,
seppuku itself becomes formal as well,
and it is common to put a fan instead of a dagger,
and to take a hand at it when the kaisyakunin takes off his head.
Furthermore, in the peaceful Edo period,
there were warriors who could not seppuku by any means,
so there was also a method of committing suicide
called "ippuku" which is not unique to seppuku.
As mentioned above, edit quotation from Wikipedia "seppuku."
It is Japanese-style to say that
it is a method of suicide and suicide assistance.
It is a people who likes to make patterns.
