“The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of 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 to 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.”

I might multiply any number of descriptions of seppuku from literature or from the relation of eye-witnesses; but one more instance will suffice.

Two brothers, Sakon and Naiki, respectively twenty-four and seventeen years of age, made an effort to kill Iyeyasu in order to avenge their father’s wrongs; but before they could enter the camp they were made prisoners.  The old general admired the pluck of the youths who dared an attempt on his life and ordered that they should be allowed to die an honorable death.  Their little brother Hachimaro, a mere infant of eight summers, was condemned to a similar fate, as the sentence was pronounced on all the male members of the family, and the three were taken to a monastery where it was to be executed.  A physician who was present on the occasion has left us a diary from which the following scene is translated.  “When they were all seated in a row for final despatch, Sakon turned to the youngest and said—­’Go thou first, for I wish to be sure that thou doest it aright.’  Upon the little one’s replying that, as he had never seen seppuku performed, he would like to see his brothers do it and then he could follow them, the older brothers smiled between their tears:—­’Well said, little fellow!  So canst thou well boast of being our father’s child.’  When they had placed him between them, Sakon thrust the dagger into the left side of his own abdomen and asked—­’Look, brother!  Dost understand now?  Only, don’t push the dagger too far, lest thou fall back.  Lean forward, rather, and keep thy knees well composed.’  Naiki did likewise and said to the boy—­’Keep thy eyes open or else thou mayst look like a dying woman.  If thy dagger feels anything within and thy strength fails, take courage and double thy effort to cut across.’  The child looked from one to the other, and when both had expired, he calmly half denuded himself and followed the example set him on either hand.”

The glorification of seppuku offered, naturally enough, no small temptation to its unwarranted committal.  For causes entirely incompatible with reason, or for reasons entirely undeserving of death, hot headed youths rushed into it as insects fly into fire; mixed and dubious motives drove more samurai to this deed than nuns into convent gates.  Life was cheap—­cheap as reckoned by the popular standard of honor.  The saddest feature was that honor, which was always in the agio, so to speak, was not always solid gold, but alloyed with baser metals.  No one circle in the Inferno will boast of greater density of Japanese population than the seventh, to which Dante consigns all victims of self-destruction!