to the fray with a frenzied passion and a fearless madness allied to
insanity. Such is the impression I have gathered from the descriptions
I have heard and the pictures I have seen. Even the pictures of the
late war with China give evidence of this.

But their courage is not limited to fearlessness in the face of death;
it extends to complete indifference to pain. The honorable method by
which a samurai who had transgressed some law or failed in some point
of etiquette, might leave this world is well known to all, the
"seppuku," the elegant name for the vulgar term "hara-kiri" or
"belly-cutting." To one who is sensitive to tales of blood,
unexpurgated Japanese history must be a dreadful thing. The vastness
of the multitudes who died by their own hands would be incredible,
were there not ample evidence of the most convincing nature. It may be
said with truth that suicide became apotheosized, a condition that I
suppose cannot be said to have prevailed in any other land.

In thus describing the Japanese sentiment in regard to "seppuku,"
there is, however, some danger of misrepresenting it. "Seppuku" itself
was not honored, for in the vast majority of cases those who performed
it were guilty of some crime or breach of etiquette. And not
infrequently those who were condemned to commit "seppuku" were
deficient in physical courage; in such cases, some friend took hold of
the victim's hand and forced him to cut himself. Such cowards were
always despised. To be condemned to commit "seppuku" was a disgrace,
but it was much less of a disgrace than to be beheaded as a common
man, for it permitted the samurai to show of what stuff he was made.
It should be stated further that in the case of "seppuku," as soon as
the act of cutting the abdomen had been completed, always by a single
rapid stroke, someone from behind would, with a single blow, behead
the victim. The physical agony of "seppuku" was, therefore, very
brief, lasting but a few seconds.

I can do no better than quote in this connection a paragraph from the
"Religions of Japan" by W.E. Griffis:

"From the prehistoric days when the custom of 'Junshi,' or dying
with the master, required the interment of living retainers with
their dead lord, down through all the ages to the Revolution of
1868, when at Sendai and Aidzu scores of men and boys opened their
bowels, and mothers slew their infant sons and cut their own
throats, there has been flowin