th white binding, were arranged in the
shape of a hammer, the one at right angles to the other; six feet of
white silk, four feet broad, were stretched on the mat, which was
placed lengthwise; at the four corners were erected four posts for
curtains. In front of the two mats was erected a portal, eight feet
high by six feet broad, in the shape of the portals in front of
temples, made of a fine sort of bamboo wrapped in white[106] silk.
White curtains, four feet broad, were hung at the four corners, and
four flags, six feet long, on which should be inscribed four
quotations from the sacred books. These flags, it is said, were
immediately after the ceremony carried away to the grave. At night two
lights were placed, one upon either side of the two mats. The candles
were placed in saucers upon stands of bamboo, four feet high, wrapped
in white silk. The person who was to disembowel himself, entering the
picket fence by the north entrance, took his place upon the white silk
upon the mat facing the north. Some there were, however, who said that
he should sit facing the west: in that case the whole place must be
prepared accordingly. The seconds enter the enclosure by the south
entrance, at the same time as the principal enters by the north, and
take their places on the mat that is placed crosswise.

[Footnote 105: No Japanese authority that I have been able to consult
gives any explanation of this singular name.]

[Footnote 106: White, in China and Japan, is the colour of mourning.]

Nowadays, when the _hara-kiri_ is performed inside the palace, a
temporary place is made on purpose, either in the garden or in some
unoccupied spot; but if the criminal is to die on the day on which he
is given in charge, or on the next day, the ceremony, having to take
place so quickly, is performed in the reception-room. Still, even if
there is a lapse of time between the period of giving the prisoner in
charge and the execution, it is better that the ceremony should take
place in a decent room in the house than in a place made on purpose.
If it is heard that, for fear of dirtying his house, a man has made a
place expressly, he will be blamed for it. It surely can be no
disgrace to the house of a soldier that he was ordered to perform the
last offices towards a Samurai who died by _hara-kiri_. To slay his
enemy against whom he has cause of hatred, and then to kill himself,
is the part of a noble Samurai; and it is sheer nonsense to look upo