The Samurai
Samurai (ä¾ or sometimes 士) is a common term for a warrior in pre-industrial Japan.
Most samurai were bound by a strict code of honor (æ¦å£«é“ bushidÅ) and were expected to set an example for those below them. A disgraced samurai could regain honor and respect by committing suicide by a gruesome and painful means: stabbing himself in the stomach with his own sword, an act called seppuku (切腹). When time was available, samurai would have a friend or student, called a kaishaku (介錯, executioner), decapitate them after the initial cut across the abdomen. Even in death, samurai were beholden to honor.
thursday, 29 september, 2005 10:15 MAT
wikipedia is great, isn’t it?