'Secret teachings' about ritual Samurai beheading revealed in newly translated Japanese texts

Four texts that discuss how the samurai carried out Seppuku, a ritual death in which a fellow samurai would usually behead another, have been translated into English for the first time. While the popular imagination often has the samurai stabbing themselves in the stomach and taking their own lives, this rarely happened during the Edo period (1603 to 1868).

The earliest of the four translated texts, named "The Inner Secrets of Seppuku," dates to the 17th century. "This document contains secret teachings that are traditionally only taught verbally, however they have been recorded here so that these lessons will not be forgotten and Samurai can be prepared," wrote Mizushima Yukinari, a samurai who lived between 1607 and 1697, a time when a shogun effectively ruled Japan. While the emperor was technically the ruler of Japan, the shogun held actual political control of the country. During the Edo period, the shoguns were descended from Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who rose to power in Japan and became shogun in 1603.

The texts were translated into English by Eric Shahan, a Japanese translator who specializes in translating martial arts texts and published in the book "Kaishaku: The Role of the Second" (self published, 2024). Shahan also holds a San Dan (third-degree black belt) in Kobudo and has translated many Japanese martial arts texts. In the introduction, Shahan notes that the word "kaishaku" or "second" is a person charged with assisting in the ceremony, and often performed the beheading. The four texts were written to help give instructions to the kaishaku.

The texts described the ceremony, showing how it varied depending on a samurai's rank and which crimes, if any, they were considered to be guilty of. The texts note that it was vitally important that those carrying out the beheading do so correctly, noting that one error in particular could bring about great shame.

"It is essential that you do not fail to notice first the eyes and then the feet of the person committing Seppuku," or the person about to die, reads one of the texts called the "Secret Traditions of Seppuku," written in 1840 by a samurai named Kudo Yukihiro. "If you fail to do this due to a personal connection with the condemned, it will be proof that you have lost your martial bearing and bring down an eternal shame upon yourself."

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While the ceremony varied tremendously, many versions of it involve giving sake (rice wine) to the condemned before a knife was brought on a plate. While the condemned could plunge the knife into themselves, this was often not done. Instead, the texts indicate that the kaishaku would often cut off the condemned person's head shortly after the knife was brought out, Shahan told Live Science in an email.