Hara-kari in Japan.
A letter written by a Frenchman at Jeddo, and dated January 5, contains the following:‘ The Japanese who yesterday passed through the principal streets of Hongo — the aristocratic quarter of Jeddo — were surprised to see not one, but fourteen houses covered from top to bottom with white hangings, a sign that each of their owners, a noble or some high functionary, had been ordered by the Tycoon to kill himself during the day by ripping open his bowels. On receiving notice, the unhappy man makes immediate preparation for his death.--He calls his friends and relatives around him, and with them he drinks rye brandy, eats sweetmeats, and jests upon the uncertainty of human affairs, until the arrival of the Imperial inspector, sent to see the execution executed.
On his entrance, the master of the house rises, takes leave of his friends, and passes into another room with the inspector and two or three relations. After hearing the decree read, the condemned man draws his sabre, makes one cut across and another along his abdomen, and, lastly, cuts his throat. It often happens that a man has only strength to make the first cut. In that case, a trusty servant, standing behind him for the purpose, strikes off his head. No one has any knowledge of the offences for which these fourteen personages were condemned to death, but I head that they were suspected of being too sincere partisans of the alliance with Europeans. Another report was that they had been engaged in some mysterious conspiracy.
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