. In other words, under the code of Bushido, if ever a samurai fails to uphold his honor he can only regain it by performing Harakiri. To complete the ghastly ritual of Harakiri, the performer is required to open up his abdomen using a sword, starting from left to right and then finishing from top to bottom. However, in order to curtail the sufferings of the performer, another swordsman, who is appointed as the second, decapitates the performer at the very moment the formality of the ritual is completed.

The plot of Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri, based in the backdrop of 17 th century Japan, revolves around an elderly ronin (an unemployed Samurai), Hanshiro Tsugumo who requests for a rendezvous with a feudal lord of Iyi Clan seeking his permission and a suitable place to commit Harakiri. With the intention of intimidating Hanshiro Tsugumo, the counselor of Iyi Clan narrates the story of a young ronin, Motome Chijiiwa who was manhandled by the samurai retainers of the house in order to make him fulfill his promise of committing Harakiri. Chijiiwa had hoped that his threat would be deemed an act of valor and that he would be rewarded accordingly by the lord of the house, but to his dismay he ended up becoming a hapless victim of his own misjudgment. What made matters worse for Chijiiwa was that, in his state of destitution, he had previously sold the steel blades of his sword and had surrogated them with blades made of bamboo. Unperturbed by Chijiiwa’s pitiful state, the retainers of the house forced him to commit Harakiri using the very sword, thus making the task unworthy as well as excruciatingly painful and difficult.

The plot of Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri, based in the backdrop of 17 th century Japan, revolves around an elderly ronin (an unemployed Samurai), Hanshiro Tsugumo who requests for a rendezvous with a feudal lord of Iyi Clan seeking his permission and a suitable place to commit Harakiri. With the intention of intimidating Hanshiro Tsugumo, the counselor of Iyi Clan narrates the story of a young ronin, Motome Chijiiwa who was manhandled by the samurai retainers of the house in order to make him fulfill his promise of committing Harakiri. Chijiiwa had hoped that his threat would be deemed an act of valor and that he would be rewarded accordingly by the lord of the house, but to his dismay he ended up becoming a hapless victim of his own misjudgment. What made matters worse for Chijiiwa was that, in his state of destitution, he had previously sold the steel blades of his sword and had surrogated them with blades made of bamboo. Unperturbed by Chijiiwa’s pitiful state, the retainers of the house forced him to commit Harakiri using the very sword, thus making the task unworthy as well as excruciatingly painful and difficult.

Motome Chijiiwa arrives at the Feudal Lord's residence

Chijiiwa commits Harakiri using Bamboo-Bladed Sword