Other way around. Seppuku is the whole ritual, which includes the helper. But if you just gut yourself out in the woods with no ceremony, it’s harikiri
Not quite but I can see why people think so. Both words stem from the same Kanji pair: 腹切. Abdomen cut.
But one is read natively (harakiri) with an informal and colloquial feel to it and the other uses borrowed Chinese readings (seppuku) that makes it sound more formal/ritualistic to be used in formal settings. But they mean the same thing and both refer to the ritual.
A similar example is Japan’s own name: 日本. It’s usually read as “nihon” but has a special, formal reading of “nippon”.
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How so?
Harikari = seppuku. They’re even written with the same kanji characters.
Oh, and harikari usually has a helper.
Other way around. Seppuku is the whole ritual, which includes the helper. But if you just gut yourself out in the woods with no ceremony, it’s harikiri
One is the actual disembowelment one is the ritual IIRC
Yes I guess harakiri is the act of disemboweling yourself and seppuku is the ceremony surrounding it.
Not quite but I can see why people think so. Both words stem from the same Kanji pair: 腹切. Abdomen cut.
But one is read natively (harakiri) with an informal and colloquial feel to it and the other uses borrowed Chinese readings (seppuku) that makes it sound more formal/ritualistic to be used in formal settings. But they mean the same thing and both refer to the ritual.
A similar example is Japan’s own name: 日本. It’s usually read as “nihon” but has a special, formal reading of “nippon”.