dumb question regarding seppuku

[Marius]

Gents,

 

During the seppuku ceremony there was a stand for the tanto. The samurai committing seppuku would grab the tanto with his left hand, put it in his right hand and then grab the stand with his left. He would tuck the stand under his buttocks to keep him from falling on his back.

 

I believe the film here shows it quite correctly (WARNING: not for the faint-hearted). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVE7aqrva0g

I have attached a picture of the stand.

 

Question - how is this stand called in Japanese, please?

[kunitaro]

三方　Sanpo(u)

 

you can find them in the Shinto ceremony.

[Marius]

Thank you, Kunitaro-san :-)

[Jiro49]

Let me know if you need a second

 

I also thought they tucked the kimono around their knees as to stay upright as well?

[jamesicus]

There is certainly plenty of online information relating to seppuku that can be accessed using various search engines such as Google. I think the following web page offers very good information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku

 

I lived in Japan in the early 1960s and by that time many of the vestiges of "old Japan" were fading away: I certainly thought ritual seppuku was a thing of the past - gone forever. I departed Japan in 1964, so imagine my dismay when in 1970 I read the account of public seppuku by famed Japanese author Yukio Mishina (and one of his followers) at the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JASDAF) headquarters (that I had visited several times) after an unsuccessful attempt to incite the armed forces to stage a coup!

 

Refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima

 

It seems that the protocols for ritual seppuku changed somewhat over time, and I seem to remember reading somewhere that a tanto was not always required - that a favorite wakizashi was acceptable also (a katana being too unwieldy?).

 

James