his right side, and turning it in the wound,
gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he
never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned
forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first
time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the
_kaishaku_, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching
his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in
the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with
one blow the head had been severed from the body.

"A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood
throbbing out of the inert head before us, which but a moment before had
been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible.

"The _kaishaku_ made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of paper
which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor;
and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the
execution.

"The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and
crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called to us to
witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been
faithfully carried out. The ceremony being at an end, we left the
temple."

I might multiply any number of descriptions of _seppuku_ from literature
or from the relation of eye-witnesses; but one more instance will
suffice.

Two brothers, Sakon and Naiki, respectively twenty-four and seventeen
years of age, made an effort to kill Iyeyasu in order to avenge their
father's wrongs; but before they could enter the camp they were made
prisoners. The old general admired the pluck of the youths who dared an
attempt on his life and ordered that they should be allowed to die an
honorable death. Their little brother Hachimaro, a mere infant of eight
summers, was condemned to a similar fate, as the sentence was pronounced
on all the male members of the family, and the three were taken to a
monastery where it was to be executed. A physician who was present on
the occasion has left us a diary from which the following scene is
translated. "When they were all seated in a row for final despatch,
Sakon turned to the youngest and said--'Go thou first, for I wish to be
sure that thou doest it aright.' Upon the little one's replying that, as
he had never seen _seppuku_ performed, he would like to see his brothers
do it and then he could follow them, t