Word: kiri
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When the division moved to Luzon, there were new terms: for every live Jap, one case of beer and a three-day pass to Manila. Sergeant Brown took a prisoner in a cave by persuading him to discard his hara-kiri grenade and come out. Then Brown picked up his beer and went to Manila...
...days after this return he copped one live prisoner with a flying tackle, turned him over to a second soldier to hold, then chased a second Jap, who promptly sat down and pulled out a hara-kiri grenade. Thoughtfully Sergeant Brown stopped, took out a cigaret and lit it. The Jap's face brightened. Brown replaced his .45 in its holster, walked up to the Jap and offered him a cigaret. The Jap put down his grenade for a moment to accept the gift . . . Brown went to Manila again...
When the aging General and his wife learned of Meiji's death, they purified themselves by Shinto rites. Then according to the old Shinto practice of junshi (servants following masters in death), they knelt before their household shrine and with ceremonial swords committed hara-kiri by eviscerating themselves. Later, Americans, shocked and baffled when trapped Japanese soldiers blew themselves to bits with hand grenades, or Japanese civilians drowned themselves rather than surrender, might recall General Nogi's act, with a shudder...
...decided to go abroad. Never before had an imperial Heir Apparent left the Land of the Gods. Shinto jingoists threatened to fling themselves in fanatic immolation under the train that bore the Crown Prince to his ship. But Hirohito was not deterred, and this 20th Century form of hara-kiri did not take place...
Mass hara-kiri will be effected, in front of family and military shrines . . . and in front of the Palace in Tokyo...