Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

On the Preparation of the Place Of Execution
In old days the ceremony of hara-kiri used to be performed in a temple.
In the third year of the period called Kan-yei (A.D. 1626), a certain person,
having been guilty of treason, was ordered to disembowel himself,
on the fourteenth day of the first month, in the temple of Kichijôji, at
Komagomé, in Yedo. Eighteen years later, the retainer of a certain
Daimio, having had a dispute with a sailor belonging to an Osaka
coasting-ship, killed the sailor; and, an investigation having been made
into the matter by the Governor of Osaka, the retainer was ordered to
perform hara-kiri, on the twentieth day of the sixth month, in the temple
called Sokusanji, in Osaka. During the period Shôhô (middle of seventeenth
century), a certain man, having been guilty of heinous misconduct,
performed hara-kiri in the temple called Shimpukuji, in the Kôjistreet
of Yedo. On the fourth day of the fifth month of the second year of
the period Meiréki (A.D. 1656), a certain man, for having avenged the
death of his cousin's husband at a place called Shimidzudani, in the Kôjistreet,
disembowelled himself in the temple called Honseiji. On the
twenty-sixth day of the sixth month of the eighth year of the period Yempô
(A.D. 1680), at the funeral ceremonies in honour of the anniversary of
the death of Genyuin Sama, a former Shogun, Naitô Idzumi no Kami,
having a cause of hatred against Nagai Shinano no Kami, killed him at
one blow with a short sword, in the main hall of the temple called Zôjôji
(the burial-place of the Shoguns in Yedo). Idzumi no Kami was arrested
by the officers present, and on the following day performed hara-kiri at
Kiridôshi, in the temple called Seiriuji.
In modern times the ceremony has taken place at night, either in the
palace or in the garden of a Daimio, to whom the condemned man has
been given in charge. Whether it takes place in the palace or in the
garden depends upon the rank of the individual. Daimios and Hatamotos,
as a matter of course, and the higher retainers of the Shogun, disembowel
themselves in the palace: retainers of lower rank should do so in
the garden. In the case of vassals of feudatories, according to the rank of
their families, those who, being above the grade of captains, carry the
bâton, 116 should perform hara-kiri in the palace; all others in the garden.
If, when the time comes, the persons engaged in the ceremony are in any
doubt as to the proper rules to be followed, they should inquire of competent
persons, and settle the question. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century, during the period Genroku, when Asano Takumi no
116.A bâton with a tassel of paper strips, used for giving directions in war-time.
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