Kaishakunin

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For the manga group, see Kaishaku (manga group)

A kaishakunin (Japanese: 介錯人) is an appointed second whose duty is to behead one who has committed seppuku at the moment of agony.

Aside from the purpose of being spared prolonged anguish until death, both the condemned and those on hand to observe are spared the spectacle of the writhing death throes that would ensue. The use of a kaishakunin is normally reserved for one who is performing the deed out of honor, rather than in disgrace. For example, a warlord who is defeated in battle and has chosen to commit seppuku might be appointed a second so that he may die respectably, as opposed to a samurai who has been ordered to die for some crime, or for having disgraced his clan through dishonorable deeds.

The most recent kaishakunin of the 20th century was Hiroyasu Koga, who beheaded the novelist Yukio Mishima during Mishima's seppuku.

[edit] The ritual

Still preserved in modern-day Iaido katas, the ritual of performing kaishaku varies very little between Japanese fencing schools, but all of them are bound to the following steps to be performed by the kaishakunin:

First, the kaishakunin sits down in seiza position, or remains standing, at the left side of the samurai about to commit seppuku, at a prudent distance but close enough to be reached with his katana when the time is adequate. If seated, the kaishakunin will raise slowly, first on his knees, then stepping with the right foot while drawing the katana very slowly and silently and standing up in the same fashion (keeping in mind that the tekki (opponent) is not an enemy, but rather a fellow samurai). If the kaishakunin was from a standing stance, it will draw his katana slowly and silently as well. In both cases, after the katana is out of the saya, he will raise it with the right hand and wait for the seppuku to begin. Some modern Iaido styles, like the Muso Jikiden-Eishin Ryu, establishes this "waiting stance" as the kaishakunin having taken one step back with the right foot, katana behind his head parallel to the floor held with the right hand, left hand holding the saya in sayabiki position; other styles establishes that the katana is to be held vertically, parallel to the body, held in the right hand, the left hand resting at the kaishakunin side, feet together. In any case, the kaishakunin will always keep eye contact with the samurai performing seppuku, and waiting for his cut (kiri) through his abdomen (hara).

When the samurai actually performs the seppuku, and after he returns the tanto blade back to the cut beginning, the kaishakunin steps forward, letting drop the katana straight through the back of the neck of the dying samurai. Just before making contact, the kaishakunin grip the tsuka with both hands for breaking initial resistance, giving precision to the katana's blade and strength to the kiritsuke (downward cut). This head cut is supposed not to go all the way through the samurai's neck: honor dictated that the cut shall finish just before beheading completely the samurai that has committed the seppuku, since losing completely his head was considered a grave dishonor and disgrace (remember that only the samurai that were invited to perform seppuku in order of to preserve his honor were allowed to have a kaishakunin to assist, and therefore the importance of to preserve that honor to the end; samurai committing seppuku for criminal actions were not allowed to have any assistance). Therefore, the final cut has to be controlled, in order for the initial kiritsuke to reach only half the neck of the samurai; the final cut, leaving the required skin to hold the head attached to the samurai's body, was performed by a single slashing/withdrawing motion of the katana. The complete cut-slash-withdraw motion is called dakikubi.

After the dead samurai falls, the kaishakunin, with the same slow, silent style used when unsheathing the katana, performs chiburi (shaking the blood off the katana's blade) and noto (returning the katana to the saya, or scabbard), while kneeling towards the fellow samurai's dead body. When the noto is completed, the kaishakunin was to remain knelt for a while, as a sign of deep respect to the fallen samurai that committed the ritual suicide, always in zanshin (total awareness) before standing up and bowing (rei) to his body.

[edit] In popular culture

In the manga Lone wolf and cub, the hero of the comic Ogami Itto used to be in the Tokugawa Shogunate fictional Kogi Kaishakunin. He would occasionally perform kaishaku to disgraced Samurai in some episodes even though he is officially discharged from service.