Jigai: Death for Honor

(The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the Forty-seven Ronin, prepares for her suicide.)

The word jigai literally means "suicide." The usual modern word for suicide is jisatsu. Jigai refers to suicide by both females and males including samurai (but usually this word is reserved exclusively for female suicide). Male suicide is usually called Harakiri, or Sepukku (both meaning "ritual suicide").

Some females belonging to samurai family committed suicide by cutting the jugular vein with a knife. The main purpose was to achieve a quick and certain death in order to avoid capture. Before committing suicide, a woman would often tie her knees together so her body would be found in a dignified pose, despite the convulsions of death. Jigai, however, does not refer exclusively to this particular mode of suicide. Jigai was often done to preserve one's honor if a military defeat was imminent, so as to prevent rape. Invading armies would often enter homes to find the lady of the house seated alone, facing away from the door. On approaching her, they would find that she had ended her life long before they reached her.

I found this while meandering through random Samurai history, and I found it somewhat intriguing. While women have been killing themselves to prevent from being "dishonored" since men have been killing each other, I hadn't ever seen anything Japanese related to the subject. That women actually had a title for this duty and were in fact expected to kill themselves seems to go hand in hand with the male version sepukku, being that you must kill yourself to preserve your own honor rather than having it taken away. But while men loose honor through being killed by another, women lose honor by living with another. Which seems to again suggest that women belong to their men and should be willing to kill themselves (as he is) should his endeavors fail. While obviously this would be advantageous to the woman, being that she would want to avoid being raped or forced into servitude, I can't help but think that it still has something to do with ownership.