Comments on: Byakkotai—19 Young Samurai Needlessly Sacrificed Themselves in the Name of Honor https://www.morethantokyo.com/byakkotai-samurai-sacrificed-themselves/ Exploring the Wonders of Rural Japan Sat, 04 Jan 2025 02:17:56 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Diane Tincher https://www.morethantokyo.com/byakkotai-samurai-sacrificed-themselves/#comment-1953 Wed, 25 Sep 2024 22:39:43 +0000 https://morethantokyo.com/?p=3923#comment-1953 In reply to Dushy.

That is very sad. I wonder how many such cases exist across the history of the world.

In Japan, when a lord died, it was the custom for his most loyal retainers to take their lives to join him in the afterlife. The last case that I know of occurred on the day of Emperor Meiji’s death in 1912; General Nogi Maresuke and his wife Shizuko committed suicide by seppuku.

]]> By: Dushy https://www.morethantokyo.com/byakkotai-samurai-sacrificed-themselves/#comment-1943 Sun, 22 Sep 2024 08:23:29 +0000 https://morethantokyo.com/?p=3923#comment-1943 Thank you. Very useful and sad. In very ancient Tamil literature too we had a similar group called Eyinar. They did likewise. Their goddess was Ei. Her second was goddess Kottravai. The warrior clan ceased to be they say because of this type of honor sacrifice.

]]> By: Jonathan Zvonko https://www.morethantokyo.com/byakkotai-samurai-sacrificed-themselves/#comment-1777 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 04:37:05 +0000 https://morethantokyo.com/?p=3923#comment-1777 Been there and going back again soon. Aizu and the area are all beautiful and so is the history.

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