HARA, TAKASHI (1856-1921), Japanese politician, was born at Morioka. After studying law and practising journalism he entered the diplomatic service, and was chargé d'affaires in Paris in 1886. In 1892 he was appointed director of the com mercial bureau at the Foreign Office, and in 1895 became vice minister of the department. He acted as minister to Korea from 1896-97, when he became chief editor of the Osaka Mainichv. Still deeply interested in politics he became the leading spirit of the Seiyu-Kai (Liberal) party. From the end of 1900 to May 1901 he was minister of communications in the Ito ministry. He then became chief editor of the Osaka Shimpo, and was elected a member of the House of Representatives for Morioka in 1902. Definitely abandoning journalism he was appointed minister for home affairs in the first Saionji ministry of 1906, in the second Saionji ministry of and in the Yamamoto ministry of 1913. On Sept. 29, 1918 Hara, as the first commoner to become prime minister of Japan, formed a cabinet based, for the first time in the history of Japanese politics, on strictly parliamentary prin ciples. He was assassinated by a demented youth in Tokyo on Nov. 4, 1921.
self-disembowelment (Japanese hara, belly, and kini, cutting), the method of suicide permitted to offenders of the noble class in feudal Japan and later the national form of honourable suicide. The more commonly used modern term is Seppuku, the Chinese reading of the same characters. Hara-kiri was a growth of mediaeval militarism, prompted by the desire of the noble to escape the humiliation of falling into an enemy's hands. By the end of the 14th century the custom had become a valued privilege. Hara-kiri was of two kinds, obligatory and voluntary. The first is the more ancient. An official or noble, who had broken the law or been disloyal, received a message from the mikado, couched always in gracious terms, courteously intimating that he must die. The mikado usually sent a jewelled dagger with which the deed might be done. The suicide made dignified preparations for the ceremony. In his own baronial hall, or in a temple, a dais, 3 or 4 in. from the ground, was con structed. Upon this was laid a rug of red felt. The suicide, clothed in his ceremonial dress, and accompanied by his second (Kaishaku), took his place on the mat, the officials and his friends ranging themselves in a semi-circle. The weapon was then handed to him with many obeisances by the mikado's representa tive, and he made a public confession of his fault. A moment later he plunged the dagger into his stomach below the waist on the left side, drew it slowly across to the right and, turning it, gave a slight cut upward. At the same moment the Kaishaku, who crouched at his friend's side, leaping up, brought his sword down on the outstretched neck. The bloodstained dagger was taken to the mikado as a proof of the consummation of the act. The performance of hara-kiri carried with it certain privileges. If it was by order of the mikado half only of a traitor's property was forfeited to the State. If the gnawings of conscience drove the disloyal noble to voluntary suicide, his dishonour was wiped out, and his family inherited all his fortune.
Voluntary hara-kiri was the refuge of men rendered desperate by private misfortunes, or was committed from loyalty to a dead superior, or as a protest against what was deemed a false national policy. This voluntary suicide still survives, a character istic case being that of the citizen who despatched himself in 1925 as a protest against the Government's foreign policy. The popularity of this self-immolation is testified to by the fact that for centuries no fewer than 1,500 hara-kiris are said to have taken place annually, at least half being entirely voluntary. Stories of amazing heroism are told in connection with the per formance of the act. Obligatory hara-kiri was actually abolished in 1868.
See A. B. Mitford, Tales of Old Japan; Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese (1898) .