The Martyrdom of Mr. and Mrs. Nogi

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　I haven't been able to find any official documents yet (not that I can find any), but it seems to be true that "a false rumor flew around the world" about the martyrdom of Mr. and Mrs. Nogi. As you can see from Quiz Millionaire, the audience is not stupid. But the last hundred-odd years of modern literature have been stupid and sloppy. There were a lot of people involved. I'm not talking about who and who. Thousands and thousands of literary figures misread Soseki Natsume's "Kokoro". It was not a matter of one person committing seppuku. If we are to take responsibility, then tens of thousands of people must commit seppuku. But seppuku is not the only way to die. The following is a quote from an article by Yasuo Yagiri.

　In the Kokumin Shinbun of September 15, 1912, the chief of the Akasaka Police Station at the time, Hondo, who was present at the administrative inspection of General Nogi's seppuku, prefaced his article with the words, "I will tell you the truth about the end of General Nogi, who committed seppuku at 8:00 p.m. on the 13th, because some errors have been propagated.
As one who was present at the autopsy, I would like to tell you the truth about the death of the General who committed suicide at 8 p.m. on the 13th.
I have seen many suicides in my life, but I have never seen such a samurai-like suicide, and it is truly exemplary," he said. This is a form of seppuku. This was in accordance with the law of seppuku, and it was truly magnificent. He then placed the handle of the sword on the tatami mat and put his body forward, penetrating his neck, with the 6" end of the cut sticking out of the back of his head, so that he was lying slightly prone. On the other hand, the wife, wearing a formal dress with a crest, was holding a seven-inch katana sword, cleared her throat, and placed it on her chest with the hilt on the pillow, leaning forward to pierce her heart. But he did not fall to his knees and did not look the least bit distraught. It was a beautiful end to a life filled with fresh blood, and it made everyone who saw it straighten their necks.
This is a detailed description of his death, as if he had been there from the beginning.
　However, this is not the case. If this is the case, why did the chief hold a press conference immediately after the announcement of the suicide on the night of the 13th in the morning newspaper on the 14th, and why did such a story appear on the 15th?
　At the time, the rumor was that the couple had been killed in the line of duty, but today they are considered to have died in the line of duty. There is, of course, a backstory to this story, but I will not go into it here, because it is not the subject of this article. Instead, I would like to focus on the method of seppuku, which was considered to be "exemplary" by the authorities of the time.
First, the sword is inserted into the lower belly.
Second, an eight inch cut to the right.
I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.
I'm not sure what to do.
He then pulled the blade out of the tatami and held it against his collar.
At the sixth, he fixes the handle under the tatami mat with something.
Seven, strike the head like a mallet.
　Even if we assume that each of these actions was performed in order and without error in one minute each, it would take a total of seven consecutive minutes.
However, current clinical data in forensic medicine shows that "in the first movement, that is, when the foreign body is plunged under the skin. In up to 80 out of 83 cases, mourning or fainting occurs.
　In other words, it is because of this superhuman act that we worship General Nogi today.
　Many Japanese have committed seppuku with Japanese swords since the first year of the Taisho Era (1912-1926), but there is no such detailed account of the actual event, nor is there any other known "model" of such an act.
　Now, I have cited the article of Shogun Nogi and his wife as a perfect example because of the sublimity of its embodied form, but this shows that even if one were to attempt to carry out the act of death in an exemplary manner, it would be very impossible for an ordinary person to do so, even if one were to start with partial local anesthesia. (1089 Discussion: The Yagiri View of History, by Yasuo Yagiri)
http://www.rekishi.info/library/yagiri/index.html

　Some of Yagiri's works can be read for free on the Internet. Although he is a theorist with a unique view of history, I think what he says here is generally common sense. I don't think it is a coincidence that Mori Ogai, who was also a doctor, not only wrote a series of novels about martyrdom, but also repeatedly wrote about how difficult it was to die by suicide in "Sakai Incident" and "Takasebune.

　And as Yagiri points out, it is strange that the chief of the Akasaka Police Station, Hondo, held an emergency press conference as if he had seen it. If it were not for the Forensic Science Laboratory, it would be difficult to give such a detailed explanation. And here we can see the sanctification that Jun Eto hated. No, let's think about it calmly. How can a person who has never committed seppuku himself be able to explain how to do it? Only a failure story like "Takasebune" can tell the story. If you die well, you have nothing to say. Only suicidal maniacs can talk about it.

　The next day, the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun reported the following.
　He died a martyr's death with the signal of the mourning gun in the reigning housing. (Omitted)
　In the room where the general committed suicide, a picture of His Majesty the Emperor and a picture of his two sons who died in the Russo-Japanese War were hung, under which the general, holding a dagger in his other hand, cut his throat from right to left and stabbed his wife in the left breast until it reached her heart.
　The first will, addressed to Baron Ishiguro, implored him to keep the corpse disfigured after death.
　(Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, September 14, 1912) ("A Psycho-historical Study of the Meiji State: In Search of the Spirit of the Meiji Era," Tokuo Suzuki and Kazumasa Kado (eds.), Ibunsha, 2008)
　This newspaper article is an essay by a child, and the explanation by the chief of the Akasaka Police Station, Hondo, is a well-done fiction.

　Of course, this is not a discussion of literature itself. However, it must be acknowledged that Soseki Natsume wrote in his diary about the martyrdom of Mr. and Mrs. Nogi, "Is this sacred or sinful? If you don't notice this, you can't be sure that you have read Soseki Natsume's Kokoro. Even if Jun Eto had overlooked it, I would have to write about it again and again unless I want to sanctify Jun Eto. Most of the common people who made false accusations in the first year of Taisho are no longer alive. Nevertheless, thanks to Soseki Natsume and Ogai Mori, we who live in the present age should be able to realize the disreputability of the Meiji era and the spirit of the Meiji era. There is no one who still believes that there is no mistake in what the government does.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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