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282 HOXDA THE UAMURAI.
torture. He was beaten with bamboo rods, burned
with the moxa, made to kneel on a block of wood
cut with sharp ridges while heavy flat stones were
piled on his legs, tied with ropes and hoisted up and
down, burned with melted copper, and in other ways,
too brutal to detail, was made to confess either lies
or truth. The strangling apparatus looked as if it
were in frequent use.
At one end of the yard was a roofed structure of
posts, entirely open on all sides. This was the place
in which seppuku, or hara-kiri, was committed. Samurai
condemned to death were allowed this means
of expiating their crimes. A few feet in front of
this jisaiba (or place for killing one's self) was a
raised platform on which the officer of the court
appointed to witness the act sat. In such cases canvas
screens were stretched round the jisaiba, and out
of regard for the criminal's rank none of the lower-
grade officers or attendants was allowed to be a spectator.
The dirk, neatly wrapped in white paper
and laid on a tray, was presented to the victim, who
sat facing the official witness. Behind him stood
the executioner, to strike off his head as soon as he
thrust the blade of the dirk into his own body. After
decapitation the head of the victim was laid on the
tray, to be inspected by the officers of justice. Cases
of seppuku were very frequent in this place at this
time ; and not long after Mr. Rai's visit, owing to
political troubles, the jisaiba was for a time in almost
daily use.
About fifteen feet from the jisaiba was the chi-