Seppuku approaching her, they would find that she had ended her life long before they reached her. Stephen R. Turnbull provides extensive evidence for the practice of female ritual suicide, notably of samurai wives, in pre-modern Japan. One of the largest mass suicides was the 25 April 1185 final defeat of Taira no Tomomori establishing Minamoto power. The wife of Onodera Junai, one of the Forty-seven Ronin, is a notable example of a wife following seppuku of a samurai husband. A large number of honor suicides marked the defeat of the Aizu clan in the Boshin War of 1869, leading into
Samurai Warriors 4 the game. The original features a total of 55 characters, more than previous games in the series. Virtually all characters from previous games return, including three characters (Goemon Ishikawa, Kojirō Sasaki, and Musashi Miyamoto) that were cut from the main series in "Samurai Warriors 3" (in "Samurai Warriors 2" for Goemon). Three characters: Munenori Yagyū, Naotora Ii, and Takatora Tōdō also make their debut in the main series here after having been introduced in the spin-off ""; they are counted as new characters in promotional materials. In addition to returning characters, the game also introduces nine new characters, some of