Seppuku to prefer Chinese readings in official announcements, only the term seppuku was ever used in writing. So hara-kiri is a spoken term, but only to commoners and seppuku a written term, but spoken amongst higher classes for the same act. The practice of performing seppuku at the death of one's master, known as oibara (追腹 or 追い腹, the kun'yomi or Japanese reading) or tsuifuku (追腹, the on'yomi or Chinese reading), follows a similar ritual. The word means "suicide" in Japanese. The modern word for suicide is . In some popular western texts, such as martial arts magazines, the term is
Way of the Samurai "Way of the Samurai" was also released on PlayStation Portable on September 18, 2008 in Japan; prior to the release of "Way of the Samurai 3". The story of "Way of the Samurai" takes place in 1878, after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the start of the Meiji period, during the Satsuma Rebellion, a time when the samurai who were once at the top of Japanese society are all but outlawed. The game begins with the player, taking the role of a wandering rōnin by the name of Kenji, arriving in a fictional outpost called Rokkotsu Pass. Rokkotsu