Searching For- Harakiri In- Apr 2026

Then walk out into the tall grass. The wind is waiting. Harakiri (1962), dir. Masaki Kobayashi (Criterion Collection) Further reading: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword – Ruth Benedict (for context, not answers) Further feeling: “What would I do today if I had decided, last year, to stop lying to myself?” Have you ever searched for “harakiri” in your own life—not as violence, but as honesty? I’d like to hear your version. Drop a comment or reply to this newsletter.

Nothing happened. No revelation. No tears. Just the quiet hum of a city waking up, indifferent to my pilgrimage. Searching for- harakiri in-

There is no plaque. No monument. Just wet stone and a bicycle leaning against a wall. Then walk out into the tall grass

Harakiri, in its truest sense, is not about dying. It is about refusing to live one more day as a ghost. Nothing happened

What lie am I serving? Kyoto, 6 a.m. Rain on cobblestones. I had flown there on a credit card’s worth of points, telling no one. I walked to the alley behind Kennin-ji temple, where legend says a 14th-century warrior once opened his stomach in protest of a corrupt shōgun.