Editing Decapitation (section)

==== Japan ====
[[File:Illustration of the Decapitation of Violent Chinese Soldiers by Utagawa Kokunimasa 1894.png|thumb|left|Japanese illustration depicting the beheading of Chinese captives. [[First Sino-Japanese War]]]]
[[File:Beheading of Leonard George Siffleet.jpg|thumb|Sgt. [[Leonard Siffleet]], an Australian [[POW]] captured in New Guinea, about to be beheaded by a Japanese soldier with a [[shin guntō]] sword, 1943]]
In [[Japan]], decapitation was a common punishment, sometimes for minor offences. [[Samurai]] were often allowed to decapitate soldiers who had fled from battle, as it was considered cowardly. Decapitation was historically performed as the second step in [[seppuku]] (ritual [[suicide]] by [[disembowelment]]). After the victim had sliced his own [[abdomen]] open, another warrior would strike his head off from behind with a [[katana]] to hasten death and to reduce the suffering. The blow was expected to be precise enough to leave intact a small strip of skin at the front of the neck—to spare invited and honored guests the indelicacy of witnessing a severed head rolling about, or towards them; such an occurrence would have been considered inelegant and in bad taste. The sword was expected to be used upon the slightest sign that the practitioner might yield to pain and cry out—avoiding dishonor to him and to all partaking in the privilege of observing an honorable demise. As skill was involved, only the most trusted warrior was honored by taking part. In the late [[Sengoku period]], decapitation was performed as soon as the person chosen to carry out seppuku had made the slightest wound to his abdomen.

Decapitation (without seppuku) was also considered a very severe and degrading form of punishment. One of the most brutal decapitations was that of {{ill|Sugitani Zenjubō|ja|杉谷善住坊}} (杉谷善住坊), who attempted to assassinate [[Oda Nobunaga]], a prominent ''[[daimyō]]'', in 1570.{{Disputed inline|date=November 2020}} After being caught, Zenjubō was buried alive in the ground with only his head out, and the head was slowly sawn off with a bamboo saw by passers-by for several days (punishment by sawing; {{ill|nokogiribiki|ja|鋸挽き|lt={{lang|ja-Latn|nokogiribiki|nocat=yes}}}} ({{lang|ja|鋸挽き}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%96%84%E4%BD%8F%E5%9D%8A-1085457 |title=善住坊とは |website=Kotobank.jp |access-date=21 February 2022 |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221145010/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%96%84%E4%BD%8F%E5%9D%8A-1085457 |url-status=live }}</ref> These unusual punishments were abolished in the early [[Meiji period|Meiji]] era. A similar scene is described in the last page of James Clavell's book [[Shōgun (novel)|''Shōgun'']]{{Dubious|date=November 2020}}.