Some of Japan's historical artifacts may cause the faint of heart to shudder, while the reasons behind their preservation bemuse us all.
A few can be found at the temple, Miyokokuji, in the city of Sakai. A thatch of hair, a death poem, and two small podiums spattered with unmistakable drops of age-old blood are on display.
A scroll hangs above them portraying the eleven men who took their own lives in the temple garden with foreign representatives looking on.
Much of the circumstances that lead up to that ritual sacrifice remain a mystery. On the other hand, it was a clear reflection of social and political forces from both within and without the archipelago that had reached a crucial turning point.
Here is what happened on the eighth of May, 1868 near Sakai Harbor. The French ship, Dupliex, was on a survey mission of the area and anchored in the harbor. Sailors from the Dupliex left the ship in a skiff and came ashore. A force of Japanese men from an area on Shikoku Island, then called Tosa, who were assigned to guard the city, attacked the sailors and killed eleven of them.
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