Seppuku (Hara-Kiri) was a keypartofbushido, the code of the samurai warriors; it was used by warriors to avoidfalling into enemyhands, and toattenuateshame.
The role wasn't a complete sinecure: the ruling warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, ordered the seppuku, or ritual suicide, of one of Koetsu's circle, the tea master Furuta Oribe, for some real or imagined disloyalty.