Samurai headhunting and Seppuku. If an enemy commander performed seppuku before being captured, will the person finding the body and taking the head be rewarded?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1h67usb/samurai_headhunting_and_seppuku_if_an_enemy/

created by JayFSB on 04/12/2024 at 04:36 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 top-level comments (showing 1)

Famous samurai leaders often committed seppuku to avoid being captured and Nobunaga's suicide was so thorough Mitsuhide failed to take his head as a trophy.

So if the enemy killed himself before you got to him, would the samurai who took the head of someone like Minamoto no Yoshitsune be rewarded despite it not being his kill?

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Samurai headhunting and Seppuku. If an enemy commander performed seppuku before being captured, will the person finding the body and taking the head be rewarded?

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