Japanese flea market cancels its best seppuku reenactment contest after

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A Japanese flea market went a little too far promoting the retractable swords one of their vendors was selling when they created a seppuku contest to be held at the market. The contest was to be held in the city of Matsue, backdropped by the historic Matsue Castle.

We are seeking participants for a seppuku contest to be held at the Dandan Terrace at Matsue City Hall on December 14 (Saturday). After committing seppuku with a plastic sword, please demonstrate your acting skills by writhing around for 30 seconds to one minute. The person with the most vivid performance will be named the champion! *The use of fake blood is prohibited.

Matsue Castle was constructed in the late 1600s by the feudal lord Horio Yoshiharu.

Just look at how beautiful this place is:

No doubt a few harakiri ceremonies involving disgraced samurai took place inside those walls.

So, it seemed like a great setting for the contest in a land known for their absurd contests.

But even the Japanese need to draw the line on entertainment somewhere.

And reenacting ritualistic suicide seems to be it.

The flea market organizers said,

Our core concern for this event [the flea market] was how to attract customers. I’ve organized various events with vendors, and the idea [for the seppuku contest] came from a girl in one group who stabbed herself in the stomach with a retractable [toy] sword that she was selling. We thought it would be interesting to use the toy for that kind of acting performance.

I would like to apologize to the involved party at city hall for causing such a disturbance from something we intended to serve as entertainment. On the other hand, we have also received emails from people saying they approve of the idea and want to participate, but we feel that holding it could contribute to a loss of trust from city hall, and so we are cancelling the contest.