Us common folk still call it harakiri. Probably not going to take the advice of Mr. May.

Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa (dude from Pearl Harbor, Rising Sun, and Mortal Kombat) once told me a story about a son who had shamed his samurai family. His harakiri was done in haste. There's supposed to be ritual even in preparation, but what he had done was so disgraceful that his harakiri couldn't even merit one more person.

Anyway, he proceeded with the blade. The process involves take the blade and cutting oneself across the abdomen. After that, you're supposed to bring the blade up and then wait to die.

For some reason this guy couldn't complete it. Something was stopping him from doing it. In the meantime, he kept on piercing himself with the abdomen until he got it right. He must have tried over ten times. But SOMETHING was stopping him because he couldn't end his life just yet.

He was eventually found by someone and recovered despite almost bleeding to death. He eventually fled Japan and settled in what is now Little Tokyo in Southern California and became the most successful Asian-American actor of his time.