I'm not an expert on old Japanese customs, but seppuku could be performed for a few reasons, one of which was as a way of restoring one's honor after a failure. Honor was very important to the Japanese, and some samurai would rather die than continue to live on after a failure.
(I think that it...
No, no -- checkered adders aren't an issue at all. If anything, they're helpful. This little guy was released in our garden, but I haven't seen him since.
Now, if I had caught the rat snake that I saw near the compost pile a few months back, then it would be a 5-gallon bucket -- that thing must have been two feet long, maybe closer to 3.
Poor Najika wouldn't stop clucking at it.
I don't think that we have any venomous snakes -- or at least none that are dangerous to humans. I've seen garter snakes, ribbon snakes, black rat snakes, and checkered adders.
Actually, a cute little baby adder visited us in the front room back in the summer: