Authorities.—Hatschek, “Studien z. Entw. der Anneliden,” Arb. Zool. Inst. Wien, vol. i., 1878; “Protodrilus,” ibid. vol. iii. (1881); Fraipont, “Le Genre Polygordius,” Fauna u. Flora d. Golfes v. Neapel., xiv., 1887; Weldon, “Dinophilus gigas,” Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. vol. xxvii., 1886; Harmer, “Dinophilus,” Journ. Mar. Biol. N.S. vol. i., 1889; Schimkewitsch, “Entwickl. des Dinophilus,” Zeit. f. wiss. Zool. vol. lix., 1895; Korschelt, “Über Bau u. Entw. des Dinophilus,” Zeit. f. wiss. Zool. vol. xxxvii., 1882; Foettinger, “Histriobdella,” Arch. Biol. vol. v., 1884; Goodrich, “On Saccocirrus,” Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. vol. xliv., 1901.
(E. S. G.)
HAPTARA (lit. conclusion), the Hebrew title given to the prophetic lessons with which the ancient Synagogue service concluded. In the time of Christ these prophetic lessons were already in vogue, and Christ himself read the lessons and discoursed on them in the synagogues of Galilee. In the modern synagogue these readings from the prophets are regularly included in the ritual of Sabbaths, festivals and some other occasions.
A list of the current lessons is given in the Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. vi. pp. 136-137.
(I. A.)
HAPUR, a town of British India in the Meerut district of the United Provinces, 18 m. S. of Meerut. Pop. (1901) 17,796. It is said to have been founded in the 10th century, and was granted by Sindhia to his French general Perron at the end of the 18th century. Several fine groves surround the town, but the wall and ditch have fallen out of repair, and only the names of the five gates remain. Considerable trade is carried on in sugar, grain, cotton, timber, bamboos and brass utensils.
HARA-KIRI (Japanese hara, belly, and kiri, cutting), self-disembowelment, primarily the method of suicide permitted to offenders of the noble class in feudal Japan, and later the national form of honourable suicide. Hara-kiri has been often translated as “the happy dispatch” in confusion with a native euphemism for the act. More usually the Japanese themselves speak of hara-kiri by its Chinese synonym, Seppuku. Hara-kiri is not an aboriginal Japanese custom. It was a growth of medieval militarism, the act probably at first being prompted by the desire of the noble to escape the humiliation of falling into an enemy’s hands. By the end of the 14th century the custom had become a much valued privilege, being formally established as such under the Ashi-Kaga dynasty. Hara-kiri was of two kinds, obligatory and voluntary. The first is the more ancient. An official or noble, who had broken the law or been disloyal, received a message from the emperor, couched always in sympathetic and gracious tones, courteously intimating that he must die. The mikado usually sent a jewelled dagger with which the deed might be done. The suicide had so many days allotted to him by immemorial custom in which to make dignified preparations for the ceremony, which was attended by the utmost formality. In his own baronial hall or in a temple a daïs 3 or 4 in. from the ground was constructed. Upon this was laid a rug of red felt. The suicide, clothed in his ceremonial dress as an hereditary noble, and accompanied by his second or “Kaishaku,” took his place on the mat, the officials and his friends ranging themselves in a semicircle round the daïs. After a minute’s prayer the weapon was handed to him with many obeisances by the mikado’s representative, and he then made a public confession of his fault. He then stripped to the waist. Every movement in the grim ceremony was governed by precedent, and he had to tuck his wide sleeves under his knees to prevent himself falling backwards, for a Japanese noble must die falling forward. A moment later he plunged the dagger into his stomach below the waist on the left side, drew it across to the right and, turning it, gave a slight cut upward. At the same moment the Kaishaku who crouched at his friend’s side, leaping up, brought his sword down on the outstretched neck. At the conclusion of the ceremony the bloodstained dagger was taken to the mikado as a proof of the consummation of the heroic act. The performance of hara-kiri carried with it certain privileges. If it was by order of the mikado half only of a traitor’s property was forfeited to the state. If the gnawings of conscience drove the disloyal noble to voluntary suicide, his dishonour was wiped out, and his family inherited all his fortune.