So let's imagine you're a samurai and you're going to commit seppuku. There are a number of reasons why you may have ended up in this situation. Some of them are really noble. Maybe your lord has died and you're bound and determined to follow him in death. (The govt. won't be happy you did this old-fashioned ridiculous thing, but they can't control you if you're dead.) Maybe your willful lord isn't listening to your good advice, so you're going to reproach him with your death. Maybe you're staring defeat in the face, and would rather die than be imprisoned and executed by your enemies. And just maybe you've committed some lapse that you yourself feel must be atoned for by seppuku.
But odds are, particularly if this is the Edo Period, you're here because you're in trouble with your superiors. You did something wrong or messed up through no real fault of your own, and you've been ordered to commit seppuku. It's not a choice. If you were a commoner, you could be executed by beheading or in the most horrific cases, crucifixion. As a samurai, you're extended the honour of death at your own hand. You won't go through the indignity of a criminal's death, and if you carry steadily through to the end, your family will be the ones reaping the benefits of your death with honour.
Perhaps you're afraid you won't be able to muster up the courage to cut open your belly. The good news is that the master of ceremonies in a seppuku ritual has a whole range of tactics and options for seeing you through to the end without any nasty scenes, confrontations, or panic. Everyone involved in your seppuku is there to maintain your dignity and the solemnity of the act.
In fact, it's quite possible that there won't even be a dagger involved. Many samurai "commit seppuku" by tapping their belly with a fan, after which their second cuts off their head. This practice began with condemned men who couldn't be trusted with a dagger. In 1681, Oguri Mimasaka started a fight after he grabbed his dagger. He had to be tackled, held down by multiple people, and his head sawn off. This and other scuffles made a great impression on the writers of seppuku manuals. They suggest a fan as a security measure for potentially dangerous situations.
But if you're not a security risk, starting in the 1700s, the fan is often offered to the fearful, the irresolute, the elderly and children/young teenagers. In fact, a 1720s seppuku manual has the following instructions for dealing with children.
As for seppuku performed by little ones, tell the boy that you are going to practice first. Offer him a fan instead of a dagger. When his head is in the right place, decapitate him without a word.
- (p. 132, Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide, Andrew Rankin)
There are plenty of samurai "purists" who don't hold with this pantomime of seppuku. In 1772, Yamaoka Shunmei complains:
In the old days, suicide by stomach-cutting was a spectacular technique, one that warriors considered and studied carefully to familiarize themselves with its nuances. The names of those who performed it well were remembered and repeated in later generations. Today there are so many rules for cutting the stomach. An assistant is always present, and sometimes the dagger plays no part whatsoever, a paper fan being placed upon the tray in its stead; as soon as the man picks up this fan, off comes his head from behind. Since the stomach is not cut, how on earth can we call this "seppuku"? It is no different from an ordinary beheading. (p. 133, Rankin)
So maybe that fan is a step too far. Keeping up the appearances may be very important to both you and the officials running the show. In that case, the dagger is provided to you. Do you have to cut open your belly with the famed deep two crossed cut? Well, not necessarily. Your second may be primed to cut off your head the moment you reach for the dagger. If that's the way you die, you're in very famous company. Contrary to legend, the famous 47 ronin of 1703 never cut their bellies. The 46 who stuck around were sentenced to a seppuku ritual in which they were simply beheaded once they reached for their daggers. And they went down in legend as the most hardcore, noble samurai ever.
It could have been worse, by the way. The Mori clan was supervising ten of the ronin's executions, and they brought out paper fans for the event, only replacing them with daggers after the shogunate's representatives complained.
There are other variations of easy seppuku. Your second might wait only for you to touch the dagger to your belly, or for you to draw blood. It's very rare that the second is going to wait out the entire horrific painful process of disembowelment. That will only happen if you are personally determined to go through with it, and you've convinced your second to co-operate. There is posthumous glory to be gained for a seppuku pulled off well, and that steels men to the task. But you don't really have control over when your second strikes, and seppuku manuals seriously recommend striking as quick as possible.
One of the 47 ronin, Hazama Roku did outwit his executioners. Without disrobing, he grabbed the dagger and stabbed himself in the stomach, all before the second could cut off his head.
There's one last possibility to ease your way to death. You may be reluctant to kill yourself, afraid of the pain and of messing up, angry at the superiors who sentenced you to this. But your whole life you've heard stories of noble seppuku, watched plays and read books about the 47 loyal ronin. Perhaps you've witnessed a ceremony yourself. Once you have embarked on your last day, the solemnity and dignity of the ritual itself, the honour shown to you by others, the set phrases and gestures, the white costume, the appointed prepared setting, all of these are designed to reinforce your belief in this act, and to give you resolution. Under these circumstances, you may find yourself more courageous and stoic than you ever imagined possible. And when it's time to reach for the dagger, you cut and cut deep.
The examples in this reply can all be found, with greater detail, in Andrew Rankin's excellent Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide. Rankin was a post-graduate student working on his doctorate when he wrote this book for a popular audience. It's not new research but an excellent presentation of Japanese historical research in an accessible English format. For various reasons, this type of work is very rare, and we're lucky to have this resource as an alternative to history-lite works about samurai and their legendary honour.