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Four newly translated Japanese texts describe how ritual samurai beheadings were supposed to take place during the Edo period and later.When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. This 1860 photo shows a samurai with a raised sword. Four newly translated texts shed light on how samurai carried out the death ritual of Seppuku. (Image credit: Heritage Images / Contributor via Getty Images) Four texts that discuss how the samurai carried out Seppuku, a ritual death in which a fellow samurai would usually behead another, have been translated into English...

A single thief allegedly maneuvered the 250-pound sculpture, dating from Japan’s Edo Period, out of the Barakat Gallery’s backyard and into a rental truckA bronze Buddha statue valued at $1.5m was stolen early Monday morning (18 September) from the Los Angeles location of the Barakat Gallery. The stolen sculpture was believed to have been originally commissioned as the centrepiece of a temple and dates back to Japan's Edo Period (1603-1867), an especially prosperous time for the nation and its arts. Paul Henderson, director of Barakat’s Los Angeles location (the ancient art gallery also has spaces in London and Seoul), estimated...