Jigai is a form of seppuku that is performed by courtly ladies in feudal Japan. Rather than gut oneself with the wakizashi and get one's head taken off by your second, jigai is simply slashing one's throat open with a knife.

While jigai is no less an honorable death than seppuku, being able to go through with the three cuts that seppuku requires is often seen as a more determined path to take.