'Samurai death' contest cancelled after criticism for bad taste

An outlandish contest daring participants to impersonate Japanese samurai writhing in pain after "seppuku" -- ritual suicide -- has been called off after criticism that it was in poor taste.

Dubbed the "Seppuku Contest", the event was slated to take place next month in the western Japanese city of Matsue, formerly known as a feudal lord town.

"Let us see your amazing acting skills as you agonise for about a minute after slashing yourself in the belly with a plastic sword", read an advertisement in a local newspaper last week.

"Whoever has shown us the most powerful performance will win the top prize!", it added.

But criticism of the event soon snowballed on social media where some said death by self-disembowelment should not be treated as entertainment.

"I get this is a performance, but are they going to make a contest out of people dying in pain?" one user commented on X. "This feels like making fun of the act of seppuku itself."

Another said they felt "instinctively averse to the idea of death being made light of".

The contest organiser, who only gave their surname Ogawa, told AFP on Thursday that the competition had been cancelled after "receiving lots of feedback saying it is inappropriate".