Fact. Saigo Takamori vs. Emperor Meiji in the Boshin War. End of the Tokugawa Shougnate. Meiji won and thus the imperial forces of Japan, or Nihon-Koku as it is called in Japanese eliminated all the remaining samurai (Saigo was not a samurai, he was their leader, samurai meens one who serves). The evidence suggests, however, that it was more dramatic in this than it was in real life. Also, when the people are commiting suicide by cutting themselves open, that is called Harakiri, more formally and commonly known as Seppeku. Seppeku translates from Japanese to English as "Ritual Suicide". Harakiri literally meens "Belly Cutting".