if you tried to stab yourself in the chest, you'd be pretty likely to hit the rib bone and not the softer tissue between those, so you'd have to root around there to find the opening, and stabbing the middle of the chest would almost surely be useless, since the ribs meet there, so you're better off stabbing to the side. but maybe you forgot which side the heart is on and uh oh
the Japanese tended to go for the seppuku method where the sword was pushed into the stomach and then up to pour your guts out, but i suspect it might take a bit of time to die for that. none of that is the heart or the blood supply to the brain, so i reckon it would involve a lot of agony...
@thor I think that was the point, to demonstrate the honor, dedication, resolve and whatever else to inflict such agonous death upon themselves. Though if you slice through so much of the guts you're bound to bleed out in a reasonable time even if you don't hit a major blood vessel just based on the volume of minor ones cut.
@Amikke oh, the intestines have a LOT of blood supply so i reckon it would be a few minutes at best before the lights went out