Sugitani Zenjubo and The Capital Punishment of Nokogiribiki

The Would-Be Assassin of Oda Nobunaga and How He Met His End.

In reports back to his superiors in Europe regarding the history and political situation of Japan and his close association with Oda Nobunaga, Luis Frois mentioned that a certain samurai had been captured and executed in a most gruesome manner. The man had been buried up to his neck, and a bamboo saw set up beside him, with a signboard inviting passersby to saw at his neck, slowly hacking the man’s head off.  The punishment was known as nokogiribiki.