This house and courtyard are specially designed place for suicides. In Japan professions were running in the family, i.e. you can"t become a iron-monger, or a fisherman, or a servant to the lord, if your parents aren"t already iron-mongers, fishermen or servants. However, if a person is accused in not doing his job properly, the shame falls on the family and the children can not go into the profession anymore. The only way to wash away the shame is with blood, by committing a suicide. It doesn"t matter really if you are innocent or guilty, to do to save the family honor and not to starve your children and their children, you have to do a harakiri or sepuko! The suicider will sit on the elevated part, and then fall down. The body is washed in the well in the courtyard afterwards.