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DUTY AND COMPASSION, DREAMS AND TEARS. I SURRENDER MYSELF TO THE RIVER OF RESENTMENT. ✱ IN REGARDS TO ZEN’IN NO EISHIN, ( 禪院の栄信. ) THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS, THE ZEN’IN CLAN’S MOST SACRED ANCESTOR.

zen’in no eishin was a legendary sorcerer in the heian era, cherished ancestor of the zen’in clan, and first master of the ten shadows. beginning in disgrace and followed by infamy, he would die as one of the most formidable sorcerers of his era and would later be recognized as one of the strongest sorcerers in history among the likes of ryōmen sukuna. in the modern day, he has been deified as kuraijin, a patron kami of the zen’in clan and jujutsu society. although he is regarded as a controversial figure by historians, eishin’s influence is felt to this day.

note: eishin’s story contains themes of abuse, suicide, violence, death, and misogyny. although eishin is a trans man, he has experienced the brunt of the zen’in clan’s misogynistic ideals due to his assigned gender at birth. i myself am transmasculine and have also faced misogyny; it is a topic i don’t take lightly. due to the way jujutsu kaisen’s worldbuilding is constructed and the limited information we receive regarding heian jujutsu society in the manga, i take various liberties in interpreting the events of the heian era. his inspirations include: rurouni kenshin, the filmography of kurosawa akira, the folklore surrounding the gashadokuro, fromsoftware’s sekiro: shadows die twice, the discography of kaji meiko, japanese folklore, zen buddhism, and several others.

¹ LINEAGE. before the ten shadows found itself within the zen’in, it began as a technique called the dark sea, which belonged to the itō clan. the itō were a cadet branch of the taira, a clan that historically dominated heian politics. similar to the taira, the itō were prevalent within military affairs and valued among heian jujutsu society for their martial prowess. although the taira and it’s cadet branches were a mix of sorcerers and non-sorcerers, the itō were primarily sorcerers, and thus established a close relationship with the zen’in during the ninth century. both clans’ militants and regiments collaborated as a means of empowering each other, and although this was a means of asserting their individual superiority on the political stage, their cooperation would turn into an alliance. due to their cooperation, the zen’in would be privy to the itō’s knowledge regarding shikigami mastery, which was their specialty. the relationship between both powers would peak when itō no satsuki married zen’in no katashi, who had just ascended to the position of clan head. a year following their marriage, satsuki would give birth to her only child, eishin. he is five years the junior of his half-brothers, kentarō and yūri.

two years following eishin’s birth, the itō’s dissatisfaction with fujiwara superiority and the political arrangement of jujutsu society culminated into an attempted insurrection. following the footsteps of taira no masakado, they attempt to insurrect the fujiwara and fail. for their betrayal, members of the itō are beheaded, imprisoned, or exiled, and in the matter of weeks, the clan dissolves. in the midst of this turmoil, satsuki is questioned by the imperial court regarding her relatives. intimidated by her husband and zen’in relatives, she folds to pressure and claims no further connection to the itō — a decision she would ultimately regret.

after several months of grief and reeling from the loss of her family, satsuki resigns to the most extreme option: retaliation. forsaking the zen’in clan, she leaves the matter of eishin’s upbringing unto her servants. although zen’in retainers try their damndest, they cannot find her. using her knowledge regarding shikigami, she collects the bones of victims of starvation and conflict. when enough was collected, she performed a ritual to create a formidable shikigami and used a powerful intermediary to bind it to her technique. what’s born from this ritual is a shikigami comparable to makora: the starving skeleton, otherwise known as the gashadokuro. ( がしゃどくろ. )

following it’s creation, satsuki goes to heian-kyō and unleashes the gashadokuro in the first recorded instance of chimera shadow garden. the shikigami terrorizes the city until a group of sorcerers are sent to deal with satsuki. weakened by her opponents and left on the verge of death, satsuki takes her own life. in her final moments, she uses the last vestiges of control over her technique and disappears into the shadows. she leaves no corpse to collect.

upon her death, her cursed energy assimilated with her child, who shared her technique. at the age of six, eishin’s cursed technique manifested as that of his mother’s.

² UPBRINGING. following satsuki’s rampage and the manifestation of his technique, there was no hope for a kinder upbringing. katashi, ashamed and scornful of his child’s existence, gives no attention to him. likewise, he neglects yūri the same love when it becomes apparent he had no cursed energy to speak of. he instead turns his sights to kentarō, who was heir apparent. outcasts within their own family, eishin and yūri developed a close relationship and leaned on one another when there was no one else. despite knowing his father did not love him, eishin tried his best to garner any fiber of pride or respect; efforts that would prove futile. whereas with kentarō, there was only animosity. besides his older male relatives, kentarō was eishin’s biggest tormentor and would often use his strength and superiority to terrorize his brother. eishin had no means to fight back lest he be punished.

due to documents regarding the dark sea being destroyed or hidden within zen’in archives, eishin’s training was left to his own hands. although yūri’s heavenly restriction negated cursed energy, he would use the knowledge he gathered during his training with the hei to help eishin in any way he could. by the time he was thirteen, eishin would gain an intimate understanding of his technique. at fourteen, he asks to join the hei, but this request is denied due to fear that he would reach the full prowess of his technique and his assigned gender at birth.

for the rest of his teenage years, he lived his life with little purpose. his existence is barely acknowledged, yet he is tethered to his clan’s will, who expect him to stay compliant and subservient. without any consideration for the matter, several marriages are arranged for him as a means of taking him off of zen’in hands, but all fail via eishin’s own sabotage. the only source of joy he finds is through yūri’s combat training and secret excursions in the city. a few months before his eighteenth birthday, he uncovers various documents written by the itō regarding shikigami mastery and the dark sea, thus giving him an idea of what he could’ve been doing with his technique all along.

when eishin is eighteen, yūri leaves the clan and urges him to do the same. a few weeks later, he did. the decision was when he realized he would never live a fulfilling life with his kindred. he would not be valued in a space where he was demeaned and yūri was the only connection that kept him there. while yūri was overseas in china, eishin would pursue vagrancy. his clan would not find him.

³ VAGRANCY. eishin wanders aimlessly. a year into his vagrancy, he is saved by wandering mercenaries after nearly being slain by a powerful curse. choosing to stay with them for a few months, he becomes accustomed to mercenary work, where he hones his skills against enemies other than his brother. believing it to be a consistent line of work and an occupation that can easily garner notorriety, he sticks with it. even though his cursed energy and technique were phenomenal, heian jujutsushi was to be contended with. without the zen’in to hinder him, there was an innate drive to become stronger than those who could subdue him. more importantly, he wanted to be a cause of scorn for the clan he despised. he cared and lived for nothing else. the means to achieve this would come to him by mere chance.

at twenty, eishin kills a group of shikigami hunters per a bounty agreement and frees two wolf shikigami they were planning to sacrifice. although he expects both shikigami to run away, they stay by his side as a show of loyalty. these shikigami would become known as the divine dogs. after months of observing the shikigami and their strength, eishin would put a theory to the test. while shikigami were typically summoned using mediums, it was theorized by the itō that shikigami could be bound to a technique like the dark sea if an intermediary device — such as a sacred relic — was dissolved within the technique’s shadows. if this was possible, shikigami could be summoned without the use of mediums. to test this, eishin would acquire fragments of the ten sacred treasures and perform a successful ritual, thus making the divine dogs the first shikigami to join the ten shadows. for the next six years, he would seek out powerful shikigami to subjugate and bind to his cursed technique.

at twenty-six, eishin is regarded as an infamous mercenary and assassin among the jujutsushi and jusoshi world. he became known as the kage-akuma ( 影悪魔, literally ‘shadow demon’ ) and amassed nine unique shikigami in his arsenal. as his reputation grew, rumors began to circulate around his past as a former member of the zen’in and brought considerable controversy to the clan, much to eishin’s delight. despite being branded as a jusoshi for his efficiency in bloodshed, eishin would develop a strict set of principles. his time wandering had exposed him to a great deal of issues: youth being exploited for their techniques, persecution of jujutsushi in the countryside, unchecked corruption of nobility. although hardened by circumstance, eishin was, at his core, a compassionate individual and his exposure to such misery would serve as catalyst for his political decisions.

after another two years of freedom, fujiwara pressure on the zen’in to subdue eishin for his crimes reaches a climax. kentarō, now clan head following the passing of his father, comes up with a plan to imprison and execute his brother. baited into killing a prominent jujutsu noble, eishin is finally apprehended and imprisoned. he would’ve escaped were it not for the inverted spear of heaven being used against him.

while imprisoned, kentarō gives eishin a chance at amnesty and a reversal of his death sentence as long as he returns to the zen’in and abides by the conditions of a binding vow, but this discussion goes nowhere. lucky for him, eishin is freed just days before his execution when yūri, who had returned from china months prior, breaks him out. reunited with his brother, the pair go into hiding.

⁴ MAHĀLA. jujutsu society is thrown into turmoil when the eighth divine general, makora, deems jujutsushi as a fundamental threat to cosmic law and order and begins slaughtering jujutsushi. unable to cut such a divine figure down, jujutsu society scrambles for a solution. the jujutsu authority and fujiwara, desperate to resolve this nightmare, seek out eishin and invite him to the courts due to the nature of his technique. there, they present an ultimatum: if he manages to either slay or subjugate makora, eishin will receive full amnesty for his crimes. this agreement is upheld with a collective binding vow.

a few days later, eishin, under the supervision of the jujutsu authority and clans, goes to a valley outside of heian-kyō and calls for makora’s audience. makora answers the summoning and the two engage in battle. with no allies to aid him per the conditions of the ten shadows’ subjugation rituals, eishin is alone as he goes head to head with the divine. at some point during the fight, eishin realizes that makora is on the verge of adapting to his technique and thus uses his last resort. he summons the gashadokuro to subdue a struggling makora all while performing rites that would bind him to the shadows, a maneuver that ultimately works — albeit at the cost of merely trapping makora, not subjugating it. regardless, eishin stands victorious. per the conditions of the binding vow, he is given complete amnesty from his crimes and is hailed by jujutsu society as an unlikely hero.

⁵ THE COURTS. displeased by the jujutsu authority’s failures in regards to makora’s rampage and elated by his victory over a literal deity, eishin realizes he could use his technique for so much more. his strength was something to be trifled with, something that could dominate several jujutsushi and render an entire nation to their knees if he so wished. he was a nightmare, unstoppable, no longer some weak child subject to someone else’s whims. jujutsu society did not have to be subject to an authority more concerned with upholding power and tradition while their denizens suffered.

a few months following the incident with makora, eishin challenges kentarō for the position of clan head. kentarō agrees to settle the matter with a duel and even foolishly doubles down with a binding vow that guarantees eishin’s self-inflicted death if he were to lose. the battle is overseen by the jujutsu authority and in the end, eishin wins. although kentarō demands he kill him, eishin lets him live with the humiliation of defeat. upon his ascension as clan head, eishin expels several of his fellow clan members, including kentarō, and begins managing the zen’in clan per his own will alongside yūri.

now leader of one of jujutsu society’s most prominent clans, eishin establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with. the fujiwara confided in him more than they ever did kentarō and he quickly became a prominent member of the imperial court. that being said, his relationship to the jujutsu authority and its members were not as friendly. furthermore, his relationship to clans such as the kamo were far from cooperative. much of his fellow noblemen were intimidated into fearful compliance. additionally, eishin was not shy about political assassination if it meant getting rid of people who aimed to sabotage him or his vision, nor was he against blackmail. although several jujutsu nobles had their suspicions, they lacked the evidence to prove these transgressions. throughout his reign, he experiences various attempts at assassination and insurrection, with one of these attempts at insurrection being done by kenjaku themself.

during his political career, eishin would push for various reforms. he would help revise jujutsu conduct, encouraged protection for jujutsushi in the countryside, and created a grading system for curses to prevent jujutsushi casualty, among other things. alongside yūri, he also tried to cultivate a society that permitted heavenly restrictions, an effort that garners outcry from his conservative colleagues. too intimidated to cross the zen’in, a begrudging sense of unification was felt among jujutsu society’s clans; a sentiment that would have many referring to eishin as a ‘dictator.’ following the fall of the fujiwara’s sun, stars, and moon squad at the hands of ryōmen sukuna, the hei and various zen’in jujutsu regiments became their militant successors.

at thirty-three, his only child, zen’in no masaki, is born. although his political and noble life was consistently marred by conflict, he was undeniably among the strongest jujutsu society had to offer.

⁶ DEATH. at forty, eishin is called to exorcise two special grade curses, both of whom were regarded as deities. although he utilized all of his shikigami and chimera shadow garden, both special grades would persist despite their injuries. already pushed to his limits, eishin does what he knew would ensure his victory, even if it cost him his life. deprived of option, he summons makora and ropes both spirits into the subjugation process. upon the summoning, makora slays both curses before turning it’s sights to eishin. understanding that makora would only return to the shadows upon subjugation, eishin begins to fight back. although exhausted, eishin gives it his all, even when the output of his reverse cursed technique hinders and he begins to experience internal hemorrhaging from repeated usage of his domain.

but for all his efforts, they are for naught in the end. tired, faltering, and far past his limit, eishin denies his shikigami the satisfaction of his death and takes his fate into his own hands when makora adapts to his technique. unsheathing his tantō, he commits seppuku and dies of spontaneous exsanguination. legend has it that the divine dogs carried his corpse to his allies before disappearing into the shadows.

⁷ POST-MORTEM. upon his death, the zen’in clan is thrown into turmoil. yūri loses the only family member he ever cared for and masaki loses his father at the tender age of seven. per his written will, yūri would inherit the title of clan head until masaki came of age, the first and only time a heavenly restricted individual had held that position. kentarō and his exiled relatives try to take advantage of the internal chaos, but yūri does not permit them to curry prominence. although he was a prominent public figure, his funeral was relatively private. his mausoleum can be found on the historical zen’in estate in osaka.

revered as a god among men for his power, eishin is then deified as kuraijin, a patron kami of the zen’in clan and a protector of jujutsu society. he became a popular deity to worship during the sengoku period, with the majority of his worshippers being samurai and non-militant jujutsushi.

despite his infamy during the heian era, kentarō’s descendents would come to view eishin as a symbol of zen’in strength and glory when they permitted back into the clan. in the modern day, the zen’in continue to view him as a legendary figure synonymous with a glory that has not been seen since the early edo period. furthermore, eishin’s legacy cemented the ten shadows’ god-like status alongside the likes of the gojō clan’s six eyes. he was, without a doubt, the strongest ten shadows user to ever live. tales of his shikigami and his strength are equal parts captivating and terrifying.

outside of his deification and influence among his clan, much of his policies and conduct are still practiced among jujutsushi today. the systems he helped cultivate in regards to exorcism and public safety became groundwork for modern jujutsu conduct. the modern day grading system can also be credited to him, although he only ever intended the grading system to be used for curses and not his fellow shamans. in addition, he was a scholar who frequently wrote about shikigami and his documents are still studied by shikigami masters.

OTHER NOTES.

eishin’s iteration of shikigami are possibly some of the most powerful and largest recorded, even rivaling the likes of ryōmen sukuna’s shikigami while he possessed fushiguro megumi.

typical of most zen’in clan members, eishin was a practitioner of shinbutsu-shūgō, otherwise known as the syncretism of shintō and buddhism; although some of his ideas in regards to enlightenment and morality could be considered unorthodox.

he was the first wielder of the soul-splitter katana. that being said, he much preferred tantō.

although he was brazenly strong, eishin usually relied on agility and stealth to aid him in combat due to the umbrakinetic prowess of the ten shadows complimenting both attributes.

similar to the six eyes, eishin’s birth was marked by the strengthening of all curses in the country. the same can be true for every other ten shadows user after him.

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