"Ryuurin, Hanpatsu, Tsugai no Ryuusei" -- the incantation for World Slash, and an epitaph to Gojo Satoru.
In JJK, incantations are supposed to boost power of a particular technique. When Sukuna used World Slash to kill Gojo, he imposed a binding vow that allowed him a single-use activation without the requirement of a hand sign, in exchange for using incantations and directing the attack for all subsequent uses.
In this post I'll examine the specific phrases in Sukuna's incantation and argue that each phrase of the incantation corresponds to an application of Gojo's Limitless technique. Then I'll briefly relate this to the binding vow requirements to argue that Sukuna's promise to never forget Gojo for the rest of his life is one of the conditions of that binding vow.
1. "龍鱗"
First, "ryuurin" (dragon scales) describes the basic application of Limitless, a strong defensive barrier like the scales of a dragon. This one is the most obvious, hinted at by Sukuna's words at the beginning of the fight, telling Gojo he plans to "strip away his scales." More will be said about the dragon references, in the discussion of the third phrase.
Less relevant but still interesting - there’s also a Buddhist reference here, according to this forum post:
At surface, straight value, it is just the literal scales of a dragon. The word can also be used to mean "a large quantity of things". Ryurin is also a metaphor for the power/authority/influence of heroes and of the Heavenly People (the residents of the Japanese version of the Devaloka, where devas and gods reside. Just a heavenly realm, basically.) Lastly, Ryurin means a dangerous condition/situation or a dangerous thing. So. For Sukuna, its basically 'dangerous divine power/authority'.
2. "反発"
Next, "hanpatsu." Hanpatsu means recoil, which is the equal and opposing force of an action. This describes Purple, which is the rebounding damage created by the collision of Red and Blue. At first I thought hanpatsu described Red, because Red is a “repulsing” force. Except “recoil” is not the same thing as repulsion. Another possibility was that hanpatsu described the relationship between Red and Blue — Red as the “equal and opposite” of blue, and vice versa. But we know the two aren’t equal in power, and neither technique is accurately described as the “recoil” or rebounding force produced by the other.
3. "番いの流星"
Finally, "tsugai no ryuusei." A few things here. First, the wordplay and translation. Like ”Ryuurin”, this term references dragons. Here Ryuusei, meaning meteor or comet, is also pun on the word dragon, ryuu (which isn’t novel, see the Japanese word for Pokémon move Draco Meteor, et al.). So a plausible English translation could also be “Twin Dragon Meteors.” Second, how dragons are relevant to Sukuna’s mythology. In Hida, there is a temple Senkoji said to be founded by “Ryomen Sukuna … approximately 1,600 years ago. A central architectural feature of the temple it Dragon Ceiling, a portrait of two dragons painted by Kano Tansetsu on the ceiling of the main buliding. From the website,
According to temple legend, a general of the Sengoku period committed suicide there by seppuku, staining the floor with blood. For the repose of general’s soul, the floorboards were incorporated into the ceiling of the main temple. Some time later, Kano Tansetsu visited Senkoji and painted the dragons on the ceiling. At Senkoji, the objects of worship include not only the main temple and the priest’s quarters, but also the entire temple complex.
According to this Reddit post, the temple’s founding tale describes how Sukuna fought off a dragon god living in the mountain and built a shrine in its place. So — from the fact that dragons are the mythological enemy of the figure Ryomen Sukuna, we may infer that the words of the incantation refer to an enemy or target of the World Slash technique.
What could "twin meteors" refer to other than the related techniques of Limitless, the twin floating spheres Red and Blue?
Another potential connection to Red/Blue rooted in dragon mythology is the tide jewels — the tide-ebbing (a repelling force, like Red) kanju and tide-flowing (an attracting force, like Blue) manju, possessed by Ryuujin, the Sea King.
The final reason I think the incantation refers to Gojo’s technique is because of Sukuna’s explanation in 236 for World Slash — he describes the process of developing the technique as figuring out how to target Limitless with Dismantle. So it makes sense that the incantation to power World Slash operates by describing its target, not World Slash itself.
It also lends significance to the order of the incantation — first visualizing the most generalized application of Limitless (ryuurin), then passing through Purple (hanpatsu) to finally arrive at two separate applications, Red and Blue (tsugai no ryuusei) — a conceptual "bisection" of Limitless into two discrete components.
4. Binding Vows
Isn't this pretty romantic? But wait there's more. We know now after Chapter 255 that in exchange for unleashing the World Slash that killed Gojo without using the hand sign, Sukuna now has to recite the incantation every time (+using the hand signs and directing the attack with his palm) he uses World Slash.
Assuming what I've previously argued is true (the incantation describes Gojo's Limitless), this gives Sukuna's last words to Gojo another layer of significance. When Sukuna tells Gojo he will never forget him, it's not just an expression or a promise, but a statement of the binding vow Sukuna has to make in order to land the killing blow. In other words, the cost of killing Gojo is having to remember him forever, to integrate him into Sukuna's own technique through a verbal invocation that must be made every single time Sukuna uses the world bisecting slash. Yeah, that's pretty romantic.
I have a question about your interpretation of binding vows. What do you think would happen if two people make a binding vow, but later on their interpretations of the vow change? Are they still beholden to their original intent? Like say Sukuna used the "enchain" vow but Yuji's perception had changed sometime to include himself in the "don't hurt anybody" clause, is Sukuna beholden to the current interpretation of the vow or the original one?
I think yes, you'd be beholden to what was agreed upon initially. Because otherwise new interpretations could potentially be loopholes to get out of what was originally agreed upon, and I would consider that to be a breach of contract.
Binding vows are supposed to be binding. It's not very binding if the terms and conditions can change after both parties have already sworn to the vow.
Misunderstandings and misinterpretations, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 15/?
Fandom: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Gojo Satoru/Iori Utahime, Gojo Satoru & Iori Utahime
Characters: Gojo Satoru, Gojo Clan (Jujutsu Kaisen), Iori Utahime, Ieiri Shoko, Miwa Kasumi, Zenin Maki, Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuuji, Okkotsu Yuuta
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Copium, COVID, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, the Gojo clan is messed up af, Eventual Smut, Oh look only one bed, no one is good at feelings, Manga Spoilers, Flashbacks, gojohime, Lost Powers, Megumi needs a hug, Rating will change, References to Incest, References to Suicide, Utahime is guarded, Bi Gojo, implied past stsg
Summary:
Satoru Gojo had been killed more than once in his short life... but his death at the age of twenty-nine was widely considered to be the most permanent one yet.
Over a year has passed since the fight against Sukuna and Gojo has returned, but at a great personal cost. Without his techniques and even fewer allies, Gojo struggles to understand what's left when he's no longer the most powerful sorcerer of the age.
Utahime Iori fell for Gojo once before and she already learned her lesson, but circumstances have pushed her back into the path of the man she's tried hard to forget, challenging her resolve and awakening old feelings she vowed to extinguish.
What does it mean to be strong? To be vulnerable? And if forced to choose between love and power, what will win out?
Watching Hunter x Hunter makes you realise just how much it has inspired Jujutsu Kaisen (I think Gege said it himself in an interview so I’m basing it on that):
