Okay okay okay I need you to tell me what fish Gojo is. I remember reading somewhere in your fic the specific kind of fish Sukuna thinks he is but I can’t find it and I need to know. For reasons completely unrelated to drawing him as a fish furry btw,,,,,,,,,, Don’t worry about it I just need lore accurate fishjo and you are my consultant
This ask made me go a little bit insane.
The short answer: Gojo would be best represented by a koi, specifically the Cyprinus rubrofuscus or Amur carp species.
The long answer:
Gojo, More Than Just a Fish to Sukuna
1) I will be mainly using the TCB scans because of their accessibility. Raws are from nihonkuni(.)com.
2) This was written as of JJKM 25.
3) Please help me.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
You know how it is by this point.
Recommended Pre-Readings
Historical Heian vs JJK's Heian [Just the Sexuality and Courtship section.]
Sukuna’s Loneliness Part 4 (Sukuna’s Negative Rizz) [The whole thing.]
Sukuna’s Loneliness Part 5 (Sukuna Did Nothing Wrong in the Heian Era, Probably) [The whole thing.]
Optional Readings
Sukuna's Loneliness Part 2 (Sukuna is a fraud and it's funny.)
Yes, Some of the JJK Fights are Gex (An Exhaustive Look at 2 Homoerotic Fights in JJK.)
Disclaimer: Not a Goldfish (to Sukuna)
It is strongly implied that Gojo is the goldfish (Carassius auratus) Kenjaku refers to in the Kenny/Takaba fight.
Since Goldfish were introduced to Japan after the Heian, it's unlikely that Sukuna would know much about or have social context for them. I think this is the fish species Kenjaku views Gojo as given how it's contained in a bag from the goldfish scooping game. If you didn't know, domestic goldfish grow to massive sizes if released to the wild, making them a particularly troublesome invasive species. This parallels how Kenjaku needed to keep Gojo contained for the Culling Games so he wouldn't become a massive problem to them.
Goldfish Fun Facts:
Goldfish come from same Asian carp family that koi do. Sometimes they get mistaken for each other and can even cross-breed artificially.
Goldfish see more colors than humans, infrared, ultra violet, and polarized light. (This fits Gojo pretty well too I think.)
𓆛 𓆜 𓆝 𓆞 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆜 𓆛
The Fish on the Cutting Board
About 1,000 years ago, the common carp or koi was introduced from China to Japan. They were kept in ponds as food and their feces were used as fertilizer. Color mutations were selectively bred over time by farmers until they became nishikigoi, or decorative carp known for their brilliant scales and longevity. Nishikigoi became symbols of success and perseverance—a fish that thrives against all odds, making them quite popular with samurai. (See Koi Carp: Symbolism, Folklore, and Beauty in Japan by Elle of a Kind for a better summary.)
On it's face, this suits Gojo quite well. He was selectively bred to serve humans, is beautiful, and persevered through terrible odds with a samurai-like mentality. But that's not why I picked koi.
Knife Ceremonies
See the following experts from "Hocho" Knives, Developed and Refined Alongside Japan’s Food Culture by GOOD LUCK TRIP.
"During the Heian period (794 to 1185), two new knife-related cultural developments emerged.
The first was the custom of using different knives for different ingredients. As Chinese cuisine arrived via the Korean Peninsula, beauty in the cross-sections of ingredients and the arrangement of dishes came to be valued at the imperial court. As a result, cooks were provided with various kinds of knives, strengthening their role as cooking tools.
The second was the birth of ceremonial knives in the early Heian period (around 860). As attention began to focus on the knife skills used for fish, chicken, and other ingredients, rituals involving knives emerged, and Emperor Koko, known for his love of cooking, adopted them as court events. The ritual was called 「庖丁式」, and with a knife in the right hand and long chopsticks in the left, practitioners beautifully cut multiple ingredients without touching them directly by hand."
Sounds familiar to a certain someone's Cursed Technique (CT), right?
[Btw the knife associated with Dismantle is a sujihiki, while the knife associated with Cleave is a burja. The sujihiki is primarily used for scaling and filleting fish. You know, like for Gojo Satoru, the fish Sukuna scaled then bisected with Dismantle. The burja is used for percision cutting. Fits the precise nature of Cleave imo.]
Sukuna's CT, Shrine, which uses slashing attacks likened to knives, uses the kanji 御厨子 (mizushi) which means shrine or imperial chef. In fact, his entire arsenal doubles as cooking wordplay, and that is a very deliberate choice given his Heian origin. The knife ceremonies the imperial chefs practiced historically had a significant religious component to them. To explain that, I will mostly be citing Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan by Eric C. Rath.
If you recall from Historical Heian vs JJK's Heian, the Fujiwaras were the dominant political force the Heian. They are mentioned explicitly in JJK.
"The family’s founder, Shijō Chūnagon Fujiwara Yamakage (also known as Masatomo) (824–88), has been called the deity of Japanese cooking for allegedly inventing the cutting knife ceremony." (Pg 41)
The knife ceremony originates as an upper class practice, suggesting that Sukuna may have been employed by nobility to perform them.
"...medieval chefs who performed knife ceremonies were
not ordinary chefs: they were at the top of their occupation, employed only by the military and aristocratic elite." (Pg 40)
This may seem strange given that killing animals and spilling blood of living beings was against Buddhist teachings. However...
"...the knife ceremony was both an aesthetic practice and a powerful ritual considered able to reverse the bad karmic effects of killing and consumption of animal flesh—though limited to fish and game birds—by both liberating the animal and accruing longevity and merit for the chef and his patrons." (Pg 42)
The knife ceremony functioned as a religious loophole, making every aspect of it divine.
“This is the knife that invites the presence of the divine [hōchō kanjō].” Thus the ceremonial knife not only symbolized religious truths but was also a tool like a shaman’s wand used to summon divinities to the ceremony. These divinities were not conjured to feast at the sacrifice, for it is made clear in the description of the cutting board that the animal was liberated after death for salvation in a Buddhist paradise." (Pg 48)
And exactly what Sukuna does to Gojo—he uses his Shrine (knife) to acquire the Divine General Mahoraga, who helps him cut Gojo to death in a beautiful way that liberates him from the suffering of being The Strongest. On it's face it seems very cruel violent, but with historical context, it becomes a sacred ceremony.
"While the knife was an instrument for summoning divine forces, the cutting board, according to this description, already had supernatural forces residing in it, making it akin to a sacred statue or some other venerated object housing a divinity." (Pg 49)
This insult? Gojo being a fish atop his cutting board. One that he's going to cut into pieces? It's a compliment. Sukuna (through abstract social norms no one in the modern era would understand) is saying that Gojo is a deity worthy of an equally divine ceremony.
"Shikibōchō writings—beginning with the earliest, the 1489 Shijō School Text on Food Preparation—note that certain places on the cutting table had names...Celebration [ensui] is for being quiet and composed, performing in a stable way. Morning Worship [chōhai] is for carefully honoring deities harmful to the lord, and it represents integrity. Four Virtues represents the benevolence of the ruler, the grace of the sun and moon, and the compassion of parents. Protective astral bodies have descended into these places from heaven. One should not think this is untrue. The Five Agents protects all four. These five agents are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water." (Pgs 48–49)
Though the idea that the cutting board metaphor is complimentary is strengthened by their battle taking place in the morning, the 5 Agents [gogyō] (kind of sounds like Gojo) are on Sukuna's fingers.
Since Sukuna seems to be performing a knife ceremony on Gojo, it is reasonable to assume that the fish species Gojo is to Sukuna is the most common one used for these ceremonies: Koi.
"Turning to the second way to appreciate knife ceremonies—seeing them as reminiscent of the art of flower arrangement—chefs created stunning visual displays that evoked the seasons and were attuned to the setting and specific events. Secret Writings on Culinary Slicing (Ryōri kirikata hidenshō), published in the mid-seventeenth century, provides names and illustrations for forty-seven different ways to cut carp, in the same way that writings on flower arrangement, calligraphy, and painting supplied models for students to copy, and audiences standards for making aesthetic judgments. The names of these are suggestive for the occasions they suited: Departing for Battle Carp (shutsujin no koi), Celebratory Carp (iwai no koi), Taking a Bride/Taking a Son-in-Law Carp (mukotori yometori koi), Flower Viewing Carp (hanami no koi), and Moon Viewing Carp (tsukimi no koi). Other names sound poetic: Snowy Morning Carp (yuki no asa koi), Long Life Carp (chōmei no koi), and Carp within a Boat (senchū no koi)." (Pg 45)
“The carp is a most exalted fish, the only one which may be sliced in the presence of the emperor.” (Pg 46)
I don't think I need to explain how several of the listed ceremonial carps may apply to the Sukuna/Gojo battle. This is probably why Sukuna didn't specify the species. 1) In his time, it would be understood that the fish was most likely koi. 2) If he said that out loud, it'd erase the plausible deniability Sukuna gets from pretending Gojo is an ordinary fish. (It should be noted that he does not call anyone else a fish.)
That is to be expected. The knife ceremony practitioners left their performance up to interpretation.
"Broad movements of the blade, standing up from a kneeling posture, and creating gestures with the knife and chopsticks reminiscent of Buddhist sacred gestures called mudra were all devices to capture the audience’s attention. If these specific motions had meanings the way some Noh kata do, these were for left the audience to ponder, since Ishii did not offer any clues." (Pg 44)
Dragons
Believe it or not, there's a lot more significance to divinity of koi outside of Japan. When they were imported from China, they brought with them a legend that is the basis for Magikarp evolving into Garaydos in Pokémon: A carp that swims upstream and leaps over a waterfall becomes a dragon.
The Japanese version of this tale however leaves out critical geographical context unique to China. In the Chinese legend, the river that carp swims up is none other than China's Pride and China's Sorrow: The Yellow (Huang He) River. If you don't know about the Yellow River, first refer to this post to see it in action. See all that brown water being flung into the air like a giant 3-way fire hose? That's all sediment. Sediment that reaches the ocean in quantities of 1,100,000,000 tons per year, accounting for 17% of the entire world's fluvial sediment discharge. Unlike most rivers that carve their path via erosion, the Yellow River builds its own path with this sediment. Vertically. Until the high-silt content of these river-made bluffs give way and flood everything below them in the watershed. This type of flooding killed 1–2 million in 1887. This type of flooding is largely attributed to ending multiple Chinese Dynasties such as Xin (multiple 3–11), Western Han (14), Song (1048), Yuan (1344), Ming (1642). A fish that can swim up 3,395 miles (5,464 km) of what is essentially a waterfall zig-zagging sideways hard enough to wipe out cities is a dragon as far as I'm concerned.
The actual waterfall from this tale exists too, but it's a bit more complicated to explain. In the Chinese legend, the waterfall that transforms the carp into a dragon is called a Dragon Gate (Longmen). For a waterfall to be considered a Dragon Gate, it must originate from a legendary mountain and there are many legendary mountains that feed the Yellow River. This means there are multiple waterfalls considered Dragon Gates. The waterfall doesn't even need to feed the Yellow River to be considered a Dragon Gate. It just needs to be very steep and very tall (aka difficult to climb).
The original tale is most likely referring to the Dragon Gate at the part of the Yellow River that leaves the Loess Plateau through the southwestern tip of Mount Longmen (Shanxi). Though not the source, the plateau is where the river gets its color and nutrient-rich sediment critical to life downstream the mountain. The actual source of the Yellow River (and several over major rivers) are the Gyaring and Ngoring/Eling Lakes cradled in the Bayan Har Mountains. These mountains are a part of the Kunlun Mountain Chain, which is basically the stairway to heaven in mythology.
Though Japan lacks a river as infamous as China's, it does have many "rivers" that are basically chains of waterfalls due to its mountainous geography. The general idea that a carp leaping over a steep waterfall becomes a dragon and a symbol of preserving against all odds translated well. The waterfall being a part of an unwieldy natural disaster of a river spanning thousands of miles (km) did not.
If Gojo is the koi going against the current to become a dragon, Sukuna, who is referred to a natural disaster (while easily overpowering the Natural Disaster Curses), is the metaphorical Yellow River and Dragon Gate. As established in Sukuna's Loneliness Part 4, Sukuna knows his Chinese literature and therefore would know of the original tale. And based on his incantations for World Cutting Slash, he recognizes Gojo as a dragon.
According to @mizushidokoro's post "Ryuurin, Hanpatsu, Tsugai no Ryuusei" -- the incantation for World Slash, and an epitaph to Gojo Satoru, each part of Sukuna's chant corresponds to an aspect of Limitless, two of which reference dragons. In summary:
龍鱗 (Ryuurin) Scale of the Dragon = 無限 (Mugen) Infinity
反発 (Hanpatsu) Recoil = 茈 (Murasaki) Purple
番いの流星 (Tsugai no Ryuusei) Twin Meteors = 赫 (あか) (Aka) Red & 蒼 (Aoi) Blue
Quoted directly from said post:
"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'."
(Skipping over "hanpatsu" (recoil) since it doesn't reference dragons.)
"Finally, "tsugai no ryuusei." [twin meteors] 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.). 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...
...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...
...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."
To give more credence to this claim, I would like to draw attention to how Gojo rises from the sea upon being released from the Prison Realm, something Kenjaku thought would kill him. What else but a dragon could do this?
No Ordinary Fish
I would like to continue stealing from Tumblr user mizushidokoro, this time about the World Cutting Slash (WCS)...
"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."
In addition to the WCS chants metaphorically recalling Gojo, they also linguistically recall him. Most of this was lost in translation since the English version prioritized communicating the base concepts over very easy to miss wordplay. (The S in Sukuna stands for Subtle/Subtext.)
As you can see, Gojo's chants contain a lot of consonance (repeated consonant sounds) and assonance (repeated vowel sounds) with words such as Isou, Ikou, Henkou, Shoumyou, Hitomi, Hyouri, and No. (Isou (Phase) in particular is duplicated as the initial phrase for both Red and Blue, further supporting they are what the Twin Meteors reference.) Sukuna seems to copy Gojo's style by replicating the Ryuu sound in Ryuurin and Ryuusei, with additional assonance in Hanpatsu and Tsugai.
Gojo ends his chants for all 3 techniques with a phrase that contains the hiragana の (no): Chie no Hitomi (Blue), Hakari no Hashira (Red), Hyouri no Hazama (Purple). Sukuna copies this by ending his chant with Tsugai no Ryuusei.
WCS was made to honor Gojo Satoru in every aspect. It was created by a divine being to kill a divine being and is inseparable from his memory, using hand gestures and words that echo him. For Sukuna to use WCS is to evoke Gojo Satoru, not as an ordinary fish but as a dragon that almost killed him. It's probably why he reserved WCS for opponents that were an immediate threat to his life like Gojo; Kashimo, Higuruma, Yuta, and Maki. (Kashimo finished off Megkuna, Higuruma's Executioner's Sword can inflict instant death, Yuta's Jacob's Ladder can separate Sukuna from Megumi, and Maki's Split Soul Katana can separate Sukuna from Megumi.)
Including the initial WCS with Gojo, Sukuna only uses it 5 times (which coincides with the 五 (Go) in 五条 (Gojo) that means 5). His refusal to use it on Yuji and others seems to indicate Sukuna is selective about who he considers worthy of a knife ceremony a little less fancy than Gojo's.
3/4 of these characters are directly compared to Gojo too, Maki being the exception. Though she is indirectly linked to Gojo by being an improved Toji. Toji killed Gojo and Gojo did dress up as Toji for his Sukuna fight. Not sure if Sukuna knew that. Each time WCS with chants is used, Sukuna gets more sneaky about it too, suggesting that he may have felt the most threatened by Maki if not indicative of his fatigue as the fight dragged on.
Regardless, this is not something you do for someone who is just a fish.
Why is this fish so special?
Sukuna's initial fascination with Gojo began with his strength. Their 10 second encounter lead to him planning his slaughter for 6 months. Though this is a typical reaction from those who want to get rid of him in some capacity for their plans (see Toji, Geto, and Kenjaku), I've theorized that Sukuna took an actual liking to Gojo because he advocates for unwanted children Jujutsu law declares non-human/executable (aka someone who under other circumstances would've looked after him). I still believe that to be the case, but thanks to this post by @sulky-cabbage, I think I've figured out what made Gojo clear his skies.
Despite being the King of Curses and the Strongest Sorcerer in All of History, Sukuna fears death. He fears it enough to use WCS on those with the potential to kill him and be visibly shaken whenever he comes close to it. Megumi calls him out for this, taking shots at how Sukuna postures and intimidates to hide this fear.
His fear of death is so great that he has a hard time accounting for the suicidal samurai mentality of modern sorcerers. To him, those weaker than him shouldn't be able to directly face something he can't, hence him low-balling Yuji's willingness to die for his friends.
To be fair to Sukuna, this a fear he's held for a very long time. He admits to Mahito in the afterlife that he feared being immolated by his own curse. This is not a metaphor. In Japanese he uses 焼き殺されるにとを (yaki nirosareru ni to o), literally to be burned to death. Him finding Uraume in the process of involuntarily freezing to death after doing the same to those around them most likely reminded Sukuna of himself. (Makes you wonder how he felt about Kashimo's self-cannibalizing CT.)
He hides his intentions of course by taking in Uraume as a replacement fridge and servant, but underneath all that emotional fraud, Sukuna recognizes them as someone who offers reprieve from his curse. Their ice keeps his fire at bay in the same way his fire keeps their ice at bay.
But that doesn't address the fear of self-immolation. Sukuna seems to be searching for proof his flames can be withstood. In Uraume's absence, he challenges Jogo, a curse born from human's fear of volcanoes, to a contest of fire. When Sukuna emerges the victor, he doesn't celebrate. I think it's telling that he's more excited to see Uraume right after.
...So we know for certain that Sukuna fears death. We know that he fears his own power to an extent. You know who doesn't fear death or his own power? Gojo Satoru.
It's something Sukuna couldn't anticipate. A bit different from Yuji who chose death to win, Gojo gambled with death to win. Not just by destroying parts of his brain, repeatedly, for domain clashes, but by blowing himself up with his most powerful attack. This is what cleared Sukuna's skies—Gojo proved to him that he could survive his own curse.
As a metaphorical Toji and as himself, Gojo became Sukuna's greatest teacher. And what better way to honor your divine fish-dragon teacher than by implementing his lessons for life after a ceremony that sends him to heaven?
Conclusion
I don't know how to end this so please take this final excerpt from Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan by Eric C. Rath.
"After the drama of the cutting ceremony, the fish could be appreciated as an object of temporary display, since it was not meant to be consumed." (Pg 46)
1) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
2) Raws are from nihonkuni(.)com
3) Written as of JJK Modulo 22.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
I've decided this counts as related to my extensive and perverse Heian Era research because I did this for my fic.
My sources for this are nowhere near as rigorous as the previous parts because I couldn't find academic research papers that laid out the symbolism neatly. Flower language is very vibes based to begin with so feel free to correct any errors.
The anime also adds a lot of floral language not present in the manga to fit the themes. I currently don't have the energy to analyze all of that, so I'll be focusing on the flowers that appear in the JJK manga, as supplemented by the anime. (i.e. if the flowers are hard to discern in the manga, the anime will be used for clarity.)
I also will not be discussing birth flowers aka Hanakomon (花個紋) since I would like to compile it with other birth information such as Greek and Chinese zodiac signs.
The Language of Flowers
Hananokotoba (花言葉) is flower symbolism in Japanese media used to convey emotions without using words. It often goes missed by English-speakers since the flower meanings differ by culture. (Take this example of a blogger breaking down the flower usage in a single scene Darling in the Franxx or this other blogger for Grendizer. It's pretty neat!)
This likely stems from the Flower Sermon in Zen Buddhist tradition where the Buddha holds up a white flower and says nothing. Of the disciples present, only one understands the sermon and smiles. The flower is taken to represent the beauty in impermanence while the silent comprehension of the Buddha's teaching emphasizes that knowledge is passed mind-to-mind/face-to-face rather than studied. (Kind of the polar opposite of what I'm doing lmao.)
Gege however encourages the reader over analyze any and all flower symbolism by spelling it out with lilies.
Lilies (Lilium candidum) 百合 (Yuri)
White lilies do symbolize purity and innocence, but they are also a flower often used at funerals. This is why you can see them at Yuta's wake. When they're in frame with Yuka, they also read as a symbol for her innocence. With how these lilies either blurry or barely in frame, I take this as Yuta's death causing her to lose some of her innocence. Her mother steals the rest it, taking the ring, a symbol of the pure love Yuta had with Rika, while they're still in funeral garb.
After learning of Yuka's terminal brain cancer, these lilies also become a death flag. Tsumiki set that precedent. The same flowers used to symbolize her innocence and purity, are the same ones that could be used at her funeral.
(As an aside... In a different context lilies could indicate the characters are sapphic. Lilies are the Yuri (百合) flower. If the lilies were blooming while they were looking at a girl and blushing? Indisputable Yuri.)
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), 向日葵 (Himawari)
In Japan, sunflowers symbolize resilience, memory, regeneration after great loss. When Megumi recalls Tsumiki, she appears within a field of sunflowers as he tries to be strong about failing to save both her and Yuji. (Yuji "dies" immediately after this.)
Higuruma's association with the sunflower is a bit different than Tsumiki's. The Japanese lawyer badge looks like sunflower. Higuruma is behind and looking away from a wilted symbol of the legal system, making direct eye contact with the viewer. I take this as him looking over the corrupt legal system to prioritize the individual facing it, even though he is technically behind it. He also fits the motifs of resilience with how devoted he is to fighting for his "impossible case" clients.
Camellias (Camellia japonica) 椿 (Tsubaki) and Roses 薔薇 (Bara)
Camellias
Camellias are a symbol of love and devotion associated with samurai. They bloom in the winter and die dramatically—the entire flower head falling to the ground at once. This is likened to a samurai's head being severed. I don't think I need to spell out why this flower is associated with Gojo on the volume where he dies very suddenly on the most romantic day in Japan.
I will point out that this flower is concerning to see associated with Dabura. Yes, it indicates that Tomoe sees him with love (in a very sudden and all at once matter), but like the white lilies with Tsumiki and Yuka, this also reads like a death flag. He is a part of a warrior culture similar to the samurai's. Though this may also be referencing his cursed technique causing instant death.
Roses
The roses Dabura sees Tomoe with are a bit tricky to parse. Here's a list of some possible rose meanings.
White Rose: innocence, purity, devotion, peace
Pink Rose: gratitude, admiration
Red Rose: passion, romantic love
Orange Rose: fascination, desire
Peach Rose: sincerity, gratitude
Yellow Rose: platonic love, jealousy
Blue Rose: mysterious, unobtainable
Any Rose: beauty, love
As you can see, the meaning can change significantly depending on the color and I think that's the point. Dabura's feelings are hard to discern—he is generally peace-seeking and calm yet he's framed like Sukuna. Until this is animated or Gege specifies the colors it's anyone's guess. I lean towards, white, pink, and red rose meanings. This is set up like a romantic comedy bit.
In Hanami's case I'm not sure if the rose means anything. They are a curse and flower meanings are a human thing. It does get bigger as they learn to love fighting. And there is that one Juju Stroll where they're framed as Jogo's love interest.
I also want to point out how the wild rose (Rosa rubiginosa) can sometimes look like a Japanese camellia. I know Gege was sick when the Gojo cover was made, but I'd like to think that was intentional so you could see it as an expression of gratitude towards his character as well. ...Or an indication of his attraction to men since roses aka Bara (薔薇) are the mlm flower.
Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) 蓮華 (Renge)
Lotuses are associated with rebirth due to their nyctinasty (blooming during the day and closing at night). The ability of its flower to remain clean despite growing in murky waters makes it a symbol of the Buddha's ability to rise above the filth and obtain enlightenment. If this scene is to be taken as Gojo comparing his students to the lotuses, he's calling them potential Buddhas—the cream of the crop rising to the top. If the flowers simultaneously apply to Gojo, his age regression in death tracks with the rebirth symbolism. (He could also be making a pun. Itadori, Fushiguro, and Nobara are all flower names.)
Though this seems pretty straightforward, this is another instance where the color in the anime could significantly change the meaning. That's not a problem however. This flower is the Buddhist flower in this extremely Buddhist manga. I see the grayscale lotus as Gege taking advantage of this ambiguity. Pretty much every possible color lotus symbolism could apply to this scene.
White Lotus: Bodhi/awakening, Womb Realm
Pink Lotus: supreme lotus, true lotus of the Buddha, Lotus Sutra (All beings have the potential to become Buddhas.)
Red Lotus: heart, love, compassion, Heart Sutra (Emptiness is Form.)
Blue Lotus: intelligence, knowledge, victory of spirit over wisdom
Purple Lotus: esoteric Buddhist sects, Noble Eightfold Path (The middle way as a path to enlightenment and the thing Mahoraga's Dharma Wheel represents.)
I also think these colors somewhat apply to Gojo's cursed technique, since Purple (Noble Eightfold Path) is the only thing that can kill Mahoraga (also Noble Eightfold Path). This of course has interesting implications for Sukuna who is resistant to Blue (intelligence/knowledge) but vulnerable to Red (love/compassion). I mean Gojo does hug Sukuna before destroying his domain with Red. I think you could argue Infinity's color is white, especially since it encases Gojo and keeps him safe like womb, but I'm pretty sure all of this is a stretch on my end.
This is not to be confused with Astragalus sinicus 蓮華草 (rengeso) or Chinese milk vetch. Its name in Japanese translates to lotus grass. This is because its flower looks like a lotus and grows in similar conditions to a lotus. Their meaning is totally different though. If you give someone an astragalus it means; when I'm with you, the pain softens. (Fun fact: These pants used as a green fertilizer in Japan. Massive fields of them are grown so they can die and become food for crops. The Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train goes by them!)
The Hydrangeaceae family is heavily associated with Buddhism in Japan.
The Hydrangea serrata (mountain hydrangea) is linked to the newborn Buddha. Unlike the poisonous Hydrangea macrophylla, the leaves of the Hydrangea serrata can be brewed into a super sweet tea called amacha. This tea is poured over images of the newborn Buddha to celebrate his birthday in observation of Hana Matsuri (aka the flower festival).
The Deutzia crenata (bridal wreath) is known as 卯の花 (unohana) in Japan. This translates to the flower of the rabbit, another symbol of Buddha. The month of Uzuki is specifically for this flower. Heian nobles were obsessed with it and would wear its colors during its bloom as a symbol of early summer and purity.
The specific species referenced by Sukuna is 紫陽花 (Ajisai) or the Hydrangea macrophylla which is commonly grown at temples. There's actually a temple dedicated to these flowers called Shifukuji Temple in Sendai—the place Yuji's domain mimics. (They're also associated with the Eight Immortals, one of which is a gender ambiguous patron of florists and gardeners.) Their color is determined by the pH of the soil they're grown in and so too does their meaning.
White Hydrangeas: arrogance, purity, grace
Pink Hydrangeas: love, heartfelt emotions
Blue Hydrangeas: apology, regret, gratitude
Purple Hydrangeas: royalty, desire to deeply understand
I think this is another instance of the grayscale being to Gege's advantage. Every meaning here could apply and I hope the anime uses all of them. Since I don't know the color, I would rather focus on the fact that the color of the flower is determined by where it is planted. The outcome of the flower is determined by where it is raised. As Sukuna dies, Yuji makes the case the that circumstances of one's birth determine how we wind up. Sukuna is the one that mentions the flowers are hydrangeas.
Morning Glories
Morning glories open in the morning and close in the afternoon, giving them the name "morning face" in Japanese. I had difficulty pining down their meaning since articles were more focused on how they got to Japan in the first place. They're symbols of summer for sure and apparently reference the fleeting beauty of a woman's face. Love, affection, gratitude, transience? Brief love and enduring love? These meanings aren't affected by the color.
You could write a whole essay on this. Someone already tried to. Do what you want with this info.
Death and Flowers
If you didn't notice the pattern, most of the characters associated with flowers die, almost die, or have some ability related to or directly referencing death. This seems to be intentional given that the first flowers in this series were given to a dying man.
We already know that the roses represent; white for innocence, purity, devotion, peace and peach for sincerity, gratitude.
Carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus) are usually given to mothers to show appreciation. When used for mourning, white carnations represent pure love and remembrance.
Forget-me-nots (Cynoglossum amabile) 忘れな草 (Wasurenagusa) represent "everlasting loyalty and love, particularly in the context of honoring ancestors."
I have called the yellow flowers Asteraceae because I cannot tell if they are supposed to be daisies, chrysanthemums, or black-eyed Susans. (If some flower enthusiast knows what they are, please help.)
Chrysanthemums 菊 (Kiku) are the unofficial flower of Japan. Yellow mums have a mix of meanings; longevity, rejuvenation, nobility (symbol of the imperial family), broken love.
Daises represent purity of the heart, honesty, sincerity.
Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) might represent resilience and encouragement. I could barely find any sources on their symbolism and the ones I did seemed dubious.
Regardless of the exact Asteraceae species, these flowers communicate appreciation and encouragement. When combined with the roses, and especially the carnations, this bouquet is not meant for strangers. Yuji is definitely lying when he says these are for the nurses and I get the feeling Wasuke knew that too.
Mourning and Flowers
In the manga, this is all we get for Yuji mourning Wasuke; 1 page for the cremation and 1 page for the wake.
Just like the hospital scene, it is impossible to tell what flowers have been placed here. This fits the theme of sorcerers not having the time to process their grief, with Gojo having Yuji eat the 2nd finger (his new sorcerer duty) after a brief apology.
The anime takes a significant deviation from this, showing the cremation in full. Up close and at a distance, we see Yuji collect his grandpa's bones and ashes out of the incinerator while Gojo quietly watches him.
I vastly prefer this version. Not only does this better emphasize the impact Wasuke's death had on Yuji, but is also better characterizes Gojo. Since most of Jujutsu Kaisen is the result of him not being able to mourn Geto's body properly, it's nice to see him making sure his students are allowed that.
Where the anime becomes outright superior to the manga is the finger feeding scene that follows.
I cannot overstate how much better Yuji literally eating his not-grandpa's remains in front of his grandpa's remains is. His grandpa who is more like a dad. His grandpa who is both a mom and a dad. Similar to his twin who replaced Uraume's mother and father.
The flowers used in this scene and at the gravestone are white Chrysanthemum × morifoliums, a common flower used at funerals. I cannot tell what the other flowers next to them are. (The adjacent gravestone has the same chrysanthemums, white lilies and forget-me-nots.)
The way the anime draws out mourning scenes compared to the manga is probably why I reacted so poorly to Gojo not getting one in the manga. Since base JJK (and now Modulo) opens on a funeral, I felt like it should've ended on one too. Yuji's mourning is interrupted by Jujutsu duties and he never gets to really confront it until the end of the series. To have a funeral for Gojo not interrupted by duty would've been a nice way to show how Jujutsu Society changed for the better. (I have a lot of confidence in the anime rectifying this.)
However, since Modulo is very clear about that ending not resolving systemic issues, I am no longer as bothered by this. The revolution died with Gojo, the structural changes were minimal, and now the new generation has to deal with the consequences. The cycles be cycling.
The Constant State of Mourning
CW: Brief Discussion of Suicide
All of the events in JJK occur because Gojo was denied the time to mourn Geto. Geto snaps because he was overworked after Riko's death. Toji kills Riko because he regresses as a person after his wife's death. Both base JJK and Modulo open on the protagonists experiencing a death they don't get to properly mourn.
Yuka has the ring taken before her grandpa is even buried, her own mom enforcing the Gojo Clan's will the second both her grandparents are dead. Tsurugi is told that same day what he wants is irrelevant. It safe to say the Gojo Clan is hardly different than the Zenin Clan. The same obsession with power and control exists, especially towards Yuka who has the use of her Shikigami banned outright. (Tbh it kind of feels like Gojo should've pulled a Maki and ganked his entire clan. They're even more controlling with Yuka than they were with him.)
Because these children are not given the space to mourn their grandparents on their own terms, it leads to them chasing after the same strength that thoroughly traumatized their caretakers in order to keep their memories alive. They want to become their grandparents—something that Yuta and Maki do not want for them. It is not a coincidence that Yuka and Tsurugi resemble their grandparents the most when they are near death.
Yuta and Maki failing to make the Gojo Clan a better place is not exactly their fault. No one in the base series had the framework to build a lasting community that could dismantle power structures without immense violence. Their failure to understand hierarchy itself as the main problem is why the Gojo Clan persists with a toxicity similar to the Zenins. Maki's regrets are the perfect microcosm of this.
(The meaning behind the reed has already been explained by someone else.)
The strength she gained gave her the power to enact change, but not the emotional bandwidth to deal with the resulting trauma. The very same minute she's crying over Mai's corpse she has to get up and fight to fulfill that final wish. Just like Yuji, she is denied the time to mourn Mai and she carries that with her until she dies.
Jujutsu Society does not give sorcerers the tools to process grief. It encourages them bury their feelings and pretend they're ok. If someone dies, you leave their corpse to someone else and are expected to carry on with your duties. Todo Aoi spells this out after Yuji loses Nobara and Nanami.
Though this helps Yuji get back on his feet for the moment, these are the words that probably cursed him the most. It made him think that stopping to mourn isn't something he's allowed to do. It taught him that the only way to process grief is to keep carrying on the wishes of the dead. This seems to have resulted in one of the most heartbreaking depictions of burnout I've ever seen.
In a different post, I theorized that Gojo's final speech to Yuji was indicative of Gojo fighting Sukuna as an act of suicide. Modulo has solidified that belief for me. Yuji appears to be in a similar state. However, there is no way out for him psychologically speaking. His body doesn't seem to age, and he doesn't believe in "the easy way out". We can see this in how he processes Nanami's death. A death that also occurred from burnout.
A lot of people were criticizing Modulo Yuji for not intervening sooner. He has been a sorcerer for 68 years, working and grieving for 68 years. In the same way Nanami became too burnt out to be a proper adult to Yuji in his final moments, adult Yuji is too burnt out to solve everyone's problems all the time. But he is still trying.
As you can see the soul research, the last physical thing given to him by his big brother, is quite literally kept next to his heart. And he doesn't just keep Choso's memory next to his heart, he keeps Choso's grief as well. He carries forward their little brothers in his body and the loss of Yuki despite not knowing them personally like Choso did. The messy way in which he is trying to resolve everything for everyone at the same time is Yuji fulfilling the duty he feels obligated to do as a sorcerer.
This final conversation with Sukuna marks a turning point in his character—the beginning of Yuji's apparent regression in Modulo. When he offers amnesty to Sukuna (death or containment) he is posed like The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel (1847). Since this painting depicts Lucifer shortly after being kicked out of heaven, this indicates that Yuji is on his way to becoming the Fallen One like Sukuna.
With age Yuji has become quite jaded and lost many of his bonds. In return he has become the absolute strongest, far surpassing Sukuna and fulfilling Gojo's wish for Yuji to develop a strength all of his own. Going back to Mai's sacrifice for Maki, Yuji is no longer half-assed after enduring so many losses.
At the end of Invincible Season 1, a father who is nearly immortal and unfathomably powerful tires to convince his son to join him in subjugating the people he sees as beneath them. This father points out how fragile, short, and insignificant those people's lives are and how his son will outlive them all. If he chooses to stay a protector of those worthless lives, the father asks his son:
"What will you have after 500 years?"
"You, dad. ...I'd still have you."
If Yuji fulfills his grandfather's last wish for him to live a long life helping others, he will not have anyone with him when he dies due to his immortal body. The curse of his grandfather's twin is being realized. Sukuna is Wasuke and Wasuke is Sukuna by Jujutsu law of twins. Yuji begins and the ends the base series being cursed by his grandparents.
I can only hope that Modulo gives him a proper death instead of allowing him to go on suffering on the behalf of others. If only Sukuna had chosen to stay with Yuji. At least he'd have him.
Alien Funerals and Flowers
One of the things I have found most interesting about Modulo is how the Simurians developed similar flower language separate to humans. It's a subtle way to make their cultures feel every bit as rich and complex as humans they're being compared to.
When I see Doula posed and surrounded by flowers in an open casket, I wonder how this exact rite came to be.
Hibiscus flowers are typically fugacious—blooming for 1 day before withering. The Hibisus mutabilis 芙蓉 (Fuyou) is extra special, blooming white in the morning, becoming pink by noon, and ending the day as red, lasting several days before they die.
Though they have an obvious association with impermanence and fleeting beauty, their primary meaning in Japanese flower language is gentle. I don't think I need to explain why this fits Doula so well.
The other flowers are some kind of Asteraceae (daisies, chrysanthemums, or black-eyed Susans) whose color cannot be discerned. If I had to take a guess, I would assume they are white chrysanthemums.
...But this is assuming the aliens have the same flower language of Japan, which is highly unlikely. The meaning of flowers varies by region/time period and the Simurians seem to be an analogue for ancient Japan. If you didn't know, ancient Japanese culture was directly borrowing from ancient Chinese culture. This means it is possible that Simurian (and Heian Japan's) flower symbolism have more in common with ancient China's than modern Japan's, which could be a great set up for miscommunications between characters. Here are some examples of how different they can be.
Iris: butterflies, protection, change (China) vs strength, clarity, kindness (Japan)
Lily: harmony, unity, marriage (China) vs purity, innocence, funerals (Japan)
Marigold: wealth, prosperity (China) vs jealousy, despair, grief (Japan)
Rose: perseverance, grace, vitality (China) vs love (Japan)
It makes me wonder if Dabura, a character who is constantly misunderstood by other characters, presented like Sukuna while being the biggest softie, has an additional layer of miscommunication going on with the roses.
Unknowns
These are flowers the anime should clarify. In the manga they're a bit too difficult for someone like me to discern.
I'm pretty sure the flowers used for Kamo's mother are carnations since they are the mother flower. However, their size and leaves resemble a hydrangea. Carnation heads are a bit smaller and their leaves are very thin. Perhaps it's a mix of those flowers.
The flowers used for Tsumiki's funeral are not high quality enough for me to analyze. They are also a part of the ending that was rushed due to Gege's hospitalization. I'm not even sure if the flowers are worth trying to discern since the consistency/logic is wonky for everything else in the final chapters.
Extras
I don't know how to end this neatly, so here are some research rabbit holes I went down.
Flower Research
Japanese flower meanings I found interesting while researching the other flowers.
Cherry Blossom (Prunus serrulata) 桜 (Sakura): beauty and mortality
Dandelion (Taraxum officinale) 蒲公英 (Tanpopo): courage, perseverance, because they can grown anywhere
Japanese Rowan/Mountain Ash (Sorbus commixta) 七竈 (Nanakamado): I'll watch over you.
Japanese Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) 定家葛(Teikakadzura): love, new beginnings
Ohio Spriderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) 露草色 (Murasaki Tsuyugusa): I respect you, but it's not love.
Red Hot Pokers/Torch Lily/Tritoma (Kniphofia): My heart aches thinking of you.
Shepard's Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) 薺 (Nazuna): I give you my all.
Wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) 藤 (Fuji): elegance, longevity, prosperity, love
Tree Research
Prompted by Takaba and Kenjaku discussing the story Momotaro.
The momo (桃) in momotaro means peach. It is the same kanji used in Nishimiya Momo's name. This caused me to realize there are a lot more flower/plant names in JJK than I initially thought and that I would need to make a separate post.
For example, even Sukuna is a hidden flower name. You see, kanji can be made up of other kanji getting squished together. Kanji that cannot be pulled apart into other kanji are called radicals. If you cut the name Sukuna (宿儺) apart into its radicals, particularly the exorcism kanji 儺, you can get the kanji 堇 for violet. (儺 -> 亻+堇+隹). I did this because Yorozu told me to and there is a very infamous Umineko puzzle that requires you to do this to solve it.
Anyways, Momotaro made me learn about the fruits momo (peach), sumomo (plum) and ume (plum/apricot?). While learning the differences between the plums, I then learned there are more plums—the Japanese Yew Plum, which has a deadly lookalike the Japanese Yew. Here is this listed out.
Chinese Plum/Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume) 梅 (Ume): faithful, beauty, patience
Japanese Yew Plum (Cephalotaxus harringtonii) 犬榧 (inuyaga)
Japanese Yew (Taxus cuspidata): immortality
Yes, that Ume (梅) is in Uraume (裏梅). (There are many theories about this.) I think it fits their personality both symbolically and literally. If you didn't know, compared to the sumomo plum that sweetens with ripeness, the ume plum remains sour. And if eaten eaten unripe, the ume plum contains a toxin called amygdalin, which releases cyanide when consumed. Uraume is pretty, faithful, and a short-tempered sour puss. I leave you with images of them and the momo, sumomo, and ume blossoms.
1) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
2) Discussion of historical sex pervert stuff occurs.
3) Written as of JJK Modulo 22 25.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
This is another a weird write-up but I cite the manga a lot more because it lines up with historical fact. This is spiritually a sequel to my rant on Heian timekeeping and how that affects Sukuna.
That being said, I must ask you to rewrite your consciousness. Please let go every notion you have about historical nobility and customs, especially those of a European origin. I will sometimes be using Western analogues to make the jumping off point a little easier given Tumblr's user demographics, but please understand they are not 1-to-1 comparisons.
Barely anything was written about how commoners lived. Most of what we know is form a noble perspective. To apply what Heian nobles did to commoners is like applying what Hollywood movie stars do a min wage fast food worker. The wealth disparity was that bad, and you should not assume what they did applies to commoners.
Citations
Academic articles not directly linked can be accessed by using Sci-Hub.
Step 1: Select a "Sci-Hub Available Websites"
Step 2: Paste DOI url or document title into the search bar.
Step 3: Profit.
Temples vs Shrines
My dumb bass very recently figured out that temples and shrines in Japan are two very different things not to be used interchangeably. This confusion of mine was partially due to historical overlap these spaces shared until the Meiji restoration. Prior to Buddhism's introduction, Japan's native religion was Shintoism where Shrines were erected to worship this religion's many gods. After Buddhism and its temples were established, they evolved alongside Shintoism and its shrines rather than replacing them, both influencing each other greatly. (For example both used bells—temples for timekeeping and shrines for purification. Overlap occurs when temples also use bells for purification.) I will try to summarize those differences below.
Temples
Temples are institutions dedicated to the study and practice of Buddhism by monks and their acolytes. There are 4 major structures at temples, all of which are typically accessible to visitors with permission; the gate at the entrance (sanmon), the sacred pagoda storing holy relics (gojunoto), the building that contains images of the Buddha (kōdō), and the building for scripture reading (kondō). Monks and sometimes visitors stay in lodgings called shukubō. Since Shinto deities are recognized as incarnations of Buddha by temples, some of them even have Shinto shrines on their grounds. You can see similar architecture at Tokyo Jujutsu Tech.
Temples in the Heian were for the most part male-only spaces dedicated to Buddhist teachings and scholarly education. Though most people could visit them, the requirements for joining varied by temple. Male children could join by being abandoned at a temple, being recruited by a monk at that temple, sold to a temple, or even paying to be at a temple. Outside of their religious duties, the monks and their acolytes were responsible for handling purification rituals (especially those surrounding death), acting as an unofficial arm of the government, and timekeeping.
Women were for the most part excluded from temples for being "unclean" (aka rousing lust in men and producing blood via menstruation/childbirth). This attitude towards women was so severe that they were sometimes banned from entire mountains. Since cursed techniques/domains are largely based on Buddhist terms and hand signs, it's not all that surprising Jujutsu Society is extremely sexist.
Temples did however take in outcasts called Hinin (non-people), despite some of them being designated as "unclean" (aka having deformities). Monks would allow the Hinin to directly handle the dead to avoid the uncleanliness such contact would cause them. In exchange for this labor, they allowed the Hinin to loiter around the temples and beg. (Letting them inside of the temples was inviting uncleanliness onto sacred grounds.) I imagine this is why Sukuna was discriminated against in the Heian.
Tangentially related to temples, Buddhism also introduced the ban on the meat consumption of chicken, cows, dogs, horses, monkeys, and small fish via Emperor Tenmu in 675. This lasted until the Meiji restoration in 1868. Though game meat was excluded from this ban, tanning hides and slaughtering animals became highly stigmatized. Only social outcasts openly ate meat as it reinforced their status.
In other words, Heian society was largely pescetarian. Sukuna is doing something socially taboo here on top of literally being taboo via deformity. Eating deer and boar was not illegal but it was low class. (Unless you were in certain parts of Nara where deer were worshiped under Shintoism and killing them was forbidden.)
TLDR; Buddhism, no women, no meat, no sex (in theory), yes homeless people as free labor, yes visitors allowed with permission.
Shrines
Shrines (jinja) are structures dedicated to deities known as kami. They can be dedicated to a single kami, multiple kami, or a sacred space.
The personnel that tend to shrines are priests (shinshoku) and shrine maidens (miko). Music and dance are frequently a part of the rituals performed by them. Gakuganji and Utahime appear to fill these roles. Though it should be noted that priests of the Heian dressed differently and can be seen in the Yorozu flashback. The garments of shrine maidens remain unchanged.
I would also like to clarify that priests are separate from diviners (onmyōji) even though they have very similar dress. Diviners were hired and vetted by the government to perform divinations and geomorphology to make predictions, more analogous to a scientist since their practices were separate from both Shintoism and Buddhism.
Shrines are typically comprised of 2–4 major structures; the gate at the entrance (torii), the building of worship (haiden), the building for offerings (heiden), and the sanctuary (honden). If the heiden isn't present offerings occur at the haiden. Sometimes the sanctuary is not present at a shrine if a natural feature such as a mountain or waterfall is being enshrined. The following image contains is one of many possible shrine layouts. (Looks like Sukuna's malevolent shrine is a honden.)
The gate marks the boundary between an ordinary space and a sacred space. After passing through it, there is often a water basin where guests are expected to perform a cleansing ritual called Temizuya to purify themselves.
When you make an offering bow twice, clap twice, and bow once and maybe ring a bell. The clapping is to get the kami's attention so they hear your prayer apparently.
The sanctuary (honden) is a structure that houses a sacred object (shintai) that represents the kami enshrined. This location is to only be used by the kami and sometimes a Shinto priest for rituals. Outsiders entering this area or disturbing it is a major offense, the doors to this area only opened by Shinto priests during festivals. The sanctuary itself is split into an outer sanctum (gejin) and inner sanctum (naijin). The inner sanctum contains the a place for the seat of the kami called shinza, which is decorated with symbols of this kami and where the sacred object is stored.
We see this logic in play with both Sukuna and Tengen. Sukuna sits on his throne of skulls, gets pissy when you touch or look at him without his permission, and has his Shrine cursed technique/Malevolent Shrine domain expansion. Tengen is fixed to one place, has a special room select few are allowed in, and worshiped by the Star Religious Group.
These two are functionally gods under Shintoism. Which makes sense. Temples declared women unclean and banned them. Society declared the deformed non-human and the temples sometimes kept them as totally not slaves. If Sukuna or Tengen wanted to exist in Heian society with a modicum of autonomy or respect, becoming a god was pretty much the only way.
Which reminds me, some humans were considered gods under Shintoism—the Japanese imperial family. To clarify, Japanese emperors do not have the mandate of heaven they are heaven. As direct descendants of the kami that birthed Japan, they are living aspects of Shintoism and the Japanese identity itself.
To get an idea of how big a deal they are, one of the reasons the Shogunate (military-dictatorship government) spared the imperial family and kept them around was to placate the masses religiously. Unlike European or Chinese societies that would tolerate throne usurpers, killing the Japanese imperial family was like killing god. The majority of the Shintoist population would've been against you for doing this. (This is probably why the imperial family exists to this day, making it one of the oldest royal lineages to exist.)
So how do you move up in Heian society if you can't become a god? Political marriage.
TLDR; Shintoism, yes women, yes sex, no "unclean"people, visitors allowed in some areas.
Further Reading:
A temple? A shrine? What’s the difference?
Digital Museum Encyclopedia of Shinto
Liminal Journeys Pilgrimages of Noblewomen in Mid-Heian Japan by Barbara Ambros
"Challenges to Survival: Responses of Outcasts and Commoners in Early Medieval Japan" by Breann M. Goosmann.
“Not Befitting Our Divine Country”: Eating Meat in Japanese Discourses of Self and Other from the Seventeenth Century to the Present, Food and Foodways by Hans Martin Krämer
Sexuality and Courtship
The sexual politics of the Heian upper class is much closer to modern Liberal Hollywood (nobles) and the Catholic Church (Buddhist temples). This is to say that nobles were very sexually flexible and the Buddhists monks generally abstained from sex via celibacy except when having affairs/families in secret or doing the other very bad thing the Catholic Church is known for. (Since that discussion is rather depressing, it is a separate post. Proceed with caution.)
This is likely due to Shintoism being a rather sex positive religion. Outside of the sexism surrounding shrine maidens needing to be virgins for their kami and the idea that men should always initiate due to the creation myth, even commoners were allowed be sexually liberal with fertility rituals such as Utagaki. (This involved villagers going to a mountaintop to recite poetry, sing, dance, and have orgies.)
For nobility, not having sex was considered strange. Both men and women were allowed to have many partners at the same time, sometimes including those of the same sex and even the emperor to gain favor. Cheating was normal, expected, and beautiful. To the point where the children that resulted from these affairs were not shunned. The only rule for cheating was to not blatantly do it in front of your main spouse.
Marriage
Speaking of spouses, men were allowed to have multiple. The first wife was usually a political choice made by the parents, but every wife after that could be whoever the husband wanted. This made women very valuable since they could more easily marry their family into wealth. The Fujiwaras famously did this to gain control of the Heian courts. And look who sort of married into the Gojo Clan and took it over? The Fujiwara descendant, Okkotsu Yuta. He also kind of has 2 wives...
This is also why in Modulo this joke occurs.
Weddings were not really a thing either. Outside of a small rice-cake exchange ceremony with the parents, marriage was solidified by opinion rather than a legally backed paper. If people thought a pair was a couple, that was enough to be a couple.
So you want to know how people got married back then? Exchanging poems and Twilight Edward Cullen type night visits. Since men were expected to initiate and noblewomen weren't allowed to leave their rooms, it was socially normal for a man sneak into a woman's room at night to have sex with her (and maybe read her some poems too). If that occurred 3 nights in a row, that was considered marriage. (The commoner equivalent of the night visits is Yobai.)
How would one reject these advances? By being very passive. Consensual non-consent was default so, "no" was more like "Noooo~♡ Stooop~♡ You're so bad~♡" Despite this set up and the lack of laws against sex crimes at the time, men were still expected to woo women with poetry and crying. They would face severe social ostracization for being forceful. (The women still got blamed though since male desires were seen as uncontrollable.)
This is all to say that Yorozu really is a barbarian when it comes to love.
She demands monogamy when both polygamy and unethical polyamory were the norm, takes initiative in the relationship as a woman, fails to get consent through poetry, and demands a big wedding ceremony that didn't even exist back then. (She also is breaking the no eating monkey meat laws in effect at the time.) Yorozu is the polar opposite of what a proper Heian noblewoman is supposed to be and is more or less acting like an unruly Heian man, making her GNC af.
This role reversal puts Sukuna in the position of a Heian noblewoman, and as you can see, he is turning her down with the correct etiquette. Sukuna doesn't outright tell her no, but instead becomes dead-eyed and passive to signal he's not interested.
Maybe it would've gone over better if her poetry was good?
Further Reading:
Heian Period Sexual Politics, Marriage, and Sex by Chris Kincaid
Things That are Near Though Distant: Extramarital Affairs in Heian-Period Japan by Matthew Grubits
Japanese Marriage Institutions in The Heian Period by William H. McCullough
Gender Queerness
Yorozu and Sukuna's role reversal dynamic is a fascinating choice since it directly draws attention to how Sukuna is treated like a Heian noblewoman for most of the series. Aka he's trapped in one place and bored to death by it, not allowed to leave without observance by male characters, is supposed to remain out of sight, and lots of implied yearning. I mean he's quite literally wearing women's clothes when he does this.
This isn't to frame Sukuna as a deviant either—it's actually in line with the gender fudgery going on in the Heian. Cross-dressing was a common form of entertainment, used in religious practices, and considered attractive in some cases.
"Heian attitudes about beauty, both masculine and feminine, make differentiating gender on the basis of secondary sexual characteristics more difficult. Sachiko asserts that in Heian Japan, “proximity to feminine aesthetic ideals, to be ‘beautiful like a woman,’ was an integral condition for male beauty.”...Therefore, because the sexes look more physically similar, the clothes people wear become more important in determining, at a glance, which gender they are." (Pg 5)
—My Son for my Daughter and my Daughter for my Son: Clothing, Gender, and Power in Heian Japan by Ruth Avalon Caswell
Not going to lie, Uraume embodies this ideal beauty perfectly. Tengen did too.
This gender ambiguity also had a divine component. The Bodhisattva of Compassion, associated with motherhood and Womb Realm Garbhadhatu, Kannon (aka Guanyin) is quite gender fluid. Depending on the culture, Kannon will be one gender or the other. You could basically call this gender whatever is best for the situation, which is completely in line with Kenjaku. Pretty sure this is the Buddha Kenjaku's domain is based on too. (Kannon also appears in Yuji's domain, suggesting his might be the Womb of Compassion.)
It should also be noted that the male progenitor god in Shintoism both fathers kami with his wife and gives birth kami himself. In other words, Mpreg is canon to Shintoism. (Kenjaku has religious grounds for being Like That!)
Pretty queer right? That's not even the best of it.
Homoeroticism
It should be understood that the language men used in poems to court women was the exact same language men used in poems towards other men. Though these relationships were to be kept private, male-male love was socially acceptable. The greater the power imbalance, the better since these relationships were a way to reinforce social positions. Men of equal standing loving each other was taboo.
That didn't stop them from trying though. Please considered the following excerpts from Between Monks: Saigyo's Shukke, Homosocial Desire, and Japanese PoetryJapanese Poetry by Jack C. Stoneman.
"Saigyō was always recognized for his poems expressing desire for companionship, specifically the company of a fellow recluse. The following poem is one example, cited by several modern scholars as evidence of Saigyō’s fraternal yearning." (Pg 437)
さびしさに (sabishisa ni) I wish there were
たへたる人の (tahetaru hito no) another here
またもあれな (mata mo are na) who could bear this loneliness;
庵ならべむ (iori narabemu) we’d build our huts side by side
冬の山里 (fuyu no yamazato) in this wintry mountain home.
.....
Doesn't that ring a bell?
The loneliness that comes with unrivaled strength. The strength borne of sorcery based on Buddhist principals of detachment that lead to the loneliness of historical monks. The loneliness that was abated by intense homoerotic relationships. The one who will teach you love is...
"Furthermore, Saigyō often employed the language of love poetry to express desire for male companions. The following exchange between Saigyō and his friend Saijū is one example." (Pg 437-438)
[Saigyō]
Because the moon shone so brightly over the bridge of the inner sanctuary at Kōya, we spent the entire night together gazing, and at about that time Master Saijū left for the capital. That night was unforgettable, and when the moon was bright again over the same bridge, I sent the following to Master Saijū:
こととなく(kototonaku) Lost in
君恋渡る (kimi koiwataru) longing for you
橋の上に (hashi no ue ni) on this bridge
争ふものは (arasou mono wa) all that might vie
月の影のみ (tsuki no kage nomi) is the moon’s light.
.....
[Saijū’s Reply]
思ひやる (omoiyaru) I could not see that
心は見えで (kokoro wa miede) your heart had reached out to me;
橋の上に (hashi no ue ni) on that bridge
争ひけりな (arasoikeri na) indeed they vie,
月の影のみ (tsuki no kage nomi) none but the moon’s light.
.....
(Sorry just let me gush about this exchange. I love how Saijū’s response echoes Saigyō. Outside of an echo being a sound that returns to you, Saigyō is mirroring that longing by calling Saijū out for not noticing his feelings while they were together. They were both lonely and they both inflicted that distance, physically and emotionally.)
"In his annotation of Saijū’s poem, Nishizawa Yoshihito writes that the poet’s “manner of dismissing the other’s expression of loneliness in a counterattack closely resembles female poetry of the courtly era."" (Pg 438)
"When Saigyō writes to absent friends (usually monks), he often adopts the stance of a pining woman." (Pg 439)
"Using erotic language to create metaphorical romantic relationships, what Heldt calls “gendered positions and desires” and “strategic performances,” in their poetry...these poets constructed gendered positions where clear and defined social and religious configurations did not exist (in real social settings and in poetic expression) in order to reflect the desires for spiritual fulfillment, faithful companionship, and mutual moral support they harbored." (Pg 441)
So remember that post where I decided to read the Sukuna-Gojo fight as unhinged courtship and metaphorical sorcerer sex? That's pretty much what this is.
When Sukuna approaches Gojo with his student's face he creates a metaphorical power dynamic that positions himself beneath Gojo (master). When he wears mostly white like a bride, he again positions himself beneath Gojo (husband). Similar to how he passively rejects Yorozu like a noblewoman, Sukuna puts himself in the position of a woman for Gojo. But it's not to reject him, it's to express his desire to reach him.
He also uses very metaphorical language to communicate this desire. I cut through your Infinity [Gojo's loneliness] by targeting my technique on a constructed world with you at its center [making Gojo the center of his world]. Outright confirming that was a gesture of love with Kashimo.
And just as Saigyō swapped between the role of woman or man with his male partners, Sukuna retakes the position of a man by putting Gojo beneath him, literally. Now in the position of a woman, Gojo yearns after Sukuna.
Though in Gojo's case he is not doing it because Heian-specific social conditioning around queer love and expression. He just happens to line up perfectly with it. This same kind of gay yearning is the foundation of Gojo and Geto's relationship. However, since I am focusing on Heian characters, I'll leave you to ruminate on the following:
"More than just friends, these men were for Saigyō the “soul mates” that could understand the deepest yearnings of his heart and whose company or absence could for Saigyō mean the difference between ecstasy and despair." (Pg 442)
Poetry
It should be noted that Haikus did not exist during the Heian. According to @tangsakura's post The Details You Missed & The Context Behind Yorozu's Marriage Proposal to Sukuna, both official and unofficial translations were errors:
"...Yorozu literally says 'make stanzas'...this means that the second [the first being decapitating heads] fun part of the wedding reception would be a collaborative poetry session with the guests. There's only one kind of collaborative poetry that is popular in Heian era. It's called Renga..."
(Though it's funny to think that if it were a Haiku, it would mean Yorozu and Sukuna went out of their way to learn newer forms of poetry. Sukuna in particular learning enough have strong opinions on it.)
Renga gave rise to the Haiku and it originally comes from Waka, which was also very popular in the Heian. Here are some links to the most popular compilations of Heian Waka.
Manyōshū
Kokin Wakashū
Yes that is the Kokin Wakashū Gojo Satoru is suggested to have canonically read. (Though I don't think he's actually into poetry himself.)
Waka Forms
There are 7 forms of Waka that are relatively easy to learn and use. The only hard rule is that they are to follow specific syllable patterns. Though not always present, it is highly encouraged to have natural imagery in them. Some of these forms are associated with specific activities, but like all forms of art, it can be used outside of them. The following forms are listed for reference.
Tanka
Syllable Pattern: 5-7-5-7-7
Typical Structure: The first two 5-7 lines present the topic and the last three 5-7-7 lines reflect on it.
Uses: Just about everything. When Tankas are exchanged, usually between lovers, it becomes a Sōmoka. (The Saigyō and Saijū poem exchange is an example of this.)
Chōka
Syllable Pattern: 5-7 [repeating until ending with] 5-7-7
Typical Structure: The repeating 5-7 lines discuss the topic and the last three 5-7-7 lines conclude it.
Uses: Public speeches, debates, dissertations.
Katauta (half poem)
Syllable Pattern: 5-7-7
Uses: Can be used by itself in a single stanza, but usually used in pairs. When the pair is made with a single writer it is called a Sedōka. When a pair is made through an exchange with another person, it is called a Mondo. Mondos typically read like a call and a response, most often between student and master, though there are plenty of examples between lovers.
Bussokusekika
Syllable Pattern: 5-7-5-7-7-7
Typical Structure: The 21 poems inscribed in a Buddha footprint at the Yakushi Temple in Nara are the only historical forms. These poems have not been translated.
Uses: Buddhist monks used this for spiritual purposes.
Application in Courtship
(Plagiarizing myself for this edit because I want people to start using Heian-specific poetry forms in fanfic.)
It is important to know that quoting existing poetry was very attractive. Courtship in the Heian was all about class. Where literacy was afforded to select few, being well-read came across as extremely sexy.
When presenting someone your own poetry, things like the quality of the paper, handwriting, the ink, what the paper was perfumed with all communicated class. The more expensive, the more classy pretty much.
Though this mostly applies to the nobles, commoners did try to mimic them. There are records of nobility mocking commoner poetry, but not the actual poems from commoners unfortunately.
Here is a video that summarizes this.
Parenting
In the way the cultural stances were strangely lax on sex, so too were cultural stances on parenting in the Heian. The best way I could describe it is that parent's only real duty was to have a baby. Raising it? Loving it? That's for the peasants. (And even then commoners would sometimes sell their children to temples/into slavery...) Take for example a noblewoman's thoughts on her daughter becoming sick.
"I had never thought of her with either affection or sorrow. . . . Occasionally I thought about how old she would be, but it puzzled me that I could never recapture the longing I felt when I glimpsed her that first night [of birth]." (Pg 167)
—Thicker than Blood: The Social and Political Significance of Wet Nurses in Japan, 950-1330 by Thomas D. Conlan
Blood parents saw their children as political tools more than anything else. To the point where nobles would hire wet nurses and their families to raise their children. Since these children were more emotionally attached to their wet nurse families, they would favor them in adulthood, allowing these families to rise up the social ladder and gain influence.
Kenjaku having 9–10 disappointments used as discardable pawns and making someone else raise the 1 successful spawn after birth? Peak Heian nobility grindset. Completely socially acceptable.
Pure speculation on my end, I wonder if this view of children is linked to the Shinto progenitor gods literally abandoning their firstborn for being deformed. Or the husband kami murdering the newborn that killed his wife by accident in childbirth... (More gods were born from the split blood btw.)
You can see this kind of mentality present in modern Jujutsu Society with Zenin Noabito making his wife have many kids until he got the worst perfect one, Toji making someone else raise his kid after selling him per a political gambit, Gojo's parents not being active in his life since having him was considered fulfilling their duties, Yuka and Tsurigi's father leaving them after having the strong one, Nobara's mom leaving her to granny to get her own mom off her back about duties. (Maybe Yuji's dad abandoning him too if Kenajku wasn't the cause behind his disappearance.)
Gojo isn't immune to this either. While female wet nurses would raise their charges regardless of gender, male "wet nurses" (aka the husbands of the wet nurse) would only participate in raising the male children. As the metaphorical male "wet nurse" Gojo sure did favor Megumi way more than Tsumiki.
Heian parents give you a name, position, and a place to stay. Good luck with everything else! (Kind of explains all the missing anime dads ngl.)
Names and Names and Names
In the Heian, people had many names throughout their lifetime based on their age, class, job, and gender. Parents really only gave their children a family name. All the other ones were given by whatever circumstance required them. Kenjaku is embodies this to a T, seemingly trying to make everyone else adhere to this mentality.
Uro is included because her lack of a name indicates her class. The lack of a name indicates someone is an outcast or slave. A single name indicates someone is of lower class—either a commoner, slave, disgraced member of an important family. To have a secondary family name on the registry means you're of higher class. In other words, you can infer a lot about Heian characters based on their names alone. I want to explain those conventions for reference.
Buddhist/Dharma Name (Hōmyō)
Hōmyō are names given to a person upon their ordination as monk. These names are based on Buddhist concepts and may be combined with their noble family surname or a generic name comprised of the name of their hometown + the suffix -bō (坊=monk). By adding -bō to their hometown, it represented severing their ties with it as a monk.
The names Yorozu (万), Kenjaku (羂索), Tengen (天元) are based on Buddhist concepts and can be categorized as hōmyō.
Yorozu means 10,000 which refers to the 10,000 things in Buddhism. A concept that can refer to the diverse array of life produced by male and female union. Aka something Yorozu clearly wants to do with Sukuna. Her pursuit of this aligns her domain Threefold Affliction, which refers to the Three Poisons (delusion, attachment, and aversion) that are seen as the root causes of suffering. (She is very bad at being a Buddhist.)
Her being from Aizu is also significant since it became a center for Buddhist culture in the Heian and would eventually give rise to the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage. Hypothetically she could also take Aizubō or Fujiwara as a second name. Her not having one, being called a bumpkin, and engaging in unruly behavior suggests she's of low class.
Kenjaku being a Buddhist name is a lot more complicated to explain. Thankfully someone else already did that for me.
This is another thing that ties Kenjaku to the Bodhisattva Kannon. Pretty ironic given how far removed Kenjaku is from the compassion components of Buddhism. (Excels at the detachment parts though.) I think the lack of a surname more indicative of Kenjaku's age/isolation from human society rather than class. Due to how Brain Transplant works, it is kind of impossible to tell what Kenjaku's original background is. During the Takaba skit Kenjaku does admit to growing up feeling lonely but happy in a single-mother household. If that's not a joke, the single name could indicate lower working mom class. However, we do know Heian noblewomen ignored the hell out of their kids. Yuka and Tsurugi, who are Gojo Clan rich, were technically raised in a single-mom household. It also doesn't help that Kenjaku's behaviors scream upper class. (Maybe it's from possessing all those bodies belonging to people of influence?)
Tengen is the easiest to explain. Literally has the kanji for heaven in their name and brought over Buddhism to Japan. The lack of a surname is likely due to truly detaching from the world as a monk (sorcerer). Very much upper class given their position in Jujutsu Society.
Boy Names
The sexism in Heian Japan really jumps out with how many special names boys were given over girls. Girls typically got one name they kept their entire life (unless they became a nun) that was written in Katakana. (Not even worthy of Kanji with special meanings.) Their own names were so stripped of personhood, that their works in the historical record are marked by their relationship to male relatives. (e.g. instead recording things like "written by Jane" they were recorded like "written by the daughter of the Great John Kaisen".)
The following naming conventions applied to the upper class. It is not known how closely commoners followed these traditions.
Childhood Name (Yōmyō)
6 days after birth, male children were given a yōmyō. They contained a descriptive kanji with a cutsifying suffix. (Examples: Oniwakamaru = dear young goblin and Ushiwakamaru = dear young ox.)
No one in JJK uses a yōmyō. This is just a fun fact.
Generic Names (Zokumyō) and True Names (Nanori)
The yōmyō is discarded upon the coming of age ceremony for boys called Genpuku. This occurred anywhere from ages 10–20 and bestowed the child with 2 names.
Zokumyō is the primary given name used with everyone. It typically had a kanji associated with something positive combined with kanji indicating their birth order.
Nanori is a formal true name usually comprised of 2 kanji to make a 4 syllable name. The genpuku sponsor would give one of the kanji in their name to the child coming of age. A sponsor could be the parents, grandparents, master, or any important figure in the child's life. The other kanji could come from something auspicious or a specific family member. Using the Nanori by itself is considered extremely rude since it implies intimacy. It should only be used in tandem with the surname and Zokumyō. (It's kind of like using a modern first name by itself.)
The Heian rules around adult names are definitely why Sukuna, Uraume, Tengen, and Kenjaku all sound like out of touch weirdos when referring to other characters by their full names all the time. They are just trying to be polite. Since using a single name when you have multiple implies closeness, they just use a nomer instead when they want to be rude. (The only time two of those four use a standalone modern name is for trickery. Kenjaku's "Satoru" used to trick Gojo into thinking Geto was back and Megukna's "Hana" to trick Hana into thinking Megumi had stopped being possessed.)
I also think this is partially why Sukuna calls Gojo a nameless fish. If Gojo were alive during the Heian, his Genpuku would've given him more names. Sukuna is kind of going like "You're a Clan head and basically the center of the Jujutsu world. Where tf are your other names?"
There are several characters that loosely merge Zokumyō and Nanori rules.
Maki (真希) and Mai (真依) share their 真 (Ma) as twins.
Jinichi (甚壱) and Toji (甚爾) both use the positive adjective kanji 甚 for great then are followed with their birth order—壱 (ichi) for first son and 爾 (ji) for second son.
Naoya (直哉) borrows the kanji and pronunciation 直 (Nao) from his father Naobito (直毘人).
Yuji (悠仁) borrows the kanji 仁 from his father Jin (仁).
Tsurugi (真剣) borrows the kanji 真 from his grandma Maki (真希). It should also be noted that 剣=sword which makes him subtly named after Mai.
Yuka (憂花) borrows the kanji and pronunciation 憂 (Yu) from her grandfather Yuta (憂太). The -ka (花) in Yuka is for flower, different from the -ka (香) for fragrance in Rika. But given how Yuta told Rika to treat Maki like a flower and flowers being fragrant, it think this is also a subtle naming after Rika.
Yuka and Tsurugi trying to become their grandparents they share names with. The cycles be cycling.
Fancy Names (Azana) and Appellations (Adana)
Azana
Azana collectively refers to pseudonyms created from Japanese names when the kanji are read the Chinese way. Apparently this makes them more fancy sounding. The English equivalent is like us calling Gege Gregarious as a fancy upscale of Gregory. Azana were mainly used by the upper class when penning their art. When referring to a specific art, the azana will instead be called that relevant stage name.
"Warriors took gō, painters took gamyō, haiku artists took haimyō, entertainers geimyō, etc. The implication behind the new name is that the artist belongs to a higher life. (Of course, there were also instances when the artistic career would be potentially damaging to one’s reputation if the true name were known.) The artist would keep his regular name, at any rate, but all his work would be signed with his art name."
—Japanese Names by Sengoku Daimyō
The mentality behind Azana pretty much aligns with how Kenjaku uses names. Culling Game players get new names for their new lives!
Adana
Adana were used by commoners as a sort of surname to distinguish themselves. It could indicate their occupation, where they were from, or a prominent trait of theirs. Using the adana by itself is basically insulting the person. Literally some of these things are like "the bald [name]".
If you couldn't tell, Ryomen (which means two-faced) Sukuna is an adana. It reinforces his low class status and under no circumstances should be used by itself. (Unless you want him to kill you.) This is not a first name or surname. It's basically a rude title which is why Uraume, Yorozu, and Kenjaku never use it with him.
Curses
From Kate Shanahan's Cursing In the Heian Period:
"One of the fascinating aspects of Heian culture was the Buddhist belief against killing, which the nobility took very seriously, very different from later eras when wars became frequent. And in Shinto belief, blood is a form of pollution, so if you killed someone and caused blood to flow, you'd become polluted. Then you’d have to purify yourself, abstain from activities and certain foods, isolate yourself at home; it was a whole thing. ...curses were employed in this era to eliminate political rivals because killing them was unacceptable."
"Reading through my research, I’ve identified four types of Heian Period curses.
A deity (kami) or the vengeful spirit of someone who died violently (onryō) is angry and sends disasters or epidemics (tatari) to wreak havoc.
A living spirit (ikiryō) leaves its living body to possess a rival or enemy and make them ill or do strange things. This is usually unintentional and caused by suppressed jealousy or rage, or by an obsession with a grievance one can’t let go of.
An utterance, perhaps unintentional and spoken in a fit of pique, brings a curse down on a rival.
A deliberate action to cause bad luck, illness, or even death to a rival or enemy."
Sounds like a very certain someone doesn't it?
Complete with the disproportionate retaliation for mild disrespect. (Touching him while providing first aid warrants cutting off an arm. Peak kami and or curse logic.)
Curses were also handled by Onmyōdō, a formalized system separate to Shintoism and Buddhism. It functioned almost like a spiritual science. You don't pray to a god to curse someone, you either hire a diviner (onmyōji) to do it for you or you do it yourself. Official diviners following the principals of non-harm would create anti-curse wards to help their clients. The shadier ones would apply harmful curses to your target. If you couldn't afford either? Use Ushi no Toki Mairi.
"Ushi no toki mairi...refers to a traditional Japanese method of cursing a target, so called because it is conducted during the hours of the Ox (between 1 and 3 AM). The practitioner—typically a scorned woman—hammers nails into the sacred tree (神木, shinboku) of a Shinto shrine while dressed in white and crowned with an iron ring laden by three upright candles. In the common modern-day depiction, the nails are driven through a straw effigy of the victim, impaling the doll upon the tree."
This practice is associated with the figure from Heian literature known as Hashihime. She's is simultaneously associated with water deities, a lonely woman, a jealous demon, and a guardian of bridges. Read her tale here!
I know that Sukuna's final finger was kept in a dam so he couldn't detect it. (Based on the belief spirits cannot cross running water.) However, a Heian sorcerer defeated with a modernized version of a Heian cursing ritual... It's very poetic I think.
Further Reading:
Ushi no Koku Mairi – Shrine Visit at the Hour of the Ox by Back Davisson
A Portrait of Abe no Seimei by Shigeta Shinʾichi, Gaynor Sekimori, 繁田信一
65. Notes on Some Japanese Magical Methods for Injuring Persons by W. L. Hildburgh
What does this all mean?
Not sure. Yorozu told me this.
I took this as instruction. To cut apart the text presented and see all the love that went into it. I've done my digging and turned this series into an ergodic nightmare for myself. This is completely in line with what Umineko taught me too.
I've learned too much about Heian history and I hope this post makes it a little more accessible to the JJK fandom. Please create historically accurate courtship and cheating shenanigans for me to read. Like can you even imagine? Where cheating is so commonplace and encouraged that you're the weirdo for being against it. The drama potential of this.
The Reproductive Horror of JJK Part 3 (Motherhood)
Part 1 Part 2
Notes before we start.
1) This analysis deals heavily with topics of nonconsent, grooming, abuse, and reproductive manipulation involving children. Please proceed with caution.
2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
3) Raws are from nihonkuni(.)com
4) JJK Phantom Parade Screenshots are taken from my copy of the game. The main story can be watched here in English. (I do not recommend this game in the slightest.)
5) Written as of JJK Modulo 22.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
Character Biases
In JJK there is only one character outright confirmed to be a rapist (Kenjaku) and there is another strongly implied to be one (Naoya). There’s also only one groomer who uses sexual manipulation (Mei Mei).
Outside of these 3, I think it’s important to emphasize that the characters I discuss don’t actually commit sexual assault, they just do things that feel like it in a metaphorical sense. The imagery, how they speak, and how their victims respond to their actions resemble it. When I discuss metaphorical rape, I am not condemning these characters as rapists.
Religious Biases
I was raised a Protestant Christian and the entire ordeal was deeply traumatizing. This has given me a disdain for institutional religions in general. Due to this, I tend to be very critical of religious practices and will over-assign blame to them.
This actually resulted in an egregious blunder when discussing Buddhism in this post which @yggdraseed thankfully corrected in the notes.
Though this interaction steered me in a better direction, it was still not enough to prevent errors. I did not do my due diligence in the previous part and unfairly maligned the Tachikawa Ryu sect of Buddhism. Based on what is essentially hearsay, I assumed it was most likely to have been the sect Sukuna experienced childhood sexual abuse under. With more research, I have learned that the general exploitation of children in ancient Japan was so grossly prevalent that it could never be narrowed down to one sect, let alone Buddhism itself. This was a society-wide problem with a nauseating scale up until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. (Though some of these problems still exist in modern Japan, the institutional and legal backing of them has been greatly reduced.)
The Heian era pederasty that occurred at Buddhist temples I will be discussing is not a condemnation of Buddhism itself but rather how religion is often used as a tool to exploit the most vulnerable through twisted interpretations. Abuse occurs systemically. Religion is one of the many excuses used to justify it.
As always, please correct me if I get anything wrong.
The Power of Interpretation
JJK Modulo is far less subtle with its religious themes than JJK, especially when it comes to how its distortion harms others. The most significant deviation from its predecessor is blatantly spelling out how the distortions occur in the first place.
We have the Lumerians, a minority escaping persecution for their religious beliefs, mainly the reverence of the Kylian species as gods. This appears to stem from their biological, not just spiritual, mutualism. Lumerians protect Kylians from outside threats while Kylians help maintain Lumerian health.
When considering the physical impact of Kylians on Lumerian health, their fierce protectiveness of this species is a natural consequence. However, the actual extent to which Kylians affect Lumerians is somewhat distorted by their worship.
After being expelled from Sumeria, it is likely the remaining Sumerians returned to eradicating the Kylians that were not taken with the Lumerians. This appears to not have negatively impacted the Lumerians that left the planet. Their good health upon finding Earth suggests the effect of a Kylian death depends on proximity, the actual mechanics of how they are connected currently left unexplored. Not that most of the Lumerians themselves would be interested in learning that—their dogmatic approach to their religious beliefs stifle that kind of curiosity. The fact distance affects curses was unknown to them until human sorcerers shared that knowledge.
This is Modulo’s most blatant critique of religion in general. How dogmatism blinds religious followers to the truth.
Cursed Spirits are not Kylians. They are a separate extraterrestrial species to Lumerians. Humans have been killing them for over 1,000 years and not a single one of their deaths affected the Lumerians until they became physically close to them. Even then, as Cross points out, Cursed Spirit deaths do not negatively impact Lumerian health. It takes many of them being killed at once in close proximity to damage. But Oski, like many other Lumerians, is traumatized by their persecution and clings to his dogmatic beliefs because they are more comfortable than the truth. He even goes as far as to force himself to cry convince others, who are clearly not affected, to sway opinion.
Taking this religious comfort over the truth has dire consequences. The attempt at mutuality breaks down and a duel to the death with a child will ensue because of this lie.
Though this cannot all be blamed on Oski’s rejection of truth. Yakumaru’s false perception of reality caused this breakdown in the first place.
It didn’t matter that he witnessed Cross defending humans. His xenophobia-fueled paranoia was every bit as blinding as Oski’s dogmatic beliefs. (They are parallels for a reason.) Yakumaru’s interpretation of Cross’s movement and Oski’s interpretation of his religion became their reality. The truth be damned.
This isn’t unique to these two either—Modulo is full of these distortions, mostly for the sake of protecting those who are believed to be to weak handle the truth.
I think this stems from the idea that the strong protect the weak by taking on difficult burdens alone, but I want to focus on the more insidious consequences of these well-meaning lies, especially when it comes to misogyny.
Gege is not being subtle. The Reiwa Era Tsurugi talks about here is the current era and the Lumerian’s misogynistic society is being directly compared to it. This focus on motherhood being women’s divine purpose and them being kept inside away from danger is quite literally how Heian Era Japan functioned and what some modern Japanese politicians idolize.
And though Maru tries to excuse this (by naming a male exception and failing to mention any woman by name), the fact of the matter is that the Lumerian women are oppressed. If they were treated as equals, we would see them more. Not a single one of them is present or has a say in their meetings. None of them even get names or voiced lines. When we see them at the cultural exchange they are seated separately from Lumerian men and all humans. The Lumerian perspective is exclusively told through the eyes of male warriors.
When Maru decides it's his duty as a warrior to wage battle against the humans, he thinks of his father and a generic mother with a child. What the Lumerian women want is not known because the Lumerian men do not care to know. Their religion venerates them as wombs to be protected—the excuse their warriors use for violence. This even extends to Deskuntans where the patriarch uses the excuse of his daughter's death to colonize the Lumerians. The women are literal pawns—Dabura kills his friend and is now helping the Lumerians potentially colonize Japan due to being blackmailed by the threat to his sister's life. Not a single one of female Simurians are named. When they are shown, they are framed behind men or at a distance. (I barely realized the hooded figure at Dabura's side is his sister. He thinks of of Doula more than her when fighting.)
These misogynistic beliefs also harm the male characters enforcing them. If Maru becoming physically hurt by his dogmatism wasn’t blatant enough, he spells out how it hurts his relationship with his twin too. And yet he clings to it for comfort, desperate to preserve the culture he was uprooted from, repeating this falsehood over and over until eventually the lie became the truth.
And with how the true nature of Kylians is not known due to their dogmatic beliefs, I have to wonder if female Lumerians have their abilities as sorcerers suppressed to fit this narrative. I have these doubts because their human parallels have been constantly repeating distortions about their own historical records.
Sukuna did not give Yuta those scars, Yuta gave himself those scars with Shoko’s help. Way more people than Gojo and Yuji put a stop to the Culling Games. Sukuna did not cause the Culling Games, Kenjaku did. Rika’s ring is not for the strongest sorcerer, it was a symbol of love between Rika and Yuta. It has only been 68 years and the truth of the recent past is already lost.
How can I trust what the Lumerians say about their own history? Can you even imagine how bad this distortion is going back 1,000 years?
Dogmatism in Action
One of the most striking things in the wake of the Shibuya Incident is the assignment of blame.
Gojo is declared an accomplice without any evidence and promptly excommunicated without a trial. All his associates are made criminals, unable to plead their case. The people who went above and beyond to save lives in Shibuya are made guilty by the very people who sent them there in the first place. Yaga, who has been nothing but helpful, is suddenly a potential threat that rivals Geto through sheer paranoia. If Gojo hadn’t been unsealed and all his allies had lost, the historical record would have marked him as a traitorous curse user despite it being a lie.
The higher ups of the modern era are not the first to do this, nor are they the last. The Gojo Clan seems to have bent the truth upon Yuta’s death to suppress Yuka. The Japanese legal system convicted an innocent man with made up evidence. Uro was scapegoated in the Heian, Junpei was both used as a scapegoat and fell for scapegoating, Gojo jokingly tried to scapegoat Sukuna for damage they both caused, Kenjaku used Kamo Notoroshi as a scapegoat, and Dabura was set up as one in Modulo. (Fortunately for Dabura, Doula had the wisdom to dig deeper into Dabura’s circumstances.)
With this precedent of both Sumerian and Jujutsu Society bending the truth for convenience, I’ve come to be very skeptical of how Sukuna is presented. Especially since in Modulo he is being blamed for what Kenjaku caused. Even in the fandom, Sukuna is assumed to be something only Kenjaku canonically is—a rapist.
This misconception around Sukuna is mostly the fault of these 2 panels. I want to break down exactly why this occurred.
“Fushiguro” and “Kugisaki”
We’ll start with the slight mistranslation that occurred with 伏黒 (read as “soko no gaki”=そこのガキ) and 釘崎 (read as “onna”=おんな). 伏黒 is the kanji for Megumi’s last name Fushiguro while 釘崎 is the kanji for Nobara’s last name Kugisaki. The furigana (the hiragana above the kanji) tell you how to pronounce the kanji since how they are read can change its meaning. In this case however, the furigana here does not line up with any normal reading of the kanji because it is being used as a clarifier.
“Soko no gaki” roughly translates to that brat over there. “Onna” is a very rude and clinical way of saying woman, similarish to calling someone a female. The kanji underneath that furigana serves as clarification of who Sukuna is referring to. It’s like a footnote of sorts. In English you might write it as: That brat (Megumi) over there. That woman (derogatory, Kugisaki).
By mistranslating this as Fushiguro and Kugisaki, it gives the impression that Sukuna respected them enough to use their names, which is not the case. In fact, Sukuna only starts giving Megumi full name respect after he takes a liking to his cursed technique. (Not much to do with the stated misconception, but rather a demonstration of how things get lost in translation.)
“She’s got spunk, so that should be fun.”
This is the line that gets misconstrued as sexual despite the translation here being pretty good imo. I’m going to focus on the words “spunk” and “fun” for simplicity.
The “spunk” comes from 活きがいい (ikigaii) which means lively/spirited. It appears to be used to describe fresh fish as well. Not really sexual in Japanese, but could be in English since phrases like “she’s a lively/fiesty one” are commonly used by creeps who think resistance to their advances is attractive.
The “fun” comes from 楽し (tanoshi) which means to enjoy. It’s not surprising English speakers interpret something akin to “I can have fun with her” as sexual. However, this double meaning doesn’t really exist with 楽し (tanoshi). This kind of fun is used by parents with their children. If it were sexual, the wording would probably use 巫山戯る (fuzakeru) which means to fool around with (both sexually and non sexually). (The history around the sexual connotation of fuzakeru is pretty interesting btw.)
Regardless, this phrasing comes across like someone assessing how much fun you could get out of a bad movie rather than something sexual. In English the unfavorable interpretation occurs because the translation isn’t 1-to-1 and Sukuna is given less charity as a villain. And to really drive home how this is the case, there is one final word from this dialogue I want to discuss.
“Kill”
殺す (nirosu) is how Sukuna says kill. He applies this kill to the finger bearer, Megumi, and Nobara. This is important because there’s another word that can be used for kill that carries a sexual connotation in Japanese—やる (yaru). Yaru means to do and can be translated as kill, fuck, etc. The kanji used in yaru determines how you interpret it. The kill kanji 殺 (niro) can be read as 殺 (ya) and combined with る (ru) to do this.
There is a rather infamous use of 殺る (yaru) in Hunter X Hunter that played with this exact double entendre. In summary, a character threatens to kill another character’s underage brother with yaru. The kanji clarifies to the reader that this character means kill, but the other character, who only hears yaru, takes it as a possible rape threat.
The fact Sukuna used the non-innuendo kill, the more childish fun, and the spunk associated with fresh fish points to this not being a rape threat. His intentions with Nobara (and Megumi) were purely murderous. This context being lost in translation and the biases of the English language make some interpret Sukuna as a rapist. That misconception was then repeated over and over until it became the “truth”.
Motherhood
I wanted to clarify this, because Sukuna does talk like a rapist. It happens once and he does not seem to enjoy it all. And unlike the previous instance, this localization for the most part lines up with the literal translations. Save for the one sentence that in my opinion downplays the creepiness of Sukuna’s words.
俺に任せて (ore ni makasete) is the “leave it all to me”. Since Sukuna is trying to keep his incarnated form intact, that “it” can be interpreted as referring to Megumi’s body. “Just” relax” comes from condensing the more literal translations of the following phrases. 大人しくして (otonashiku shite) is a command meaning behave/stay put/be quiet. いればいいんだ (ireba ii n’da) more or less means “it would be good if __”. Together these phrases could be translated as “It would be better for you if you stayed still and left it (your body) to me.”
This phrasing is as uncomfortable and suggestive in English as it is in Japanese, eerily similar to things one might hear during an assault. (e.g. “just relax and let it happen” or “your body is already ruined, no one else will want you” or “it’ll hurt more if you struggle”) It is especially damning when combined with the idea that a child’s body has been ruined from forcible entry by an adult.
When choosing to read Sukuna and Megumi’s relationship as one between a rapist and their victim, Megumi’s treatment by the narrative post-possession aligns with how victims are generally treated by society. He’s kept out of sight, his feelings about the ordeal are not known, and his potential is crushed.
I have previously gone over how incarnation is similar to forced pregnancy. When considering Megumi’s possession as an assault that resulted in pregnancy, there’s another reading of teenage motherhood that should also be discussed.
Sukuna seems to be trying to rebirth himself through Megumi, steeping himself in a bath that is reminiscent of womb—the long hall leading to a chamber full of bodily fluids he soaks in. His removal from Megumi resembles an abortion (as pointed out in this post), especially since a blow to the stomach caused him to dislodge.
What motivated me to read things this way was the new antagonist in the Jujutsu Kaisen mobile game Phantom Parade called Rozetsu. Though his character is non-canon some of the ideas he represents tie into the canon existing themes, mainly those surrounding pregnancy. His cursed technique essentially forces its target to have a child with him. After assaulting his target, he mixes their blood with his own and implants it onto what looks like an emaciated pregnant person to produce this replica. The replica is constantly leeching life energy from the target and for some characters, this results in hospitalization. (Rozetsu calls this process an art which is considerable given the existence of the Death Womb Paintings.) Megumi falls victim to this in a domain that resembles a womb, complete with fetuses strewn about.
And similar to Sukuna, Rozetsu targets Megumi for his cursed technique, showing a pattern where his potential as a sorcerer is coveted and then consumed by those with power over him. The resulting “child” is the end goal, what happens to Megumi the individual is disregarded entirely. Given that his name is typically used for girls, it reads like stand in for motherhood in a society that doesn’t value mothers beyond their wombs.
Reduced to a Womb
There’s some cultural context for this reading I would like to provide. Pregnancies, women, and Buddhism have had a complicated relationship going back to the Heian under a belief system called Embryology. Relevant to JJK, there are 2 historical Buddhist beliefs that should be understood.
1. Garbha or embryos have the potential for enlightenment.
“This ‘embryo’ is seen as existing within all living beings, indicating that, however deluded or defiled they are, they can mature into Buddhas. The Tathagata-garbha, then, represents the ‘Buddha-potential’ within all beings.”
2. Women are innately impure and can only be saved through motherhood and sexual devotion to men.
“In Japanese Buddhism, motherhood is combined with sexuality as symbolized by Kannon Bosatsu. Women were taught that they were in themselves sinful and impure, but they could be saved by becoming sacred mothers who dedicated their sexuality to men.”
In summary, women are only as valuable as their reproductive organs. As discussed in Part 1, we see this sentiment throughout JJK where there are many nameless mothers whose lives are centered around giving birth to a sorcerer for the benefit of a man. Modulo makes this framing more blatant with the Lumerian’s overtly sexist beliefs.
In both series, womb imagery and embryo imagery is frequently positioned as a curse or associated with some kind of oppression, usually the loss of bodily autonomy.
What makes JJK unusual is how it forces this imagery onto male characters. Something that has an underdiscussed historical basis.
Chigo
The term Chigo is used similar to the slang term babe, originating from the word for infant, but referring to an attractive young Buddhist acolyte anywhere from around 7 to 24 years old. Chigo are first referenced in the Nara period (the era before the Heian) during the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. They are associated with the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kanon, who is also linked to motherhood and childbirth. Their duties included dancing, archery, entertainment that involved cross-dressing and poetry, temple maintenance, food preparation, and performing sacred rituals. One of their most crucial and sacred rituals was called the Chigo Kanjō.
If you do not wish to read historical recountings of child sexual abuse, skip to the next section. All unlinked quotes come from The Flower of Dharma Nature: Sexual Consecration and Amalgamation in Medieval Japanese Buddhism or Nasty Boys or Obedient Children? Childhood and Relative Autonomy in Medieval Japanese Monasteries both of which are by Or Porath. Of these 2 sources, The Flower of Dharma Nature is quite graphic at times. Please proceed cautiously.
The historical record indicates male children in the Heian were sold to temples and made to undergo ritual rape by their masters.
“Another abhiṣeka, Chigo kanjō (the Ritual Consecration of Acolytes), raised children into the altar to be sexually penetrated so that they could be deified as the bodhisattva Kannon and the Mountain King Avatar (Sannō gongen).”
—Nasty Boys or Obedient Children? Pg 19
Before religious interpretation changed to position women as sacred mothers and bearers men’s sexual desires, “celibate” adult monks decided little boys were fit for this role.
“Women, still perceived as physiologically impure, were deemed karmically unfit as vehicles via which monks could overcome their passions; since they also contributed to the maturation of sin, they were institutionally barred from mountain temples, which were known as nyonin kekkai 女人結果, “off-limits territory to women.” Yet, male children were often seen as imbued with sanctity; indeed, as possessing the means by which monks could sublimate and rechannel sexual desire toward enlightenment.”
—The Flower of Dharma Nature Pgs 8-9
This arose from the idea that children were not human. If sex with human women was not allowed, sex with non-humans (excluding animals) was ok.
"Beyond the embodiment of “quasi-feminine” characteristics, children also possessed a “nonhuman” quality. Some scholars claim the monastic child held a position outside the boundaries of the human hierarchy (Kuroda 1986: 224). Intellectual historian Kuroda Hideo, through analyzing various textual and pictorial sources,posits that in medieval times children were seen as an ontological category distinct from people (hito)."
—Nasty Boys or Obedient Children? Pg 22
—The Flower of Dharma Pg 59
What made these children “divine” was that non-human categorization.
“Because of this confusion between the sacred and profane nature of various individuals labeled as a children (warawa), it is easy to understand why Kuroda sees them as “either lacking essence or as intermediary beings.” This also has to do with the fact children precede gender differentiation. As Kuroda notes, they are not yet male or female. Abe Yasurō calls them “middle-sex” entities. In other words, one can see the chigo/dōjias intermediary beings who are continuous with the divine realm.”
—Nasty Boys or Obedient Children? Pg 22
—The Flower of Dharma Pg 60
It should be understood that the records of these practices are told from the perspective of the adult monks. The feelings of the child acolytes on this matter only exist in the documents noting their suicides.
It should also be understood that the source I mainly draw this information from does not use the term “rape”. The author emphasizes that the information is presented in historical terms to reduce modern biases. He even points out that the word “rape” as we know it simply did not exist back then. This is why I am using it.
Part of what makes child abuse so insidious is that the child does not have the experience or even the vocabulary to describe what is wrong. It’s often internalized as a normal aspect of life they can do nothing to prevent. That is the problem and the immense horror here—child rape a was prominent, socially-accepted feature of a religious institution and its victims weren’t even allowed the words to describe it.
JJK’s Child Mother Gods
Gojo Satoru
I’d like to revisit Toji’s assault on Gojo now that I’m more aware of the Buddhist symbolism.
In this post, I pointed out how Gojo seems to believe some form of violence is needed to awaken a sorcerer to greater power. This aligns the Japanese Zen Buddhist idea of Keisaku—a strike or series of strikes used to disrupt ordinary thinking and trigger sudden awakening/enlightenment (Dunwu). This particular sect of Buddhism sees enlightenment as something that happens instantaneously, rather than a gradual realization.
In that same post I also described how Gojo seemed to eventually derive pleasure from the assault. I will now be more overt about that being linked to an orgasm.
The Little Death (la petite mort, French): “An expression that refers to a brief loss or weakening of consciousness, and in modern usage refers specifically to a post-orgasm sensation as likened to death.”
Sage Time 賢者タイム (kenja taimu, Japanese): “The post-orgasmic period when a man's thoughts are no longer impaired by his sexual drive; he is thus likened to a "sage" of clear mind.
Since I am reading this attack as a metaphor for sexual assault, one involving and adult and a minor, I would like to take the time dispel the notion that the orgasm undermines the severity of this.
Some people orgasm from their assault which complicates how they process the ordeal. Victims will often hear things like “was it really that bad if you enjoyed it?” which is utter nonsense. It is very important that you understand pleasure/arousal is just as much a reflexive response as pain is. (Think laughing when forcibly tickled.) If feeling pain doesn’t equate to hating what caused it, feeling pleasure doesn’t equate to enjoying what caused it.
The orgasm adds a sexual element to the assault which is in line with the reading that forcible penetration of a child by an adult (Toji stabbing Gojo with his blade) leading to enlightenment mirrors the experience of Chigo.
Though much more subtle, the image of Kannon associated with this deification is evoked by the "motherhood" Gojo enters when Toji leaves him with Megumi. Megumi, whose name means blessing, a common way to refer to an infant, and design looks like a cross between Toji and Gojo.
And similar to Megumi, Gojo is treated like a mother by the narrative. He feels his sole purpose in life after this assault is to raise the next generation, and as soon as they’re all grown and no longer need him, he dies. No funeral or acknowledgement of the massive role he played in his students’ survival. He quite literally gives his body to protect them, even incubating Yuta with his corpse. It was simply expected of him, paralleling the unnamed, unmourned dead mothers in this series. Does his final conversation with Yuji not sound like mother lamenting her children growing up and leaving her?
Gojo, often described as a childish adult, who also never seems to age, is wanted solely for his body, elevated to what is essentially mother-godhood at 17 only to suffer for the rest of his life. This is how Chigo were treated in the Heian and how women were treated after it.
Geto Suguru
Like Gojo, Geto's dead body is also used as an incubator for someone one else. Kenjaku makes that pregnancy metaphor a bit more blatant, intending to have Geto's body to give birth to merger. The possession/pregnancy is basically what kickstarts the conflict in JJK and it barely scratches the surface of Geto being a mother.
Geto is made a mother at 17 years old child following Toji's assault. Toji's curse quite literally calls him mama (this is much more clear in the anime) and his incubation of curses is likened to a type of pregnancy that puts an immense strain on his body. His arrogance and power is that of a god's, Gege even going as far as to illustrate him as a Buddha. The trauma he endures from being made to absorb worst emotions and impulses of humans to be this god, parallels how Chigo were elevated to godhood and made to be repositories for adults' desires.
Ui Ui
Ui Ui and his relationship with Mei Mei are a window into how some Chigo responded to their abuse by adult monks, seeing themselves as willing "lovers" due to how normalized those relationships were. The grooming and outright bodily ownership through contracts is how those things functioned. Ui Ui seemingly perpetuating the cycle by becoming a visual clone of his sister is not unlike how the historical pederasty continued itself across centuries. Him looking like a woman who is a mother to these children reads as an allusion to Kannon.
Mei Mei's emphasis on the monetary value of a life and the transactional nature of her relationships is also similar to how monks would acquire and discard their Chigo as they saw fit. The New Shadow Style fits this perfectly, since it is based on the Shinkage-ryū. "The idea of winning at any price was deeply ingrained in the teachings of the schools that existed at this time."
Itadori Yuji
As of Modulo, Yuji has become the new Gojo, both visually and in function. Paneling shades Yuji's eyes in the same style as Gojo's blindfold. He tires of being lonely and being made to endlessly bear other's desires as the strongest, but he feels obligated to do it anyways. Though this framing suggests Yuji's burdens are now the same as Gojo's, Yuji has his own unique ties to motherhood.
The image of Kannon, is invoked directly by Yuji during his domain expansion, which may be likened to a womb. He is a brother to the death painting wombs and he only exists because Kenjaku wanted a container for Sukuna. Essentially a living womb, Yuji's expressed purpose by other adults in the narrative is to be an incubator and die. Carrying Sukuna turns him into something akin to a cursed object. (Quite literal objectification.) He reaches enlightenment suddenly through a traumatic fight and in Modulo is likened to the immortal Kylians. His continued existence as a sort of god with eternal youth that takes on everyone's burdens is the idealized form of Chigo.
The consequences of this have lead to him self-isolating, calling back to the theme of the strong bearing emotional burdens alone. I also can't help but notice that Sukuna made good on his curse to make everyone Yuji cherishes to die before he does. Sukuna is the metaphorical fetus in this dynamic which ties in with the unwanted pregnancy ruining the mother's life.
Why did this happen?
When lies are repeated over and over, eventually they may become the truth. Jujutsu Society has utilized this phenomenon to manage curses.
When religion becomes dogmatic, those lies become an institutional truth that does great harm.
There is nothing within Buddhist doctrine that forbids sex. There is nothing within Buddhist doctrine that condones pederasty. The Buddha only warned that detaching from sexual desire to obtain enlightenment was very difficult. Japanese Buddhists decided celibacy was the best way to deal with sexual desire via interpretation. Women being innately impure for causing sexual arousal in men was also an interpretation. Children being gods they were allowed to have sex with was made up. The Buddha only warned that lust was difficult to detach from.
When women were religiously allowed to be targets of men's sexual desires over Chigo, it was because a monk had a dream where Kannon told him it was ok. It was all made up.
This history was mostly forgotten and is no longer common knowledge. Modern Japanese Buddhists have declared these past teachings heretical, some pinning it on the niche Tachikawa Ryu sect when other major sects were doing it. Not acknowledging the institutional culpability is easier.
Convenience
Religion both influences culture and is influenced by the culture it exists in. How religious texts are interpreted can differ drastically if being used as a tool to bend the masses to one's will. There is no greater representation of this phenomenon in JJK than Japaloma. When the will of the Lumerians favors coexistence, Japaloma favors it. When the will of the Lumerians favors colonization, Japaloma favors that instead.
It is not lost on me that Japaloma looks like a Buddha statue. Neither is the excuse for colonization being based on religious grounds. (The exact thing Doula warned against.) It's easier to be cruel to those different than yourself when that justification is backed by god. Non-believers become potential threats and outright enemies. Cross makes that abundantly clear.
What is most interesting about this exchange is that Cross is fighting his empathy to do this. Using his position as a victim of religious persecution, he tries to tell himself his struggles are worse and that justifies his hatred. This causing Mahito, the hatred between people, to appear says more than I can on the matter.
Yuka calls him out though. These justifications are emotionally easier to stomach and act on. Dehumanization is a convenience that eliminates the guilt that comes with empathy. When Cross chooses coexistence, it's because he's made to empathize with humans via causal interactions. He is forced to reckon with their innocence and changes his mind.
That background is why it is so fascinating the conversations leading to this change is about religious persecution in humans.
In this instance, Yuka fails to be considerate to those different than her while simultaneously pointing out an exploit many actual Christians use to get away with heinous actions. "I can just atone for my sin later on, can't I?" When Cross calls her out for this, he may be correct about respecting the emotions of those believers, but he inadvertently defends a practice many Christians believe to be sinful.
One of the most memorable sermons I attended was one where the pastor took the Bible he preached from, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it. He then recited Exodus 20:4-5a NIV.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…”
This is pretty clear cut—worshiping iconography (which includes the Bible itself) is considered idolatry and therefore sin. Stepping on an image of Jesus is not betraying his teachings. If they had read the Bible properly, they would know that trampling those icons is a better demonstration of faith than protecting them.
This is just like how Oski insists the Cursed Spirits are Kylians even though they are not. Yes he experienced real religious discrimination, but he's causing himself additional pain in a different situation based off something that's not even religiously supported. But that lie needs to be the truth. That's how he can justify theft.
This faulty logic, flimsily backed by religion, is how the lives of children were stolen by adults insisting they weren't human enough for it to matter. And though Japan is no longer widely operating under this religious doctrine, it still lives on in how the adults exploit children for their labor. This idea that children's bodies are to service adults is an ongoing antagonistic force in Gege's works. If base JJK wasn't clear enough about that, Modulo is beating you over the head with it.
The human trafficker that uses poor media literacy and his hatred of children to justify selling them for money. The old man fetishizing the life of a child (a 1st grader which is 6-7 years old, the age one can initially become a sorcerer or a Chigo) to the point of putting himself inside of one for his own gratification. Their desires are more important than the well-being of people they are harming. When that attitude is institutionally and culturally backed, this abuse occurs on a much larger scale.
Fighting against systemic injustice can feel impossible. People can more readily attack its victims because that's someone they can damage. It's a lot easier to hurt someone when they're no longer seen as human.
Innocence
Higuruma Hiromi is the antithesis of everything wrong with Jujutsu Society. As a criminal defense lawyer, he goes out of his way to believe in his clients' innocence. For Oe Keita, he digs into his past, his circumstances, and was able to convince others of his innocence. As a sorcerer, his domain makes him a prosecutor, judge, and executioner—the very corruption that plagues the Japanese criminal justice system.
"As of 2001, Japan had a conviction rate of over 99.8%, even higher than contemporary authoritarian regimes."
"After World War II... The system became almost completely accusatorial..."
Japan's criminal justice system has been dubbed "hostage justice" (Japanese: 人質司法, Hitojichi shihō) by critics, due to cases of extended detention (up to 23 days) and forced questioning of detainees without a lawyer and of violations of the right to remain silent. In order to meet the high confession rate, Japan's justice system can cause more false confessions and wrongful convictions."
"...most miscarriages of justice cases in Japan are, indeed, the result of conviction solely based on the confession of the accused."
Both Yuji and Sukuna experience this, giving confessions before the evidence can be presented and accepting their death sentence. But that still doesn't stop Higuruma from approaching them as a defense lawyer. He outright declares Yuji's innocence, and despite all the evidence, he still considers Sukuna's innocence. Higuruma saw an outcome where Sukuna could be deemed not guilty for Shibuya.
I don't even agree with this even if Kenjaku is ultimately the mind behind this scenario. Sukuna had intent, collateral kills are still kills. But the text has asked me to consider it. Modulo even more so.
Modulo is very upfront about comparing Dabura to Sukuna. The panel framing is identical, the characters themselves make the connection, Ui Ui goes as far to project the fear he felt around Sukuna onto Dabura. He assumes Dabura is every bit as lonely and bloodthirsty as Sukuna. And that couldn't be further from the truth.
Dabura has never fought because he wanted to. He fights because others project their fears, ideals, and desires onto him. The warrior culture pushes him to be something he is not and there is no alternate framework he knows how to exist in. So he fights and he kills. Doula seems to be the sole reason Dabura isn't more violent than he could be.
As a direct parallel to and subversion of Sukuna, I have to consider that small, yet significant difference between them. After being rejected by his own kind, Dabura had the support Doula, his sister, and Doula's allies. Sukuna likely had no one.
Early on in Modulo, we are introduced to a sorcerer called Osada who is initially mistaken for a curse. He is protecting a tiger who preyed on a human due to man-made conditions that resulted starvation. Tsurugi insists the tiger must be killed for this, but Osada defends it. Similar to how Higuruma defends his clients.
"Human circumstances drove it from its home, and now you'll kill it due to those same circumstances?"
With Yuji being known as the Tiger West Junior High (having the kanji for Tiger in his name), the inclusion of inbreeding and grandparents, it is very hard for this not to be a direct comparison to Sukuna and Wasuke vs Yuji.
I've explained why I think Sukuna was largely innocent in the Heian before. This is based on the legally designated outcast status he would have for being deformed per the religious beliefs at that time. Within human society, the only place he would be allowed to exist was a temple. This is different from a shrine, which he'd be barred from for being unclean, unless he became a god.
As discussed before, the duties of Chigo included dancing, archery, entertainment that involved cross-dressing and poetry, temple maintenance, food preparation, and performing sacred rituals. All of which Sukuna shows proficiency in. When we see Sukuna in the Heian, he kills no one and is sexually assaulted while performing a religious ceremony.
Though I initially framed Sukuna as the pregnancy in relation to Megumi, the text also frames Megumi as a pregnancy in relation to Sukuna, making him a mother. I have already gone over how he meets the criteria for a Buddha.
I've argued this point before, but now I am much more confident in making it. Where other characters are metaphorical representations of childhood sexual assault, Sukuna most likely outright experienced it and society at large deemed it necessary and sacred. If that didn't occur, he'd still be kept around as unpaid labor if not outright a slave. His social status at birth guaranteed his body would be exploited as much as it was scorned.
Sukuna is seemingly a product of the systemic cruelty he endured. That makes his choice to not participate in certain aspects of it stand out all the more.
Heian Japan had no laws against sexual assault. The social stigma from not getting consent was the sole deterrent. Despite his selfishness and immense power, Sukuna makes no such passes at any character.
Taking a child as a "lover" was socially acceptable under the guise of religion. Uraume would've been the perfect Chigo with their androgynous gender, youthful look, kitchen skills, and servitude to an older individual who took them in as a child. But that didn't happen. Sukuna gave them the option to stick around and they chose to. If it were anything else, Yorozu wouldn't be so eager to invite Uraume to her wedding and would see them as a love rival.
The narrative also does not treat Uraume like other characters linked to Chigo. There are no images that link them to motherhood, there is no great traumatic moment that causes their sudden awakening. They are simply a child Sukuna decided to take care of without subjecting them to these horrific practices. When left to his own devices, Sukuna seems to take after his twin and that means the world to me.
Prevention
As much as Modulo showcases how the failure to address systemic issues bleeds into the future, there have been improvements. The "higher ups" are all young, active sorcerers of mixed genders rather than out of touch, elderly tyrants/sexists. There are laws in place to protect new sorcerers who accidentally cause harm by awakening.
These grievances were addressed because they were acknowledged as problems that could be dealt with. The more insidious aspects of Jujutsu Society such as relying on strength, detachment, hierarchies, and monopolies persist. Tsukumo Yuki had the solution—moving away from cursed energy, but that idea was abandoned until the Maru's cursed technique made it plausible.
Base JJK is like this too when compared to Heian. Deformities are not seen as curses, women and children have legal protections/rights, both slavery and pederasty are outright banned. But the things that caused them, the rigid hierarchies that stripped people of personhood and consideration, are still present.
Hierarchy is the main issue here. When you believe someone is beneath you, it is a lot easier to hurt them. Religious texts can be twisted to manufacture this dynamic, often by immutable characteristics. Women and children have historically borne the brunt of this.
The history of Chigo is one of these occurrences, known even less than those better documented. Researching this has been profoundly depressing. Still, I want this information to be more widely known. Understanding the mechanisms that caused these things and dismantling them is how they are prevented.
Sukuna’s Loneliness Part 5 (Sukuna Did Nothing Wrong in the Heian Era, Probably)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Some notes before we start.
1) Big content warning for in depth discussion of historical slavery and the exploitation of minority groups.
2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
3) Raws are from Mangareader(.)to.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
This is another case of me making everyone suffer the consequences of my fic research. I finally got my hands on 100+ page THESIS on the lives of the lower class in ancient Japan that references multiple peer-reviewed sources. This is my holy grail. Please read all of it. (Thank you Mr. Breann M Goosmann!) Whenever I quote something, I am quoting this source. Most of what I'm summarizing is directly from this source.
Gege may have failed to write a proper backstory for Sukuna, but one was clearly set up using the actual history of that time. So I'm here to infer what's in those gaps using this document.
The Class System in Ancient Japan
During the Heian Era (794–1185) a social caste system called Ritsuryō (you can read more about its application here). The upper class was called 良民 or Ryōmin (good people) and the lower class was called 賤民 Senmin (low people).
The kanji 民 (Min) used for both of these classes can be translated as citizen instead of person. The Wiki page I linked uses the citizen translation. I have decided to change that to people because of 3rd group of people excluded from this system: The 非人 or Hinin (non-people).
Ryōmin included court nobility, citizens, professions that served the court, and tradesmen.
Senmin included servants and slaves.
Hinin included criminals, the deformed/disabled, and those working professions considered "unclean."
The most notable thing about this class system is the mobility between Ryōmin and Senmin. Committing crimes, selling oneself into slavery, aging, paying off debts, and doing good work allowed people to rise or fall from the ranks accordingly. Hinin, however, were confined to their class for the most part because many were viewed as innately "unclean".
Ironically, the best way to understand how this class system functioned is to understand what being "unclean" meant to it.
Uncleanliness (Kegare)
穢れ (Kegare) is a term that can be translated as the following: uncleanliness, defilement, pollution, impure.
晴れ (Hare) is a term considered the opposite for Kegare and can be translated as the following: to clear up, clear skies/sunny, renew, dispel, sacred, pure.
Both of these terms largely inform of how ancient Japan functioned and evolved over time. And though not a black and white dichotomy, it can be generally understood that society was organized in a way to minimize Kegare.
What's interesting about Kegare specifically is its complexity and its impermanence. Rather than being something only bad people have, anyone could acquire and dispel it through the proper rituals.
From the Kojiki, a Shinto document compiled before the introduction of Buddhism, and therefore before the Heian, separates Kegare into 2 categories:
1) Touch Kegare: Defilement through the physical contact with something unclean such as bodily fluids and the dead.
2) Transgression Kegare: Defilement through sinful actions.
"These versions of pollution appear as transient, exorcised relatively simply through misogi (cleansing ritual), seclusion from society, or expulsion of disorder causing elements."
This understanding of Kegare then evolved with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. (This began in the Nara Era and extended well into the Heian.)
"As Jacqueline Stone explains in her study of deathbed rites and rituals, someone who had become enlightened was considered to have a “pure” mind, while those with a deluded mind were said to have a “defiled” mind. Monastic Buddhists also followed their own codes of “pure” conduct such as refraining from the eating of meat and killing of animals."
The old Shinto understandings of Kegare still carried over with the physical avoidment of unclean things such as dead bodies and blood. However, Buddhism introduced the idea that certain groups of people were innately impure. This includes the Hinin who were uniquely ostracized by this system.
"Hinin, like all outcast groups were bound to their “defiled” status. However, unlike other outcasts, they were also cast as blasphemers of Buddhist doctrine afflicted with karmic illness."
But despite being seen as this innately impure, the religious institutions were closest to them. Of the few places in society willing to tolerate and deal with Kegare, they offered outcasts "positions" where they could beg, display themselves as what happens to people who don't follow religious doctrine, and help with jobs considered "unclean". Since outcasts were considered permanently defiled for the duration of that life, they could touch impure things such as the dead, the sick, and blood on behalf of those avoiding temporary Kegare.
This is exploitation point blank. And though this suggests outcasts had some agency when it came to their survival, it doesn't remove the systemic coercion driving their situation.
Please keep this in mind as I explain why Sukuna did nothing wrong.
Sukuna is Hinin
Though there is plenty of debate on what makes someone Hinin, the general consensus is the following:
"All agree that hinin were considered defiled by others in society and looked at with some contempt. One medieval reference book called the Chiribukuro explains that hinin and other outcast groups “are alike in that they are shunned by human society.”"
But when trying to define Hinin more narrowly, this is the result:
"the term hinin indicated a very specific group of social outcasts isolated from the community and cast aside due to disease or deformation. In his description of hinin, Nagahara explains that those referred to as “kojiki-hinin” were of the lowest social class, physically isolated from their families and communities and therefore excluded from society and economic activities in the medieval period."
Sounds like Sukuna, right?
Sukuna does not refer to himself as Hinin of course, but he does call himself 忌み子 (Imigo).
To quote myself from Part 1, Imigo can be translated as "Abominable Child", "Unwanted Child", or "Shunned Child." None of these translations in my opinion get across how severe Imigo is. It's closer to meaning "child who should've never been born". Like the child's very existence is an affront to god. (If you play Elden Ring the Omen are called Imigo in Japanese for this reason.)
And since we know that Sukuna is canonically a conjoined twin, aka someone with a visible deformity, this all indicates he was considered afflicted with a "karmic illness" that would classify him as Hinin.
This means that from birth, Sukuna was designated as fundamentally unclean and non-human. Within that society, there was no route he could take to remove himself from this uncleanliness and be seen as human.
The following views of Hinin were considered controversial for their time (during the Kamakura Era aka right after the Heian):
"Although Nichiren believed in the karmic nature of certain diseases, he also understood that this kind of disease was not a hindrance to salvation."
"Undoubtedly, Eison envisioned hinin as the physical representation of the Bodhisattva Monju and advocated that compassion and charity were the appropriate response to karmic illness."
And since these controversial views of *checks notes* considering Hinin worthy of compassion and salvation were documented after the Heian, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume Hinin had less advocates during the Heian.
In other words, Sukuna could not exist within human society without being shunned or exploited. The manga itself suggests this has always been the case.
As you can see Sukuna is absolutely miserable performing a ritual someone of this lower class would be responsible for overseeing. All while the people he is helping regard him with disgust. (By the way there is a purification ritual in Nara called Yamayaki that involves burning an entire mountainside. Something Sukuna's flames would be very good at.)
This is also from the same chapter where he's assaulted by Yorozu who assumes he's lonely because he's strong. She's wrong about this. Just like Kashimo who assumes Sukuna cares little for love for the same reasons he does.
Love from one person is worthless when compared to the nonstop ostracization that comes from institutional discrimination. At most, love can offer relief from that pain. It does not eliminate it. I'm saying this as a minority myself. I love my friends dearly and they love me as well, but I still wake up and go about my day with the soul-crushing knowledge that most wish for me to not exist.
Sukuna is not lonely because he's not loved. Uraume clearly does. It's that for circumstances beyond his control, he has been excluded from human society and forced to constantly be around people who exploit him for the very traits they scorn.
Sukuna pretty much confirms this himself when he talks to Mahito.
And you know what? Sukuna deciding to kill all the people exploiting him is completely justified. (Imo, he can even kill the non-sorcerers that discriminate against him as a treat.)
The Cannibalism was Justified too, for the most part.
Another thing to note about Sukuna. He was born starving and he died starving.
Famines and natural disaster were frequent and extremely hard on the commoner population during the Heian. The fact Sukuna was born starving indicates he was of lower birth to begin with since nobility hoarded the resources to avoid starvation for themselves.
One way for commoners dealt with famine was via foraging. We actually see Sukuna doing that when he meets Uraume.
Now there are several very interesting things we learn from this.
1) Sukuna hunts and eats elk/deer. Something massively taboo for the time. Especially since deer were considered sacred animals back then and even to this day.
2) He appears to wander around and owns very little. This is further in line with him being Hinin per the following:
"Clearly, welcome could be revoked at any time, which meant that hinin had to be prepared to leave any location at any given moment. This mobile lifestyle also meant that hinin could only afford to carry essential daily items, such as cooking utensils and begging bowls. The image also reveals that the hinin were never officially invited to stay in that particular area. Instead, they sought out their own locations to set up communities."
3) Despite Uraume being alive and fresh human meat, Sukuna does not immediately see them as food. Nor does he attack them. This, combined with him not taking the dead villagers for eating and preparing deer/elk instead, suggests that cannibalism is not the default for him.
Back to famines, it's also not unheard of for people to resort to cannibalism during them. The logic is simple: An outcast with no support network eats humans to survive.
And given the frequency of death from natural disasters of this time, there’s a real chance he never had to hunt humans in the first place. As Hinin, handling the dead is one of the few jobs he’s allowed to do. So it’s possible the worst thing he did was desecrate corpses in the name of scavenging.
Furthermore, if Sukuna is considered a non-human, is it even cannibalism to begin with? Is a hungry animal evil for eating a human?
I may consider Sukuna human because I refuse to partake in his dehumanization, but it needs to be understood that in the context of the JJK's story, there is not a single character that refers to Sukuna as a human. He's not even referred to as a man. He's either a curse, a monster, or at the very end, a sorcerer. Sukuna has been so dehumanized by others that he himself identifies as a "curse". This is also separate from "cursed spirit", leaving him in his own unique category of non-human.
Sukuna may not see eating other people as acts of cannibalism. After all, they are the ones who decided he was non-human at birth. (And since he is taboo, eating the deer/elk can’t make him more taboo than he already is.)
The following is an excerpt discussing the dehumanization of the starving:
"This strange image is from the Scroll of Hungry Ghosts and the huge emaciated creature depicted is just one of many of the numerous depictions of hungry ghosts or gaki. Invisible to humans, the gaki depicted are the spirits of greedy or jealous individuals karmically punished for their covetous thoughts with perpetual hunger for bodily excretions such as urine or feces."
"The protrusions of the stomach, the red-tinted hair, as well as the greying of the skin, are all genuine symptoms of starvation. In this light, our image appears significantly different. Instead of an invisible monster attacking a man, we have a disfigured and suffering human reaching out for humanity."
The phenomenon of hair during red or blond from starvation is called Kwashiorkor. Gege may be color blind, but Sukuna being depicted with pink or blond hair appears to be deliberate and in line with Kwashiorkor.
Sukuna was probably framed.
The only crimes Sukuna is accused of by Jujutsu Society is murder and cannibalism. As demonstrated by the previous section, there could be a pretty good reason for the cannibalism. But what about the murder?
Another thing that should be noted about Sukuna is how his destruction is largely retaliatory in the modern era. Every kill or kill attempt is made as a response to a challenge that was directed at him first.
When Sukuna first incarnates, Megumi says this to him:
Yuji may be Megumi's target, but remember that Kegare spreads through touch. Sukuna coming into contact with Yuji has made them both unclean. In other words, Sukuna has been informed that in this life, 1,000 years later, where he has yet to do any harm (Those comments about the women, children, and massacre are still sus, but they could've been about the Merger.), he will be attacked by sorcerers no matter what. It's not unreasonable for him to then attack them on sight.
But even when he does that, most of them survive until Shinjuku. During the culling games, Sukuna kills only 2 sorcerers—Ryu and Yorozu. Ryu is given a chance to walk away, but he doesn't. Uro flees and is spared. Yorozu is the sole person Sukuna seeks out to kill and that’s just for his Gojo plans.
And in that month Sukuna has before the showdown with Gojo? Nothing happens. He kills no one and just lounges around. Eating his own corpse is the only cannibalism. He absolutely could have eaten Tsumiki’s body to further crush Megumi’s soul, but he doesn’t.
Then when it comes to the actual showdown, Sukuna kills 3 sorcerers total. It's also very telling that after Sukuna is dead...no one blames him for what happened. They blame Kenjaku, hell even Gojo, but Sukuna isn't mentioned once. Higuruma is convinced that Sukuna was playing around. Kusakabe agrees that Sukuna’s manner of play isn't what they’re super worried about, it's Kenjaku.
The worst thing Sukuna does is Shibuya and that too has nuance to it. The twins aren't killed for fun. Sukuna punishes them for making demands of him. The citizens of Shibuya? Collateral from dealing with Jogo and Mahoraga. (He only really kills Haruta for the sake of it. And let's be real, he deserved that.)
And though the Shibuya civilian deaths are an objectively bad thing Sukuna has done, the fact they are not intentional gives credence to the idea that Sukuna didn't really target them in the past either. This suggests that the "murders" Sukuna did in the Heian were likely retaliation against people challenging him or trying to subjugate him. In other words, self defense.
And if he did wipe out a village, it was probably collateral. But that's kind of the thing. Did Sukuna even kill innocents by accident? The only confirmed kills of the Heian are those of the Subjugation and Military Squads. You know, people who may have attacked him for simply being "unclean".
Who am I kidding he absolutely was attacked for being “unclean”. This is how Angel talks about Sukuna and the incarnated.
She doesn’t care about saving the lives of innocents, all that matters to her are things that she deems evil are purged. Sukuna to Angel is ontologically evil and doesn’t deserve to exist. She targets him more than other incarnated players while ignoring Kenjaku who is responsible for this mess in the first place. She also quite literally did something she deemed wrong and evil so she could follow him into the future and make sure he died. (Move over Gojo Satoru we've got a new minority hunter.)
But it’s not like her attitude is new. Jujutsu Society is notorious for trying to kill things they deem "bad" such as Yuji and Yuta. The striking thing about the wanted executions of these literal children is that the higher ups giving the command make other sorcerers do it for them. Going back to the ideas of Kegare—spilling blood and touching corpses makes one impure so the outcasts are to deal with it. This is the logic driving their decision to coerce Yuta into a binding vow to kill Yuji.
("No matter how many cursed spirits you kill, it's proof of nothing!" <Please take note of how Yuta's good deeds do nothing to earn the higher ups' favor because he's seen as inherently evil.)
Yuta is essentially scapegoated through this manipulation and Yuji initially treats him like an enemy. In the same way characters like Kusakabe blame Gojo for refusing to execute Yuji. Despite the higher ups being responsible for the system functioning this way, the people they’re manipulating bear the brunt of responsibility to other characters.
Who's to say Sukuna isn't also a victim of this scapegoating? His power is comparable to a natural disaster. It would be very easy to blame one on him. After all, the higher ups of the Heian, the Fujiwaras, did exactly that to Uro.
Uro’s situation is much worse than Yuta’s however. She is a military slave. This distinction of military slave is important because unlike domestic slaves, they were allowed to rise through the ranks and be given awards despite their status.
And since Uro is a Sukuna parallel, there is a pretty good chance he was a slave at some point during the Heian.
Slavery in the Heian
A little detail I left out when discussing famine in the Heian. The asymmetrical wealth distribution was so severe during this time that commoners would sell themselves into slavery in hopes of not starving to death.
An example from the Kamakura Era (after the Heian):
"As the article shows, during the three years of the Kangi famine (1229-1232) and several recovery years following, various common people sold themselves, their relatives, and their retainers into slavery in exchange for sustenance. Not only would an amount be given to the seller, but also presumably whoever now owned the sold individual would be responsible for feeding and providing shelter for that individual. In this way, the common populations of Japan created a strategy for survival. There was no certainty that a new owner would fulfill this obligation, but the promise of reprieve from daily struggles was impetus enough for the sale."
Another example from the same era:
"A didactic tale from 1283 tells the story of a small family consisting of a mother and son, who after experiencing severe famine, came to the realization they would soon starve to death. In the hope of saving his mother, the young boy offers to sell himself into bondage, and although the mother disagrees, he goes ahead with the plan."
Yes this is as bad as it sounds, but there is one thing I would like to get out of the way—this slave system did not function anything like the chattel slavery during colonialism. Strangely enough, these slaves had some rights they could fight their owners in court over. They could pay off debts and be set free. They were allowed to be married and have children with those outside of their class. They were not kept in cages or in chains like animals. (Silver linings! /s)
The term used for these slaves was 奴婢 (Nuhi) which roughly translates to “bonded person”. This is more in the contractual sense rather than the physical sense since most were slaves by contract or debt.
This kind of sounds like something binding vows could do, right? Well binding vows share no kanji with Nuhi using 縛り(Shibari) instead. However, Sukuna introduces the concept of binding vows with chains and a handshake.
Sukuna was also born unwanted to a starving mother during a time when starving people sold themselves or their relatives into slavery to survive. This can mean a lot of things for his upbringing and none of them are pleasant.
Here is a summary of what jobs Nuhi did:
"As stated previously, wealthy households frequently obtained slaves and assigned them to various domestic tasks. However, sources further illuminate trafficking of women into the sex trade of Kamakura Japan."
If you noticed, Sukuna's Cursed Technique is perfect for this. He can chop up veggies, butcher fish, till farmland, slash and burn farmland, light fires, and every other non-violent thing a knife and fire can be used for. If he wasn't exploited for exorcising curses, he absolutely would've been exploited for domestic tasks.
And to get to much more depressing line of work Sukuna could've been subjected to as a child, I'd like to discuss why someone as masculine as him would be associated with women's work in the first place.
The Treatment of Women in Ancient Japan
"In Japan prior to the Heian and Kamakura periods, women played prominent roles in religious activities as miko, which was akin to a female medium or female shaman...Since miko functioned as a sacred and integral part in religious communities, issues of impurity did not appear to be an issue. Instead, it was Buddhist ideas that linked the female form to impurity."
With the introduction of Buddhism, women began to be seen as innately impure due to the blood and fluids associated with childbirth and mensuration.
"In the Heian period, Buddhist temples such as such as Enryakuji and Tōdaiji, began barring women from entering the premises due to their defiled nature."
"prominent Buddhist discourse painted women as innately defiled and therefore unable to achieve enlightenment in their own female bodies."
"To be born as an innately defiled female was considered a karmic punishment for past actions."
Though not ostracized as much as outcasts, women were seen as innately unclean in a similar vein to Sukuna. Women were expelled from religious institutions but not the courts, while outcasts were tolerated by religious institutions and barred from the courts. (The courts and temples operated independently of each other, which is why it was possible for noble women to hold power despite being designated as unclean.)
A few months ago I made a joke about this panel:
"Sukuna’s two options were helping Uraume transition or becoming a girl himself."
This is still mostly a joke, but I do think Sukuna identifies more with women than with men. Not that Sukuna is a girl, but that he relates to them and their struggles better. (Keep in mind he does wear a women's yukata and a men's obi at the same time as Yujikuna.)
It's important to note is that this mystery woman here wears the clothes of a Miko or Shrine Maiden/Priestess—the main group of women that was displaced and persecuted because of the new religious doctrine. And like every other group without a proper social safety net, selling themselves into slavery became a survival strategy. They did have other options of course. In the case of Asobi, the Priestess that used to serve the courts, turned to entertainment and sex work after their exclusion.
"Either riding in boats or setting up shop on busy routes to the capital and religious sites, Goodwin argues that these performers were part of independent, possibly female-run organizations, which were not stigmatized until the later part of the Kamakura period. However, as Wakita Haruko has examined, at least some women involved in sexual entertainment were female indentured servants, serving as security on a loan issued by their parents."
In this way, the exact identity of the Miko in Sukuna's path may not matter. She might be a representation of those who accepted their exclusion and did their best to survive on society's terms. If the South choice is meant to represent returning to who Sukuna used to be, then it can also mean the types of struggles Mikos faced are his as well.
However, there was a temple that continued to accept women as followers—the Muroji Temple in Nara. Interestingly enough, this temple contains an inner sanctuary devoted to the founder of Shingon Buddhism, the type of Buddhism Tengen brought over. The mountain this temple is located on is also associated with a dragon spirit. Since there is historical precedent of at least one temple accepting a group of people seen as innately impure, a place like this may have also been a sanctuary for Sukuna.
With the information we have, it's not really possible to know exactly what awful thing happened to Sukuna. The most important takeaway from this is that the suffering he experienced was systemic. He didn't get unlucky with a few ignorant and bad people. This was the direct result of the Heian class system dehumanizing people. In other words, his choices were severely limited.
Sukuna's Other Choice
Going North with Uraume appears to be very similar what he did back in the Heian—taking in an abandoned child and looking after them. What makes this choice slightly different this time around is that the class system that oppressed him no longer exists in the modern era. Yes, he’ll absolutely face discrimination for being deformed, but the complete denial of his humanity at every turn for his appearance is gone. He won’t be treated as untouchable and inherently evil. Legally speaking, he has drastically more rights. Violence won’t be his only option moving up in the world.
I will always loathe that Sukuna had to die to obtain this. And that the “reformed” modern Jujutsu Society refuses to acknowledge the systemic failures of their institution. Kusakabe makes it very clear he still believes the immediate extermination of anything deemed “evil” is a valid way to go about things, even if it means the death of a child…as long as he doesn’t have to do it. (Hence him blaming Gojo for it, just like the higher ups.) After the fight, everyone passes blame around, absolves themselves of any wrongdoing, and decides no one is really at fault.
There were people at fault for this. There are institutions at fault for this. But their failure to confront those things directly is probably why Sukuna rejected Yuji’s offer so viciously. Instead of trying to understand Sukuna on his own terms, Yuji showed him the value of a simple life he was never allowed to have, then told him to die or go back into the cage.
Yuji offered Sukuna pity but no autonomy, which is exactly the way Hinin were treated by the religious institutions of old.
"However, Hosokawa argues that even in veneration of hinin as representations of Manjusri, Buddhist monks continue to discriminate against this outcast group and further perpetuate their low position in society. Hosokawa explains that although activity involved in charitable works towards hinin, Eison cared little about the salvation of hinin because he saw outcasts as divine only within the context of the ritual of assembly. Therefore, all charitable works directed at hinin were merely ceremonial. Hosokawa advocates the view that Eison believed hinin lacked ‘nature,’ meaning they were unable to study or practice Buddhism. Essentially, without nature, they had no ability to escape the cycle of re-birth through the study of Buddhism."
Sukuna even thinks of modern sorcerers like the ones of old. Why would he ever want to return to that?
His goals are simple; eat, play, and pass time until his dies. That’s not really evil now is it? But the people attacking him don’t know that. None of them ever stopped to asked because they assume him existing freely will bring evil.
But what does Sukuna do when he’s given a month-long truce a body he completely controls? He does what every minority group does when they are no longer being actively oppresed—he rests. He doesn’t go around killing or tormenting for fun. With his newfound freedom he secludes himself and lounges.
The fight in Shinjuku is essentially a group of well-meaning people from a corrupt institution beating an outcast that was ostracized by it into submission. Albeit for very good reasons.
Why did this fight change his mind?
If Sukuna is basically reliving past trauma via the Shinjuku fight, why did he decide this group of sorcerers was worth listening to? The simple answer of course is he lost to them. Sukuna believes the strong impose their will and the weak follow suit.
I don’t think that’s quite right. Sukuna used to be weak too. He was a child once. He used to controlled by others stronger than him. By his own logic he should’ve stayed like that, but he trained to get stronger and eventually rebelled.
Since Sukuna is a known liar and hides his feelings under several layers of repression, I’m inclined to believe this statement is also smokescreen. And after reading the Uraume Epilogue I am certain of this. But for now let’s revisit the Shinjuku fight, starting from the battle that made me realize Sukuna is indeed a pathetic sopping wet cat underneath it all—Sukuna vs Gojo.
Sukuna vs Gojo
Something fans picked up on during this fight was how Gojo dogwalked Sukuna when it came to Hand to Hand (H2H) combat. During their fight, Sukuna fails to land a single punch on Gojo’s face. It takes Yuta possessing Gojo’s body and fumbling around in it for Sukuna to finally punch that face. But it’s not just Gojo he sucks at with H2H combat. It’s everyone. Here is a compilation of Sukuna getting hit in the head or face.
This seems to conflict with Sukuna’s ability to learn anything visually. He sees someone do something and he can copy it immediately. This contradiction can be explained by him being Hinin.
Sukuna was considered an untouchable. Educated people were of a higher class and believed unclean things like him were to be avoided at all costs. This means that whatever education Sukuna obtained for himself was always at a distance. Aka watch and copy. And since H2H is mostly taught through body to body contact, Sukuna wasn’t allowed a proper sparing partner outside of the attempts to kill him.
In Part 2, I go over Sukuna’s fraud allegations for his copying of Gojo in particular. This is what lead me to realize that Sukuna spent 6 months plotting to kill a guy he met for 10 seconds. This insane level of pre-planning is also shaped by him being Hinin.
We know for a fact that Sukuna hunts deer/elk and that it’s safe to assume he driven to this because of his Hinin status. If you know anything about hunting, it’s that most of it is playing psychological mind games with creatures that are somehow complete geniuses despite having 2 brain cells. You don’t chase after a deer with a gun, you become obsessed with them. You study every little habit of theirs; when they hunger, what they eat, and where they defecate. Using this information, you set up the bait and wait in hiding for the perfect opportunity to kill them.
This is pretty much what Sukuna does to Gojo. He’s got a hunter’s obsession with him. In Part 4, I explain how this obsession might actually be unhinged courtship, but I don’t lay out why Gojo of all people seemingly means this much to Sukuna. This too can be explained by him being Hinin.
I’ve said it over and over, Gojo and Sukuna are twin flames. They are the strongest, isolated, dehumanized, exploited, self-taught, and really bad at showing affection. Part of this obsession is driven by Sukuna seeing himself in Gojo. He's being ordered around by others weaker than him in the same way Sukuna used to be.
But take note of this “I owe you a debt.” It’s easy to assume he means payback for punching him in the face. However…Gojo did actually do Sukuna a massive favor. He suspended his execution, even if it was primarily to save Yuji.
As I discussed before, Kegare was infectious. You touch something unclean and you become unclean yourself. By laws of Jujutsu Society and by social stigma around Kegare, Sukuna made Yuji equally as impure as himself. And Gojo went screw that, I’m going to look after you. He gave Yuji direct lessons, made sure all his basic needs were met, and treated him like a human. Behind everyone’s backs he hid the final finger, intending to let Yuji live for the duration of his natural life.
To Sukuna, Gojo is someone who would have taken him in and advocated for his humanity under different circumstances. Gojo is someone Sukuna would’ve loved to have as a teacher. And so he copies him. He learns and improves his own sorcery as if Gojo had intentionally taught him.
Through the Shinjuku fight, his experiences within Yuji, and Megumi’s memories, Sukuna gets a taste of what could’ve been. With Megumi in particular, he also gets to see what it’s like to be raised by someone who actually cares. Though not intentional, this is how Gojo teaches Sukuna love. This is why when Sukuna looks at Gojo, he thinks about love.
Sukuna choosing to go with Uraume is him copying Gojo one last time. After seeing that even if you’re isolated, exploited, and miserable, there’s still fulfillment in using your power to make sure someone else doesn’t go through what you did. It may not remove all that pain, but it makes it easier.
And bringing back Kegare’s opposite Hare (晴れ). The kanji used are in the Appare Da (天晴れだ) when Sukuna tells Gojo, “You cleared my skies.” (The Da at the end of this statement means it was pretty heartfelt too.) With this additional context, I think it can be taken to also mean that Gojo made Sukuna feel like he wasn’t impure.
Sukuna vs Yuji
Yuji and Megumi are the ones who ultimately make Sukuna realize that it's worth pursing guardianship regardless of marital status or blood relation. They are the two of Gojo’s students/children that are directly compared to Uraume.
Yuji who is also the same as Sukuna, fills the role of Gojo when he first chooses to look after Megumi. When he prevents Megumi from being sold by his father. Sukuna has seen both versions of this memory.
Since Sukuna is a twin to Wasuke and they are also the same, JJK 265 is Yuji showing Sukuna an entire alternate universe of the normal life he could've lived if he had been seen as human.
And even if he can’t ever be seen as human or live normally, Megumi tells him it’s ok to be improper and cherish someone anyways.
None of these 3 realize how greatly they’ve affected Sukuna. He barely admits to it even in death. But Sukuna had secretly wanted this from the start. The cracks started showing when he first tried to teach Megumi in his special little tsundere shark way.
There's also something to be said about Uraume making it to adulthood in a time where famine was rampant and parents would sell their children into slavery just to eat. Their cursed technique manifested around the age of 6, just like Megumi. The fact they survived means Sukuna was already doing a pretty good job as their guardian.
Other Things this Changes
I'm also looking at Sukuna's fondness towards Jogo in a whole new light. I thought that Jogo wanting nothing of him was the main reason he was favored. But there's more to it that that. It’s that he regards Sukuna’s life as inherently valuable. Jogo believes in a world where Sukuna has the right to exist as he is and how he wants. No one will try to control him or condemn him for something he had no say in.
He also stands out in his devotion to curses of any background. Mahito basically looks like a human, Choso and his brothers are half human, Sukuna is fully human, and Jogo accepts them all no questions asked. He’s willing to fight for people who exist differently than himself.
There's also that added “wanting to be seen as human” element. Jogo’s world is one where Sukuna would finally be seen as human. It’s the same logic that drove Choso to side with the Disaster Curses. He knew how difficult human society would make the lives of his brothers (both of which have 2 faces like conjoined twins), so he chose to fight for a world where that kind of discrimination no longer existed. (Which is why it's really sad he died and no one mourned him properly.)
And yes we can condemn the mass slaughter of humans as the wrong way to go about this. But the core problem is that Jujutsu Society branded them as taboo and in need of extermination or containment. They were driven into a corner and believed violence was the only way out. The only reason Choso was able to change was other sorcerers giving him a chance despite the hurt he caused. Something Sukuna didn't get outside of the offer to be caged.
Am I being too lenient with Sukuna here?
Absolutely. I am extremely biased.
To me at least, the type of "evil" Sukuna is has a lot nuance. It is very significant that someone as strong as him, who could basically do whatever he wanted (theoretically), took one willing servant in a time where slavery was widely practiced. (If you read the linked document, it's kind of up for debate how legal slavery was at the time.) It's also significant that the Heian crimes he was accused of were limited to cannibalism and murder. He's clearly got rules about his evilness and I really like that about him. I wanted to find the logic driving them and I think I've finally struck gold.
This didn't fit anywhere nicely. But consider the following:
"Earthly sins, on the other hand, were those that only affected individuals or forbidden actions, such as rape or cutting living flesh."
Sukuna's CT cuts living flesh. His very CT was considered impure in the Heian. The flames however, are more aligned with purification. It's just a neat little thing that shows Sukuna's duality imo.
He's also really good at archery. And though this is likely because his flame CT is a bow, he probably got good at it to hunt deer/elk on top of temple duties. (Just another way he enjoys corrupting the divine.)
But please remember, the only reason I've done all of this is because of Umineko's...
Sukuna Can't Tell the Time (The unique way Sukuna is damned to eternal miscommunication and existentialism in the modern era.)
Part 2?
Notes before we start.
1) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
2) I need professional help.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
I want to get one thing out of the way. This is going to be a weird write-up because I'm hardly going to cite the manga.
I'm basically posting this as a reference for myself. All of this occurred so I could properly lean into the old man aspect of Sukuna for a fic I'm writing. (Aka I read too much on actual Heian Era history and now you all have to suffer.)
People often joke that Sukuna is an old man, but I'm here to tell you he is so out of touch and out of time that he might as well be existing in a never-ending Lovecraftian nightmare where time has stopped being real.
It's going to take a while to explain why this is the case so hear me out, maybe?
Fundamental Measurements
What is a unit of measurement? And where did these units come from? If you've taken an entry level physics class, you've already been through the existential crisis answering these questions caused.
But for the uninitiated, have you ever sat down and asked yourself why you know what a foot/meter is? Everyone has kind of agreed they represent a specific distance, and depending on where you were raised, you'll prefer one over the other.
I'm an American. I'm also an engineer. I have to use SI Units and Freedom Units all the time. Differing distance units are things I can easily conceptualize. I understand what a meter is. It's like 3.3 feet.
Every time I hear meter, my brain does the conversion to 3.3 feet because I was raised with feet as my base unit of measurement. But oddly enough, when I hear 100 meters, I instantly know how far that is. This is because I was a sprinter for all of Jr. High and High School. When someone says 100 meters, I picture the got danged torture stretch of the 300 meter hurdles.
The point of this is to establish that early life experiences become a reference point when thinking about things as an adult. If I didn't run track or do engineering, I would be a "What the fuck is a kilometer?" type American.
Measurements of Miscommunication
If you couldn't tell, I wrote the previous section with Non-Americans in mind. I specified the units of measurement I was using for distance because I understand people outside of the US could be reading my post.
But what happens if I don't do that? What happens when people assume everyone's units of measurement are the same as theirs? Allow me to recall a conversation I'm sure most of you Non-Americans have had with an American on the internet and vice versa.
Friend, Non-American: Ugh it's 40 degrees out today.
Me, American: Dang that sounds pretty cold, don't forget to wear a jacket.
Friend, Non-American: What the hell do you meant that's cold???
Me, American and remembering where they live: OH YOU MEAN CELSIUS. That's 104 in Freedom Units.
Friend, Non-American: 104 IS SUPER DEAD IN CELSIUS.
(40°F is 4.4°C btw.)
As you can see, these kind of assumptions relay drastically different information. 40 degrees without a unit is read as cold or hot depending on where a person is from. It also doesn't help that the conversion between these units is nonsense. The vast majority of people can't do °C = (°F − 32) × 5/9 off the top of their head.
I, for the life of me, cannot comprehend Celsius. Temperature is too abstract a concept for my brain to swap systems. I think there's a reason for this.
Unlike distance, you can't see the temperature with your body. You can feel it, sure, but sometimes you step into a walk-in freezer and come out feeling like everything is warmer than it is. Relativity like that won't affect how you see distance. A foot is a foot, a meter is a meter, and they will always look those distances. You can check them easily.
Temperature? You need a thermometer to check. Or you assume the generalized data on a weather app is accurate. And things like humidity can fudge with your perception it.
This is all to say that my brain assigned the number 40 as cold. It being a hot number is barely comprehensible because my foundation is it being cold.
(If you were wondering, yes this is why I write out dates like Month DD, YYYY. It's so no one has to look at 3/4/YYYY and guess if they're supposed to be reading it as March 4th or April 3rd because they can't tell what country I'm from.)
What does this have to do with Sukuna?
Well my dear reader, my question to you is: What units of measurement were used in the Heian Era?
Forget about distance and temperature. How was time measured in the Heian era?
Heian Era Timekeeping
Ancient Japan ran on something called a Lunisolar Calendar. This is a type of calendar based around moon phases and sun positioning hence, lunisolar.
Taken directly from Wikipedia:
"A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, incorporating lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Earth's sky. If the sidereal year (such as in a sidereal solar calendar) is used instead of the solar year, then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moon may occur. As with all calendars which divide the year into months there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months. In some cases ordinary years consist of twelve months but every second or third year is an embolismic year, which adds a thirteenth intercalary, embolismic, or leap month.
Their months are based on the regular cycle of the Moon's phases. So lunisolar calendars are lunar calendars with – in contrast to them – additional intercalation rules being used to bring them into a rough agreement with the solar year and thus with the seasons."
Did you notice something funky? A leap month has to be accounted for with this calendar. And it gets worse. The duration between leap months vary because the earth's path around the sun varies.
Under this calendar system, instead of a fixed interval of time always passing for a year, everything is variable. This means conversion to a modern date, which uses fixed time intervals, is not a one to one thing. It's kind of like trying to convert February 29th to non-leap years. Some people born on this day celebrate on February 28th and others will use March 1st. Legally speaking in the US, March 1st is used for tallying. (And if you've seen the Pirates of Penzance, this is an actual plot point when trying to determine a character's contract clause.) So imagine that but for months, years, and hours all the time.
I exclude days from this issue because Heian Japan agreed that a day was as day. They don't shrink or grow. The 12 hours a day always pass! And yes I mean 12 hours a day.
Heian Hours
For the rest of this discussion I'm referencing this lovely source by Katherine M. Lawrence. Everything quoted is from here.
So... let's get into that 12 hour day thing.
"Days consisted of 12 hours based on the 12 zodiac animals, each Heian hour being equal to about two modern hours. In a moment I will get to why I deliberately used the word “about.”
Days were divided into six “hours” of daylight and six “hours” of darkness. Instead of midnight, the day started at daybreak. Only in the Meiji times, in 1867, did the day change at midnight.
What is fascinating is that there were always six “hours” of daylight and six “hours” of night irrespective of the time of year. In modern times, with mechanical and even atomic clocks, we accept that more daylight falls in summer than in winter. We might turn back or move our clocks forward twice a year. In Japan it was done 24 times a year—approximately every 14 to 16 days—so that the first light would always come during the first “hour” of the day, which was known as the Hour of the Rabbit, sometimes called the Hour of the Hare. Dusk would come at the Hour of the Bird, sometimes called the Hour of the Rooster.
If we were to measure the actual length of winter days using a modern timepiece, the Hour of the Rabbit would be shorter than two hours because the relatively shorter total daylight in winter would still be distributed into six parts.
The six nighttime hours in winter would absorb the extra darkness and be proportionately longer than the nominal two hours of our 24-hour clock.
All this kept the astrologers and priests busy, because every 14 to 16 days, the clocks had to be adjusted. “More on that in a minute,” which by the way, is an idiom the Japanese of the era would not have used, because our modern concept of sixty minutes to an hour and sixty seconds to a minute is highly tied to mechanical clocks."
In summary, Heian Hours quite literally grow and shorten depending on the season. That 1 Heian Hour=2 Modern Hours conversion only works when daylight hours are the exact same as nighttime hours.
But it gets even weirder than that. Rather than counting from 1 to 12 for daytime and nighttime like we might on our modern clocks, Heian Japan counted down from 9 to 4 twice. This results in a clock conversion that looks like this.
And remember, this is only accurate when daylight hours are equal to nighttime hours!
It should also be noted that these hours were announced by the ringing of temple bells throughout the day and the night. Everyone relied on these temples to keep the time at all times.
But wait, there's more! (Heian Months and Solar Stems)
This is where timekeeping really starts to fall apart in terms of my understanding of it so Ms. Katherine M. Lawrence is going to explain it.
"In the Heian period (and until 1867), each month began on the dark moon, also know as the new moon. The full moon would come on the 15th day and the month would end approximately on the 28th, sometimes the 29th, and even the 30th day of the month.
Japanese did not have the western concept of the seven-day week, though they certainly could count to seven. What they had instead was the concept of the solar stem, of which there were 24."
"The first solar stem of the Japanese year starts on the first day of the year: Start of Spring, which, unlike the Western calendar, is not in March. The Last Solar Stem (the 24th) ends on the last day of Major Cold. The beginning of the year in Japan, as measured by the Western calendar, would start somewhere between mid-January and mid-February, the variation resulting from aligning the solar stems with the lunar months."
In summary, Heian Months may be about the same length as Modern Months, but they are strictly based on the moon phases and the 24 Solar Stems are anchored around them.
This leaves us with a conversion calendar that looks like this. (Edited to number the Solar Stems.)
And remember, this is approximate. The Solar Stems do not always align with these exact Georgian calendar dates.
The lunar months, of course, do not use our calendar date names. I present a summary table based on several people's documentation (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3) since sadly the other blogger didn't include them:
(Jan-Feb) Mutsuki (睦月) Month of Harmony/Affection
(Feb-Mar) Kisaragi (如月) Month of Changing of Clothes
(Mar-Apr) Yayoi (弥生) Month of Plant Growth/New Life
(Apr-May) Uzuki (卯月) Month of Deutzia Flowers
(May-Jun) Satsuki (皐月) Month of Planting Rice
(Jun-Jul) Minazuki (水無月) Month of Water/No Gods
(Jul-Aug) Fumizuki (文月) Month of Literature
(Aug-Sep) Hazuki (葉月) Month of Leaves
(Sep-Oct) Nagatsuki (長月) The Long Month
(Oct-Nov) Kannazuki (神無月) Month of Gods
(Nov-Dec) Shimotsuki (霜月) Month of Frost
(Dec-Jan) Shiwasu (師走) Month of Running Priests
This table merges multiple sources because the translations of Kanji differ and it's good to see how/why these differences occur. There's also the issue of the bloggers presenting the months like 1-to-1 conversions.
I want to stress that these Lunar Months start and end anywhere from the middle to the late parts of Georgian Months. This is why Source 1 claims Mutsuki=Feb while Sources 2 & 3 claim Mutsuki=Jan. Source 1 chose Feb because the majority of Mutsuki occurs in Feb while Sources 2 & 3 chose Jan because Mutsuki technically starts in late Jan.
Now that I've laid all this out, I'm sure you have the following burning question:
How the hell do you convert modern time to Heian time???
I turn to Ms. Katherine M. Lawrence again for guidance.
"If this post gets some interest, I will continue and explain how the author calculates..."
There's no guidance.
However! There is an example of a conversion without the explanation.
"Thus, we know as Yamabuki and Tomoe ride up to the Shayō Tōge, the Sunset Pass, at Sunset on May 11, 1172, in the middle of a freak snowstorm, the author can say with some assurance that it happened at the Hour of the Bird on the 13th day of the 7th solar stem, two days past the full moon of the Flower Month."
So I'm going to try to figure out how this occurred using the information I've been given.
Hour of the Bird: This one is easy! The bird hour is the official sunset hour.
7th Solar Stem: According to the chart that's between late April and early May.
13th Day: Since Solar Stems are about 14-16 days this means it's almost the 8th Solar Stem which starts around May 21st.
2 days past the full moon of the Flower Month: "Flower Month" is not on my chart. From what I know about kanji, I think this is a simplification of Uzuki (卯月) or the the Month of Deutzia Flowers. This aligns with the month of May.
This is where I give up. I legitimately do not know where to go from here. ...And that's my point.
What does this have to do with Sukuna?
Before I completely lose you, my dearest most patient reader, please consider the following:
You wake up in a place where time is counted backwards and the hours pass faster than you've ever known them to. The things you use to tell the time don't exist or are in a form you no longer can recognize.
You see a clock face that counts in the wrong direction to numbers you've never seen used for time. The sounds it makes are familiar and foreign all at once. When you try to use the times and dates everyone you ever knew understood instantly, you're met with complete confusion. No one except a few dedicated scholars know how to convert your concept of time to theirs.
This is how Sukuna experiences time in the modern era.
Sukuna Can't Tell the Time (Sukuna almost fumbled his date with Gojo.)
Remember all my rambling about my own experiences with trying to understand SI Units as a Freedom Units user and my complete and utter failure to convert Heian Time to Modern Time? This is to establish that on a fundamental level, it does not matter that Sukuna has access to his vessel's memories. These foreign units mean nothing without a conversion reference.
Yuta in Gojo's body showed us how the memory recollection process works. You see them like movie and must draw your understandings from them.
We also learn from Sukuna that he tends to ignore memories that aren't relevant to his sorcery. So something mundane like telling the time isn't his priority. (I often think about how Sukuna has been watching Yuji and everyone around him use a cell phone but he still calls it a photography device.)
(He's lying about the flowers though.)
So this leads us to Sukuna and Gojo setting the date for their battle...
When Sukuna heard Kenjaku say November 19th and Gojo say December 24th his brain was the equivalent of TV static. It's very likely that Sukuna had to rely on Kenjaku to ensure he showed up at the right day. (Kenjaku, of course, is an exception here because instead of drawing from memories, Kenny got to live through the transitional period of the Lunisolar Calendar to the Georgian Calendar and had 100+ years to adjust to it. And now that I think about it, the Culling Game using days to count time is probably Kenjaku being considerate of this generational difference.)
It's a really good thing that Gojo didn't specify the time because that would've made things worse. See the following examples using the handy dandy conversion chart as a reference...
Gojo: Let's do this at 10.
Sukuna: ???
Gojo: Let's do this at 9.
Sukuna: *Shows up approximately 2 hours late at 11 am.*
Gojo: Let's do this at 8.
Sukuna: *Shows up approximately 5 hours late at 1 pm.*
Gojo: Let's do this at 7.
Sukuna: *Shows up approximately 8 hours late at 3 pm*
Gojo: Let's do this at 6.
Sukuna: *Shows up on time?* (It’s December in the northern hemisphere so the sun comes up after 6. Sukuna might still show up a bit late.)
These examples also assume that Sukuna can still gauge Heian Hours accurately. That too is up in the air because the hourly bells that sounded the Heian Hours no longer exist. The temples and bells may remain, but their use for timekeeping has changed entirely.
Since it's likely he spent a large portion of his early life in a temple, there's a chance Sukuna has a strong internalized sense of Heian Hours. But how many people do you know that can accurately feel an hour pass on vibes alone?
There isn't any point in the manga where Sukuna indicates he knows what Georgian Month is, let alone a Modern Hour. I think that's why he's just waiting on top of the building for Gojo to show up. The day starts for him when the sun comes up, not midnight. He probably figured that as long as he was out there by dawn, eventually his date would show up.
There's something strangely adorable about that. Sukuna didn't go out massacring others for funsies or wreak havoc after Gojo was unsealed. He just waited a whole month and gambled on their connection starting the death date on time.
How Sukuna Might Tell the Time
When Sukuna uses time units, he only uses minutes or seconds.
Well...the narrator implies he's able to use seconds.
This makes sense despite the Heian Era not having minutes or seconds. They're foundational units rather than a unit he needs to convert to something mentally. Because they are so drastically smaller than other Heian units of time, it's easier for the brain to calibrate itself to them.
This means that if one wanted to communicate a duration of time to Sukuna, it would be better to use minutes or seconds.
For example, rather than saying "see you in an hour", "see you in 60 minutes" would be better. Otherwise Sukuna is going to default to 1 Heian Hour and show up approximately 2 hours late.
Another example, telling Sukuna you'll "be gone for a few hours" means to him that you'll be gone for most of the day. At this point it would be better to reference a duration of an activity he's familiar with than use minutes. Sukuna watched some of those movies with Yuji. "I'll be gone for 1-2 movies" will make a little more sense to him.
Funnily enough though, telling Sukuna that you work a 9-5 wouldn't cause a miscommunication for duration. That's 4 Heian Hours or about 8 Modern Hours. He probably thinks it's weird you start working in the middle of the day and into the night though.
How Sukuna tells time for himself is likely similar to someone lost in the wilderness. He'll mostly be relying on environmental cues like moon phase, sun position, constellations, and flora growth. (Which ironically, climate change affecting flora growth patterns would throw him off even more. I can't even imagine how he'd feel about light pollution stealing away the stars on top of that. But at least the moon is still there!)
But as you can see, the normal methods of precise timekeeping are next to impossible for Sukuna to use and this discrepancy is ripe for miscommunication. This has a lot of comedy and horror potential in fanworks. (Hence me writing this as a resource.)
How Sukuna Used to Tell the Time
After doing all this research, I found myself viewing Sukuna's theme Malevolent Shrine a little differently. I always found it to be a quite sad sounding song for his character. Villains as violent and fierce as Sukuna tend to get battle themes that reflect that. In comparison to high energy bangers like One-Winged Angel (Sephiroth Final Fantasy), Avalon (Ultimate Lifeform Kars Jojo), or The Last Mission (Murem vs Netero Hunter x Hunter), Malevolent Shrine is rather somber and unfocused.
This theme opens and closes with bells. The opening in particular feels chaotic with how the different bells seem to overlap and overwhelm each other. But if you listen closely, you'll hear the gong of a temple bell that keeps rhythm by marking the start of a new measure. Using this bell, it becomes easier to count the beats, even when it eventually disappears in the middle section.
His theme to me now feels like an echo of what Sukuna used to know before he was thrust into a world that is no longer in sync with his very concept of time.
"Interestingly, the Japanese “witching hour” is not at midnight, but at nominally 2 AM (1 AM–3 AM) and is known as the Hour of the Ox."
I don't really know where else to put this. Sukuna on his throne of ox skulls, a representation of the witching hour where reality falls apart and spirits come out to play.
How all this might look in action. (Defending my questionable writing choices.)
Though everything I've given is plenty enough for people to run wild with in fanworks, I would like to give examples of it in my own. My type of autism is one where it's easier for me have something to use as a direct reference. (Clear and concise instructions please.) So I want to provide that for anyone else wired similarly.
Context: The fic I'm writing is from Sukuna's POV so I've taken great care to avoid him using modern timekeeping terms. I have a timeline for everything outlined, but I refuse to make that clear to the reader so they can get the Sukuna Experience™.
Other characters will reference the time and give the reader little windows into what date it possibly is, but otherwise they have to infer it themselves.
But because I myself use modern time, I caught mistakes I made in an early chapter... (Aka before I realized Heian Timekeeping is Extremely Different.)
Old Sentence: The year is 2019.
Revised Sentence: The year is 2019 for the Common Era.
(Heian Japan was mimicking China so I'm assuming that the numbered years restarted with each era since I couldn't find how years were kept.)
Old Sentence: It’s reminding him he has not eaten for the past 5 hours and 38 minutes.
Revised Sentence: It’s reminding him he has not eaten since the hour of the dragon—338 minutes and counting.
(This one is self evident I think.)
But even within this chapter, I obscured the date by having Sukuna observe his surroundings. I don't think it's a good example so I'll use a different one.
...it occurs under the same wisteria and same midday sun. The branches and buds have begun to green and sag before the Flowering Moon has reached its full, an indication that the bloom will come early.
Wisterias bloom in late April around the time of full moon. April aligns with Yayoi or the Month of Plant Growth/New Life. I worked under the assumption that the moons can be called by their month names kind of like Native American moon names. But Plant Growth/New Life Moon didn't sound good to me so I changed it to Flowering.
So I do have a very specific date for when this scene occurs, but Sukuna doesn't know so the reader doesn't know. The best you can guess is sometime in April but you have to know when Wisterias typically bloom and what a Flowering Moon might be. (I'm hoping this kind of vague timekeeping disorients the reader and causes frustration. I used sun, moon, and star positioning charts for this got dang it.)
Tools to Use for Weird Timekeeping
Chinese Calendar Conversions
Solar Stem Converter
(This one is annoying to use because they don't use the translated names but there is a definitions table.)
Lunar Calendar Converter
(Unfortunately it only allows for 1901-2100. You can probably infer the lunar month via the Solar Stem Converter for older dates.)
Celestial Bodies
For star/constellation positions in the night sky use this:
Sky & Telescope Interactive Sky Chart
(Yes you can even change the location and time to get the exact night sky the characters might be looking at.)
For sun positions and sunrise/sunset times use this:
SunCalc
For moon positions and moonrise/moonset times use this:
MoonCalc
(If you want to see a summary of moon phases by month this tool is helpful.)
This tool gives celestial body-specific rise and set times along with positions:
In-The-Sky
(The site is a bit unintuitive so here is an example of it being used for a star cluster at a specific location and toggleable date.)
Extra Info
Here’s a document on how the Subaru/Pleiades star cluster was used for timekeeping in historical Japan: The Inspiration of Subaru as a Symbol of Cultural Values and Traditions in Japan
There’s also this website that briefly goes over historical Japanese astrology with a focus on the Orion’s Belt constellation: Astronomy and Mythology in Ancient Japan
Wiki links for celestial body festivals that have been around since the Heian:
Star Festival (Tanabata)
Moon Festival (Tsumiki)
Why have you done this?
I don't know. Please enjoy my perverse obsession with the little details.
1) Read the light novels. They are the equivalent of Bleach's CFYOW for JJK. There is a fan translation (Book 1 & Book 2), but I will be citing the official translation from my own copies.
2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility.
3) Read the light novels.
(Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
Dungeon Meshi is heralded as The ultimate story of incompatible autisms. Everyone recognizes Laois and most of his party as autistic. Each of these characters are able to use their specific types of autism to solve problems throughout the series.
Laois’s autistic traits in particular have drawbacks when it comes to others’ perception of him. To directly quote one of the best Dungeon Meshi text posts on this site:
“Dungeon Meshi is about a quirked up white boy on a quest to save his sister and perhaps indulge his special interest along the way. He's a man of pure heart who has done nothing but help anyone he's met. Then part way through the story you start seeing other pov characters and it turns out every single person who has met him outside his party has read his awkward social skills and love for grilling as a sign of something deeply evil and has vowed to kill him on sight.”
Using Laois as a reference, I want to argue that Jujutsu Kaisen is the penultimate story of incompatible autisms.
Addendum/Disclaimer
I’m heavily drawing from experiences with my particular brand of autism for this analysis, so I’m bound to not properly consider everything. My words should not be taken as gospel since autism is a wide spectrum that manifests differently for each individual. Certain autistic traits will show up for one person and be completely absent in another. (And I personally think JJK does a great job of showcasing this variation.)
There is also significant overlap between Autism and ADHD which I’m not qualified to make connections with. (Basically if you have ADHD feel free to explain how you see yourself in these characters too.) There’s probably other readings that have flown over my head, but please understand I’m not trying to be malicious.
The main traits I’ll be referencing are:
Social Unawareness
Bluntness (and it being perceived as rudeness)
Taking Things Literally
Double Empathy Problem (the non-autistic and the autistic have a hard time understanding each other’s way of thinking and therefore struggle to communicate with each other)
Emotional Blindness/Alexithymia (difficulties with understanding and articulating one's emotions)
Hyperfixations
Special Interests
(Stimming is left out because of Tumblr's 30 image limit. Someone else can make that post for me.)
Mahito’s Autism
Strange title section right? Allow me to defend it. Mahtio’s Domain Expansion (DE) Self-Embodiment of Perfection is localized from 自閉円頓裹 (Jihei Endonka). The first two kanji 自閉 (Jihei) create the Japanese word for Autistic. Where 自 (Ji) is self and 閉 (Hei) is close/shut. The Japanese word for Autism is 自閉症 (Jiheisho) where 症 (sho) means disease. A very literal translation of Jiheisho is “self-shut disease”.
Equating autism to an illness that causes one to shut themselves inwards is flawed in its framework, but not wrong in describing the unique isolation autistic people face. If the kanji used didn’t clue you in, Japanese society is much more hostile to the autistic than English speaking countries. This is in part due to many autistic traits being seen as socially unacceptable for deviating too much from the norm.
There’s been a whole study on this if you want to know more. (This study allowed for self-diagnosed people to participate and included non-binary gender options, so I’m comfortable using it.) Quoted directly from the source:
“Many autistic individuals engage in social camouflage and attempt to use social interaction to obtain job opportunities and other benefits. The aforementioned ‘need’ of autistic individuals to engage in social camouflage forces them to continuously pretend that they are non-autistic. This is associated with significant manifestations of mental health deterioration, such as depression, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, suicide attempts, and burnout because of exhaustion and fatigue.”
“Markus and Kitayama refer to Japanese and other East Asian cultures as ‘cultures of interdependence’. In these cultures, the primary challenge faced by individuals is to conform without standing out and pay more attention to others than oneself. Thus, the ‘uniqueness’ of autistic people can be perceived negatively, and it can threaten relationships and interpersonal harmony within the community.”
Now what does discrimination against autistic people have to do with Mahito? Well, everything. Mahito manifested as the hatred between humans, making them unique within the Natural Disaster Curses group. This causes friction in their relationships with the other curses, mainly Jogo.
When Dagon dies, Jogo mourns. When Hanami dies, Jogo and Dagon mourn. When Mahito learns about this? They react like this.
Totally not appropriate for the situation. You could chalk it up to them being a curse, but the other curses have already shown they’re capable of caring deeply for each other.
This isn’t the only instance of it either. In the light novels, Mahito really gets into movies to better understand humans which results in this.
Jogo simply does not know what to do with Mahito becoming a filmbro.
Jokes aside, Mahito is using movies and other forms of media to better understand people not like themself. And despite their efforts to better grasp emotions, this causes Mahito to become even more alienated from his peers. He’s in his own little bubble and his way of thinking is boon when fighting but a bane for his relationships. There’s something very autistic about that.
Shared Special Interests
On the flipside, Mahito’s movie and book fascination causes them to create a bond with a blind homeless old man that lives under a bridge. But it’s only because the two of them have this interest in common.
As stated in CFYOW, JJK Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust Chapter 3: Allegory in Darkness, Mahito has canonically read Kafka.
And that line at the end. “It makes talking to you easy.” This is the same phrase Mahito uses when grooming Junpei. Though Mahito’s relationship with Junpei is one of manipulation, it started as something rather innocent—they both went to the theater, saw the same movie, and were annoyed by the people disrupting their viewing experience.
That small connection, their shared interest in movies caused them to bond quickly and Mahito used it for manipulation. (This is not unlike how minors in fandom spaces can be groomed by the adults around them.)
Mahito learned how to be this way in part by studying media and applying it to their actions. They can’t interact with most humans 1-on-1, so their main source of understanding them is media, which gives them this warped sense of reality. Think Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Mahito doesn’t know better because this is all they know.
It’s no wonder they conclude that humans at the core are creatures that eat, sleep, and rape (Ch 49 Pg 18 Sorry I ran out of image space). Think of how many “the joke is sexual assault” type characters there are in Japanese media alone. (Let’s not ignore how bad it gets in American 80s comedies too.)
Mahito is essentially a blank slate with no frame of reference for morals, critical analysis, or media literacy in general. It’s not very surprising they take everything at face value and then use it for evil.
And that’s why I wanted to discuss them first. Mahito is a reflection of humans and their reaction to media has echoes in how other characters, who are probably autistic, navigate their relationships with themselves and other humans.
Itadori Yuji’s Autism
When I say Yuji is pure and the goodest boy in the world, I’m referring to the unbridled autistic joy in which he interacts with the world. He’s not much different than Laois from Dungeon Meshi. The way Yuji introduces himself to others is unhinged. He frequently does and says things that are not socially appropriate in the slightest. Whatever comes to mind first he acts on, no filter.
But being unhinged isn’t necessarily autistic. What gives this the ‘tism is the socially inept internal logic that goes into Yuji’s decision making. Dudebros may refer to it as locking in, but it is better known as hyperfocusing. You give Yuji a task and he Will complete it, anything in his way be damned.
Ijichi gave Yuji a task. Figure out if this person is an enemy and make sure nobody gets hurt. Interrupting a convo and pantsing a guy to complete this task is Yuji autistically logicing his way around setbacks. What’s a non-violent way to get someone to leave? Stealing their pants, probably. Things like social rules don’t matter if lives are at risk.
Don’t believe that’s socially-blind autistic logic? Let me give you this guy from 4Chan and myself as an example. As a child I was told I should never lie no matter what. At 8 years old, I did something that upset my teacher. I didn’t know I had upset my teacher until I was asked to write an apology letter by my parents. So in my little pea brain, I had no reason to apologize because that would be lying. I then wrote something along the lines of, “I’m only writing this apology because my parents are making me.” (I got yelled at for this which confused me even more. What do you mean you want me to lie, mother???)
You can see this kind of logic with the finger eating especially. Yuji took Megumi’s words very literally and ate a mummified human finger because that’s what was needed to save lives. This isn’t a one off thing either, it keeps happening over and over—Yuji taking the most literal interpretation of the words spoken to him and acting on them in the most autistic way possible.
I love the Nanamin alert especially because only Idatori Yuji would think to do that. It also a neat showcase of the double-edged sword that can come from autism. Yes, Yuji effectively and quickly relays important information to his allies, but to their enemies as well. He also does it in a way that gets him bopped on the head by Megumi. Kind of like how going along with Gojo’s plans has him bullied by his classmates.
This happens a lot too—Yuji doing what others tell him to do, filling in the blanks when they fail to elaborate on the how to, and it backfiring.
There is nothing more autistic than doing exactly as you are told and getting punished for it.
Nanami tells Yuji not to call him Nanami-sensei. But he doesn’t tell Yuji what exactly to call him instead, so he guesses. And since Yuji is socially unaware to a degree, he comes up with Nanamin instead of the Nanami-san that would’ve been more polite.
Megumi and Panda tell Yuji to lie. But lying isn’t in his nature so he really sucks at it. Pretending he doesn’t know who Gojo is because 1) he was told to lie and 2) Gojo is a part of the group Yuji is was explicitly told not show any familiarity with, is peak autism logic.
It’s all a part of Yuji’s charm though. Despite his autistic traits getting him into plenty of trouble, they also are a big reason as to why everyone loves him.
Yuji’s Autistic Rizz
Yuji seems to mirror other people both to better understand them and because he’s relying on them to show him how he’s supposed to act. (More on that here.) Most of the time this is played for comedic effect, but sometimes it results in instant pair-bonding. I think that’s the autism-to-autism connection being made. (It’s also known as the morphogenetic field if you’ve played 999.)
Just like how Mahito used movies to bond with Junpei, Yuji does it too. But he uses this shared interest for good and provides a counter to Mahito’s grooming.
And lookie here, he can even utilize his love of movies to bond with people who aren’t into them at all. Junpei’s mom may not get it, but she’s endeared by it. This unparalleled autistic rizz is fundamental to Yuji’s character. And in my opinion, his relationship with Todo Aoi best showcases this.
Everyone knows that Todo and Yuji’s shared love of tall women with big butts is what brought them together. But what’s most overlooked is the specific tall woman with a big butt that made this possible in the first place. Before Todo even asks Yuji for his type, Yuji makes it known he is aware of who Takada is. (He happened to see her on TV as stated in CFYOW, JJK Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust Ch 4 Pgs 89–90. Ijichi is the secret Takada fan.)
Takada is who prompts Todo into asking. She is also the one who appears in Todo’s delusions, guiding him to victory and driving most of the reasons behind his actions. With great confidence I can say Todo’s special interest is Takada. (And most of the fanbase assumes he’s autistic, so I don’t feel the need to explain that more.)
And what’s crazy about his special interest of his is that it fudging works. Takada and his love for manga help Todo create successful strategies. I include his love of manga because his fakeout with Mahito is a Hunter x Hunter reference.
It’s a bit spoilers to discuss how exactly this is genius, but you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s very clever. Rather than simply nodding to the source material, Todo is using the twist reveal from that scene and subverting it to help Yuji win.
This is nearly identical to Laois utilizing his special interest monster knowledge to create victories out of what would be defeats for other characters. Todo weaponizes his autism in a way that works perfect for sorcery.
But when it comes to interpersonal relationships? It destroys them. Everyone who isn’t Yuji hates Todo.
Todo Aoi is second to Gojo Satoru when it comes to characters considering him the greatest source of stress. (Momo, Mai, and Kamo with Kokichi dedicating pages 43–46 of CFYOW JJK Thorny Road at Dawn, Chapter 2 to how much Todo stresses him out.)
They’re most annoyed with him when he talks about his special interest—Takada. She is a huge reason as to why Todo is such a good sorcerer, you could even call her The Reason he’s so good. People rely on him quite literally weaponizing his autism. But when he starts being autistic outside of sorcery? They don’t tolerate it.
This is a recurring problem for autistic sorcerers. The very people that depend on their weaponized autism will scorn it the moment it no longer serves them directly. It’s a very Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) mentality. Sure they want all the benefits but keep the drawbacks out of their sight.
Yuji’s Loneliness
Just like Todo, Yuji suffers from social disconnect due to his autism. He feels like he struggles to understand and connect with others on a deeper level. His own feelings and other people’s feelings are sometimes a mystery to him.
On a surface level Yuji seems to be on the same wavelength as Junpei through their shared love of movies. That is until they fight each other. Yuji doesn’t understand that Junpei is acting out of grief at the start of their fight. He says something insensitive at first, but he eventually asks Junpei to spell things out so he can understand what’s going on.
It takes until the end of the Sukuna fight for Yuji to truly connect with someone—Megumi. But it’s only because they both make their feelings known directly to each other. Before that though? As discussed earlier, the autistic traits that make him good at sorcery are often off-putting to others.
I mentioned how Yuji mirrors others in what seems to be an attempt to understand others in that post I linked. In the same one I also discuss how Yuji is able to decenter himself and sync up with just about anyone. With respect to his autism, this really reads like masking to me.
When Yuji lets that mask slip and indulges his personal hobbies, it’s a toss up on whether or not he’ll be accepted or rejected. The movies that allowed him to pairbond with Junpei don’t work for everyone. Just like Mahito with Jogo…being a filmbro causes friction with Megumi and Nobara.
Though Yuji otherwise gets along very well with Megumi and Nobara, there is something so very relatable and sad about seeing this particular hobby of his being trashed. What’s worse is that the 2 people who would’ve matched his freak in this regard are both dead: Junpei and the one who intensified this interest of his in the first place—Gojo Satoru.
Gojo Satoru’s Autism
I must confess, this entire post got written because of this anonymous ask I was sent a while ago. I was surprised to get it since I assumed everyone understood Gojo to be autistic by default like Laois Dungeon Meshi. So I’m going to copy and paste this anon’s words because all their observations are correct.
"As someone with Autisim, I heavily identify with how he was raised (the gifted child who is too observant vs the prophesied child who was raised to be a weapon first) and the way other react around him (treating everything he says and does with disdain)
I find the way he clings so strongly to the idea of strong and weak even after Geto and Toji yet still having a sense of justice/ noticing the unfairness of it all, his sensitivity issues, his ability to notice emotional cues yet not having the means to respond in an allistic way, his tendency to take his jokes and teasing too far/ act too close to people, and the general othering of him just screams autism to me. Like can see a lot of those traits which is usually tamped down by society being exasperated because, what are you going to do, he is the strongest, you can't just tell him off in a serious way, not when, in your society, the strong rule.
I see it especially with his students, where he's taken in all the misfits and is so casual with them in day to day life. Even him throwing them in the proverbial deepend with missions is probably how he was taught by his clan before entering jujitsu tech."
And directly from Gege via the special Gojo Booklet.
"Q25: born and raised as a high-born, he is regaled by both himself and others are the strongest, and he seems to have want of very little, but what would you consider Gojo's weakness?
A25: His personality.
Q26: what would you consider Gojo Satoru's most intrinsic strength, when you put aside his innate abilities, influence, and physical prowess?
A26: His personality."
Thank you Gege for stating it so bluntly. The part of Gojo’s personality that is both strength and weakness. Something that makes him a great sorcerer and socially isolated. That’s the autism.
Now that we (that anon) has established that Gojo Satoru is definitely autistic, let’s go over how this has affected his interpersonal relationships.
Improper Socialization
The Gojo Booklet has forever ruined me. Deep in my heart, I knew this was going on, but to have everything confirmed so bluntly is something else. To summarize:
Gojo was born and raised in Kyoto by an extremely closed-off traditionalist family. His Clan treated him as an investment rather than a person, focusing on his education as a sorcerer and neglecting him emotionally to create the perfect living weapon. It’s implied he was educated privately and did not attend a school with other people until high school. It’s also implied that the Clan kept Gojo under strict watch while his powers developed because of the assassination attempts. Regardless, the isolation, training, and exploitation he endured was severe enough for him to break out and run away multiple times. His attendance at Jujustu Tech in Tokyo was his first time being allowed to interact with others on his own terms rather than his Clan’s.
This means that until Gojo was 15, he likely never had friends. His interactions with other humans amounted to deification, a type of objectification where he was expected to be a tool to further other people’s comfort. Essentially, up until he met Geto, he only knew how to exist as a living weapon.
I don’t think I need to explain why this would negatively impact socialization. Anyone raised by extremely strict/abusive parents or a cult will tell you how difficult it is to try and interact with normal society after having social skills deliberately stunted for most of your life. This lack of socialization is only compounded by autism. Not only is a sheltered autistic person inclined to be socially unaware, they have no frame of reference to what is socially acceptable.
I’ll use myself as an example. The only reason I’m not completely unpalatable in conversation is because public school allowed me to observe what normal human interactions and mannerisms look like. Otherwise, I’d be like Mahito—learning about the world through the limited media I was allowed to consume. (And even then I still took it at face-value for a pretty long time.)
Gojo is sort of in the same situation as Mahito. His Clan reportedly spoiled him rotten, so he was probably allowed to have all the toys, TV, movies, books, and games he wanted between obligations. This means that it is very likely his ideas of the world at large come from media. And boy does it seem to have affected the way he is.
Trying to Connect with Others
Nanami directly compares Gojo to Mahito. Megumi straight up thinks Gojo and Yuji are the same kind of person as stated in CFYOW, JJK Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust Chapter 1: Kiyujitsu Kaisen.
So like Yuji and Mahito, Gojo will use media he’s familiar with to make sense of the world around him and hold conversations with others. (In the anime they have Gojo do the tornado kick which straight up appears to be him doing an in-verse reference to Code Geass's Suzaku Spin Kick aka the Spinzaku Kick. Please do not ask me how I recognized this.)
And would you look at that. Most people do Not know how to handle this. Not even Geto who is more visibly confused by his Digimon metaphor in the anime.
I can’t really blame them for their reactions either. Gojo is such a special combination of unfortunate circumstances and experiences that you might as well be listening to someone speak an unknown language.
This goes both ways too. Gojo himself has a very hard time understanding others and tends to take the words of others Very Literally. (Just like Yuji!) This leads to him experiencing the Double Empathy Gap the most when compared to other autistic characters.
The Geto stuff is the most tragic to me. Gojo checked in on him and Geto lied about his feelings. To Gojo, Geto is his best friend. Why would he lie to him? Geto says he’s ok so Gojo thinks he’s ok. (That’s not even getting into the higher ups overworking them both and keeping them separate on purpose.) His upbringing and his autism made it impossible for him to read between the lines, so Geto's betrayal very much comes out of nowhere for him.
The same happens with Shoko okaying the desecration of his corpse, Nanami calling him a pervert and everyone agreeing. Gojo truly believes that the people close to him see him in a very one-dimensional way and there’s nothing he can do about it. After all, he was raised to be a weapon and nothing more.
Funnily enough, Gojo’s Alexithymia is so bad that parts of the fandom have seemingly done the double empathy gap thing to him with respect to his flower metaphor.
“There was always a gulf between me and other people, even if they adored me. You can admire a flower and help it bloom…but you can’t ask it to understand you.”
To me, all Gojo is doing here is explaining his feelings as best he can. Floral language is a big thing in Buddhism which is probably why he makes the comparison. However…I’ve seen interpretations of this that conclude Gojo believes himself so far above others that they might as well be non-sentient plants. To them, this metaphor speaks to his arrogance rather than a clumsy/poetic attempt to communicate his feelings.
I’ll use myself as an example to explain why I think it’s just the autism in action. I often like animals way more than I do other people. Snakes, birds, lizards, spiders, and scorpions are amongst my favorites. Sometimes I compare people to these animals.
What I mean: I think highly of you! You share traits with my favorite animals and that makes me happy.
What others can hear: I think you’re stupid (lizard/bird brained), untrustworthy (a snake), and lesser than me (a bug/arachnid).
Now I could be projecting because I see my autistic traits in Gojo, but I do find it fascinating that how you view Gojo’s flower metaphor is highly dependent on how you feel about him.
Regardless, it does a great job at illustrating how isolated Gojo feels from others. Sometimes my autism makes me feel like I’m a completely different species because I can’t interact with people normally. And in Gojo's case, he can't even refer to himself as a human. The disconnect from others and his dehumanization is so strong he feels he can no longer identify as human.
No one’s autism is exactly the same, so this rift can even exist between autistic people. This is how you can get Yuji and Gojo bonding over their shared autistic traits but not fully understanding each other and feeling isolated for it.
But it’s still really sweet that they connect with movies so well that Gojo’s filmbroness rubs off on Yuji.
It’s also a little concerning that Gojo refers to these movies like a catalog for emotions. Like the proper way to experience emotions is through media and not in person.
The training Gojo subjects Yuji to with movies is likely how he was trained as a child. This suggests that for the first 15 years of his life, movies and other media might have been his only frame of reference for everything not Jujutsu Sorcery. And I mean Everything.
Combine this with The ‘Tism and this could possibly explain exactly what is wrong with Gojo Satoru. (You already know where I’m going with this.)
Gojo’s Racism
Here’s a list of movies for sure Gojo has watched. And for no reason in particular I’m going to include if they have a black person (like myself) in them.
Sourced from a Gege Interview.
Léon: The Professional (1994): Yes
The Descent (2005): No
The Host (2013): No
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987): No
Deep Blue Sea (1999): Yes
Extra movies from the anime. (Aka probably canon.)
Juggernaut (1974): No
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): No
That's only 2 movies with black people in them. I went ahead and watched them to confirm my suspicions...
Léon: The Professional (1994)
Not much to say about the black characters here. From what I saw and the IMDb list, they're all men and they're all background characters. Also I couldn’t finish the film because of how creepy it is towards the 11 year old actress. (It's really bad. Like really, really bad. Traumatized the actress, Natalie Portman, kind of bad. Wish I had a content warning!)
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Gojo wasn't lying, the heroine died spectacularly. However in terms of spoilers, he glossed over the actual twist death. There's also someone who dies by being bit in half by a shark. And the way those legs looked like Gojo's...
There are 2 black characters in this movie. One is a jovial goofball chef who somehow survives to the end. (Miguel calls this trope out specifically in JJK 255.) There are so many points in this movie where he should've died. His name is Preacher and he has a parrot that is a Red-Crowned Amazon by the way. The other is a rich investor played by Samuel L Jackson who does Not fall into the Scary Black Man trope for once. Preacher doesn't either, he's more of a Gentle Giant.
Both of them function in the film as a subversion of the Magical Negro trope. And after watching this movie, I think Gege was inspired to make Miguel Odol fill this role too.
Anyways, the takeaways from this are 1) Black people are underrepresented in media. 2) What is representing black people in popular media isn't all that varied.
This means if media is your only exposure to black people, those representations will be internalized if you're uncritical about it. (You're reading this on Tumblr I assume you believe racism is real.) It's unconscious most of the time. People usually don't actively go, "Wow black people are all like this!" What happens is they run into a black person irl, are reminded of their impressions via visual similarity, and then say or do some out of pocket nonsense. (I have personally experienced this at the hands of Japanese tourists.)
And what does Mr. Gojo Satoru say to Miguel first? He says Miguel looks like he’ll be trouble. Later he says Miguel's strength and build are because of his race and what makes him dangerous even though Gojo knows several Japanese men with similar physiques.
If he's never met a black man irl before...he must have gotten that idea from somewhere else. He does mention knowing the MMA star turned comedian Bobby Ologun (a big strong and goofy guy) when comparing him to Miguel.
Bobby Ologun is Nigerian. Miguel is Kenyan. Do you know how pissed East Africans get when lumped into the same category as West Africans and vice versa? (For the less informed please see Western Europe’s hatred of Slavs and other Eastern Europeans.)
But as far as Gojo knows from his media, black men are big, strong, and funny. The media he consumes also doesn’t bother to distinguish the different cultures of Africans. Dark Skin=Black and that’s it. And his dismissal of Miguel's distress over the loss of his rope only highlights that apathy towards individual cultures.
All this has terrible consequences for Miguel in the form of Benevolent Racism. This is where a prejudice that can be perceived as positive has negative outcomes for the target. Aka Gojo commits a racially motivated beatdown because of his ignorance that was fueled by the media he consumed growing up. (Miguel's Cursed Technique reminding Gojo of Toji not withstanding.)
Now I’m not saying autism makes you racist. It’s that Gojo’s isolation from the outside world, being raised by emotionally distant conservatives, and consuming media uncritically with his unique brand of autism creates the disaster that are the words coming out of his mouth.
Gojo being this kind of racist. Where he idolizes a type of strength in black people he learned from stereotypes in his movies, is great actually. I really like that Miguel calls it out and is sick of it. He even sarcastically tries to throw back the stereotypes about Japanese people to make his point too.
And guess who else only knows of black people through movies? Sukuna. He’s an art freak, there’s no way he didn’t watch some of those films Yuji was watching. And Miguel can smell it a mile away. Sukuna gives him that look and Miguel is already done with it. Honestly the way Miguel enforces his boundaries is great. He knows his limits both with risking his life and tolerating racism.
Anyways, Gojo Satoru has been running on 3 hours of sleep, sugar, and Reverse Cursed Energy like a madman for years. I don’t think he’s ever sat down and gone, “Huh? Why do I think the way I do? Why do I believe this?” Miguel is probably the first person to ever tell him, that’s racist my dude. (This is an explanation not an excuse btw.)
And that’s kind of the problem. Gojo is willing to learn and do better, but he hasn’t had the time do it on his own. Some outside force has to tell him bluntly, “Yo this isn’t socially acceptable.” (Think of how Geto influenced his morals and manners by telling Gojo exactly what he should do.)
This leads me to believe his mind is a hodgepodge of things he’s uncritically absorbed as a child and that has influenced his questionable beliefs/actions as an adult in ways he’s unable to recognize.
Gojo’s Other Problems
Outside of racism, Gojo’s most unpleasant traits include mild sexism and child endangerment. The sexism comes from how he speaks to Utahime and how treats Shoko compared to Geto. Though he otherwise does not outwardly discriminate against them, it is sus that he sees Rika, a girl transformed into a cursed spirit, and goes "Dang, women are scary." (The child endangerment is self-evident.)
For some reason, Gojo truly believes for some reason that the woman (Shoko) in his life isn’t emotionally capable of being on the same level with him as a man (Geto). This could just be a strength-based thing since Geto told him that’s why they can’t be together anymore. It’s really hard to tell. But if it really is a sexism thing, media in general being misogynistic could explain it. (On top of being raised by a traditionalist family in a society that is very sexist.)
Well-rounded female characters whose complex emotions and inner lives are explored in depth can be very hard to come by, especially in popular media. (If you want media that primarily focuses on female characters GO READ UMINEKO NOW.) A lot of the movies and manga Gojo consumes treat women as love interests first and people second. And since you’re reading this on Tumblr, you’ve probably seen posts that complain about this and how this feeds into irl interactions.
This idea comes into play with Utahime in a different way. Gojo doesn’t understand that Utahime actually hates him. This is a bit odd given that he usually takes people’s hostility towards him to heart. But a place where he could get the idea that her anger is secretly affection is…the tsundere archetype in the mangas he’s so fond of. (Gojo reads a lot of Shonen Jump, it’s no wonder he has negative rizz with women after they get past his good looks.)
Yuji does it, Todo does it, Mahito does it—they use the media they’ve consumed as a baseline for sorcery. They’re the best at what they do for it. There’s no way Gojo isn’t doing the exact same thing, especially when he’s teaching his students. He tries to fit the quirky mentor archetype who uses tough love to guide his students. (His blindfold might be an actual in-verse Kakashi Naruto reference.) And he falls into faulty logic where everything will work out if he leaves it all to his students which fulfills most Shonen story beats.
The stunt with Megumi that kickstarted this series is a 2-for-1 special. Gojo eating sweets is needed to maintain his technique. Him eating them is acting as a responsible adult. However, getting them several hundred kilometers away from his student who is in a dangerous situation is irresponsible. It may speak to how much he trusts Megumi to handle things on his own, but as an adult in charge of a child? This is very poor judgement on Gojo's end.
I also understand that Gojo's upbringing and Japan's culture (aka it's generally safe for a child to be outside alone) is probably why he's so comfortable leaving a roughed up looking child by herself. But like...he should've called someone for Hana. Maybe he did later? (Another case of is this Gege underdeveloping Hana/Tsumiki or is Gojo truly that careless towards little girls...)
Shonen is pretty notorious for uncritically putting children in situations. It probably doesn’t help that Gojo’s own family was violating multiple Japanese labor laws when putting him to work as a kid. I’m not joking about that either.
Per The Constitution of Japan (May 3, 1947) Chapter III Article 27 Paragraph 3:
“Children shall not be exploited.”
What constitutes child labor exploitation are outlined in Japan’s Labor Standards Act (LSA) or Act No. 49 of April 7, 1947.
Per LSA Chapter IV Article 56 Paragraph 2:
“…an employer may employ a child of at least 13 years of age in an occupation…which involves light labor that is not injurious to the child's health and welfare…”
Additional protections for workers are outlined in Japan’s equivalent of OSHA, aka the Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA) or Act No. 57 of June 8, 1972.
Per ISHA Chapter VII-2 Article 71-2:
“An employer must endeavor to create a comfortable work environment in order to improve the level of safety and health in the workplace by continuously and systematically taking measures as follows:
measures to manage the maintenance of a comfortable work environment;
measures to improve work methods for work in which workers engage;
providing and streamlining facilities and equipment for workers to recover from fatigue suffered in the course of their work;
the necessary measures to create a comfortable work environment, beyond as set forth in the preceding three items.”
I think it’s safe to say that Gojo not including any of his Clan members in his afterlife scene and being so overworked that he doesn't have hobbies or think much outside of sorcery is proof of this exploitation. Gojo’s self-reported best years of his life were high school and those were still exploitative as hell. The man is a walking and talking human rights violation.
The only time we see child Gojo is from the perspective of assassins staking him out. Gojo himself never willingly recalls his childhood, only his teenage years. He looks so serious and miserable compared to his older self too. (It kind of reminds me of how I was a very quiet, obedient child that blossomed into the yappy evil creature I am now thanks to obtaining legal rights and freedom as an adult.)
This exploitation of children at the hands of adults in Jujutsu Society is normalized in and outside of fiction in their universe. Gojo can tell something is wrong with how he was treated and doesn’t want his students to hurt for it. But he can’t recognize that child labor in or itself is bad, so his solution is to make them strong enough to stand up for themselves. (Aka trying to make a labor union without knowing what a union is. Still breaking child labor laws though.)
Might makes right is a Shonen staple (please see Dragon Ball Z or Baki the Grappler). And though taking that idea to heart seems to be the most of Gojo’s problems as a teacher, there’s an additional issue this genre has—neglecting emotional development and care for the most part.
Characters in Shonen or action movies will go through extremely traumatic events and have little to no reaction to them. (PTSD who? Unless you're goated like Steven Universe Future or Vinland Saga.) It can give people a false sense of invincibility. They also rarely ever discuss the steps that can be taken to handle these emotions. You’ll see characters have panic attacks but rarely how to coax someone out of it. Heartbreak is rampant, but the solutions are to never let go and let it consume you, never how to move on or mourn. (If outright ignoring it like nothing happened isn’t what occurs.)
You can see these kinds of ideas with Geto. A second love is not possible for Gojo. He was his one and only and will always be his one and only. That’s the type of romanticism that has always been in his media.
If Gojo has relied on media to teach him how to feel out his emotions, effectively and healthily coping with grief and breakups is pretty hard to find. Most of the time when media handles those topics directly, it does so in a way that promotes reflecting on your own experiences instead of instructing you how to deal with it. Something Gojo didn’t really have time for.
In the light novels Gojo greatly laments his own inability to deal with grief. He wants his students to learn how to do that effectively and even employs outside help with this.
The result of all this is a really overworked weird guy that feels like there’s no way to process his emotions. He puts on a mask when he talks to others and still winds up alienating himself. He’s tolerated for his labor and dehumanized for what makes him good at it. This is all extremely autistic.
Exploiting Autistic Labor
I want to emphasize again, not all autistic people have these traits. The best sorcerers just happen to all have these traits in common.
Hyperfixating on the task at hand without rest.
Not having a typical reaction to dangerous situations.
Taking words at face-value.
Disconnect from emotions and other people.
Unique perspective for problem solving.
These are all things that make for the ideal worker. Autistic people are often compared to machines for their behaviors and what is better for the capitalist than a person that behaves like a machine?
But autistic people are not machines. They’re humans with flaws subject to burnout, emotional dysregulation, meltdowns, off-putting behavior, and isolation.
Jujutsu Society has no incentive to help with these things, especially the emotional dysregulation or isolation. In fact, it encourages this outcome because isolated people are easier to manipulate and exploit. But this also results in the friction these characters have in their relationships.
It’s a situation where they try to have their cake and eat it too. Everyone loves when Gojo is a Jujutsu Pervert in battle. They make him do everything for it. But the second he starts being weird outside of work, they want nothing to do with him. Or they’ll even insult him for the very traits they’re more than happy to use him for. (It’s exactly like Todo. Everyone depends on his battle intuition and reliability. And that all stems directly from his special interest Takada that no one wants to hear about.)
This creates a very uncomfortable dynamic where Gojo is seemingly bears the burden for everyone and everything while the people he’s servicing refuse to acknowledge it. He’s like some kind of public emotional punching bag or hatesink for other characters because they think he can take it as The Strongest. I don’t know if this is because of the autism, but it is scarily similar to how myself and my other autistic friends get treated by others irl. I think this is why I had such a visceral reaction to JJK 269. I too have experienced allistic people exploiting my labor and then acting like I’ve never done anything for them.
And speaking of JJK 269…Kusakabe has always been that kind of dickhole. He’s been in favor of Yuji’s execution since the start. But that’s not what makes him so aggravating. It’s that he’s too cowardly to do it himself. He once again, pushes the burden onto Gojo. He’s not going to be the child killer even though he wants this child dead, that’s Gojo’s job. Gojo is the tool he and everyone else uses to do the things they don’t like.
This includes the teaching Kusakabe thinks Gojo is bad at. Per that one flashback, Gojo had to instruct Yuta more because Kusakabe didn't do an adequate job. Gojo had to send Yuta to Kenya to be trained by Miguel because neither of them were doing enough for Yuta. Gojo recognized his own limits and enlisted help. Kusakabe projected his own shortcomings onto Gojo and waited for everyone else to find a solution for him.
I also want to remind everyone that Kusakabe is wrong about Yuji needing to be executed. Yuji and Sukuna were Kenjaku’s backup plan. Kenjaku would’ve sealed Gojo and started the Merger anyways. In fact, Gojo, Yuji, and Sukuna are the only reason Kenjaku didn’t win. Plus the remaining Sukuna fingers were getting stronger All By Themselves. This means that Kusakabe would just be kicking the can down the road and making it a problem for the younger generation. Gojo was the only adult with enough foresight to do something that would solve the problem.
We’ve also got Ui Ui calling himself the MVP of the Sukuna fight while failing to acknowledge the only reason he could warp in and out without dying was Gojo exhausting Sukuna in the first place. Gojo’s contributions seemingly don’t count because he’s not a person. He’s a tool they used. So all his labor counts as theirs instead.
And because he’s dead, Yuta really is the new Gojo. Please see how Yuta was treated before and after Gojo’s death side by side.
(I can’t tell if this is character assassination or the point. But the only person here allowed to criticize Yuta is Todo as far as I’m concerned.)
Yuta is their new Strongest hatesink who happens to be autistic as hell. And yes, Yuta’s autism is second to Gojo Satoru’s.
(Yuta's leans much more into socially unaware straightforwardness and taking things literally. He doesn't have a special interest or infodumps at people and I think that's neat.)
Everyone grills into Yuta so hard over his plans for the Sukuna battle that he experiences the quintessential autistic experience as described by Twitter User PenGwenWithLC:
"The autistic trait that bites me in the ass most frequently is my impenetrable belief that if I show people the truth they will believe me."
Mind you, Yuta is the main reason they won after Gojo died. This boy had Back Up Plans A through Z and they worked. The only person who had valid input on his planning was…Gojo (and possibly Todo). The finger resonance with Nobara was Gojo’s idea (JJK 267 Pgs 4-5...Also let's talk about how if Gojo wasn't a hopeless romantic and scheduled this fight a day or even an hour later, he might have lived based on Nobara's wake up time.). Once again, these are all autistic characters using their unique ways of thinking to solve problems others are too cowardly to address.
And then these same people turn around and disparage them without acknowledging their efforts or emotions. Sure you can call it lashing out because they secretly care about them. (Aka tsundere behavior.) But both Yuta and Gojo take other people’s words at face value. They don’t understand that this is a very fudged up display of affection and internalize it. Gojo died convinced everyone except maybe 3 people hated him and even in death he couldn’t escape it.
This is also why Gojo leaving Yuta in Miguel’s care was a good thing. Miguel seems to be the sole person in this series who knows how to avoid labor exploitation. Nanami may see work as nonsense and have an overtime mechanic, but Miguel simply does not work overtime. He sets his boundaries and sticks to them.
It’s very ironic that Yuta took flack for respecting the boundaries of a black man that refused to be exploited by the very people that would treat him poorly.
How to Not Exploit Autistic Labor
CW: Discussion of Suicide
The last time I examined the tragedy of Gojo Satoru I wanted him to live and be loved. But I’m not sure if I want that now. It doesn’t really seem like the systemic issues that caused his exploitation have been addressed, and the people he’s helped refuse to acknowledge they are standing on the shoulders of giants. Him becoming suicidal over this exploitation and choosing death because he saw no end to this is a particularly harsh reflection of what happens in reality.
Yuji notices that Gojo is acting out of character during his final talk with him. The arrogant, self-aggrandizing chipper he's used to has been replaced with this timid optimism. Gojo tells Yuji and everyone else to forget about him because he's confident they'll be living longer than him. Before this, previous chapters have shown that Gojo went around apologizing to others and preparing letters in the advent of his death. These are all warning signs associated with an imminent suicide attempt.
When Gojo tells Yuji this is confidence he's never had before, it seems like he means both his plans to go through with dying and that everyone really will be fine and better off without him.
Gojo also makes sure Yuji doesn't catch on to this. (Probably why he didn't do the soul swap too.) Even with his suicide, he's doing his best to make sure it doesn't negatively impact anyone. His final letters to Megumi and Nobara being so unserious is another attempt to make sure their hearts don't break. ...And nobody he devoted himself to in life or death noticed.
This rather bleak ending for Gojo does have a purpose I think. It’s an example of how hypercapitalist work culture doesn’t value your life. You can bend over backwards and put your all into work, but in the end, you’re just another cog to be used. Gojo’s dehumanization was inevitable under this system. This man was born to be used as a tool and discarded once he served his purpose. And because he’s not a person, people get really mad when he does anything outside of what benefits them directly. Since to them, it’s like a machine malfunctioning.
It’s unlikely these people will ever mourn him properly, let alone even acknowledge his efforts (outside of Yuji and Yuta that is). His closest “friends” in death thought of him as a self-serving pervert you know. (Once again, not sure if that’s character assassination or showcasing what Jujutsu Society does to people, but wow does it suck to see.)
But you know who did acknowledge Gojo as a human who did his damned best and is worth remembering? Sukuna.
Sukuna stopped the whole battle to lavish praise on Gojo and mourn him. He’s done that for everyone who has put up a decent fight against him. The other sorcerers? They do no such thing, even after the battle.
And you know who takes the time to cherish and mourn his comrades no matter what? Jogo.
I excluded Mahito from the autistic labor exploitation discussion for good reason. The natural disaster curses treat Mahito better than most humans have ever treated Gojo. Jogo doesn’t exploit Mahito’s autism, he embraces it. And despite their weird behaviors and beliefs stressing him out most of the time, Jogo does nothing to stop Mahito from being themself. He expresses his distaste, sure, but Jojo otherwise acknowledges those traits are what makes Mahito good for their cause. Mahito is his equal, not a tool.
Jogo doesn’t tell Mahito what to do or feel. He rolls with their shenanigans while wearing his heart on his sleeve. He takes time to mourn his comrades no matter how dire the situation. He acts with their interests in mind at all times—even in death his first concerns are his comrades.
Even though Mahito is alive, Jogo worries for them while still having faith in their abilities. He looks forward to seeing Mahito again via reincarnation. I cannot say the same of Gojo’s allies.
I’m not really sure how to end this discussion since I’m continuing it in another part. But if there’s anything you take away form this incomplete analysis, please let it be this one thing:
Thoughts on JJK's ending and my Dream/Delusion Theory being wrong.
Original Theory
Follow-Up on Characters Feeling OOC
(Written using TCBscans. Click images for captions/citaitons.)
Preface
I want to say that this ending could’ve worked if it were given more time. The majority of my complaints are the rushing which I mostly blame exploitation at the hands of the manga industry and predatory contracts.
Here are my original thoughts on JJK 268 when it released and JJK 269 when it released. I've basically reverted to those opinions.
Examining JJK 268–271 as Presented
When the last chapter of Umineko came out, its author Ryukishi07 very much spat in the faces of fans. He mocked them mercilessly and it was glorious. Every single criticism he lobbed at them was warranted because he targeted the fans that refused to see the love he put into his work or engage with the story on its terms.
“Without love, it cannot be seen.”
Ryukishi gave you all the tools to solve the mystery. He told you exactly how to do it. And yet some weren’t satisfied. They wanted everything neatly handed to them in a bow. Ryukishi denied them that simple ending in favor of sticking to his vision and rewarding the fans that accepted Umineko for what it was.
I have my own issues with the ending, but none of my complaints are related to that. I can also say with confidence what happens is completely in character, it’s just not something I personally vibe with.
When I read JJK 268–271 I feel that same creator frustration. I see Gege’s fatigue with fans who care only about the surface level presentation and nothing else. There’s been so much fun setups and follow throughs. So many subtle characterizations and symbolism that goes unnoticed by those who are unwilling to see the love Gege puts into his craft.
“JJK fans can’t read.” This is a fandom joke that is very true. A massive part of the fanbase ignores subtlety and gets upset or confused by Gege following through on it. The entire Sukuna battle was like that. You could pick out all the reasoning behind their actions if you paid close attention.
But then we get JJK 269 where Gege does something he's never done before—over-explain everything bluntly in a way that adds more plot holes and hinders character development. It feels like Gege is going “You don’t understand what I put down? Ok fine! Here are the answers!” It feels like getting to tell those fans off was more important than everything else.
Instead of doing a Ryukishi where he tears into uncharitable critics and rewards those who gave him a chance, Gege just abandons it all and makes an ending that won’t fully satisfy anyone.
With my theory, I decided to look past everything I hated. I decided to trust that if a mistake was made, Gege would call it out like usual. I decided to trust that the inconsistent locations were intentional because Gege has not once ever flubbed them. I decided to trust the clever set up and follow through that’s always been there, even when Gege’s health problems were at their worst.
I decided to look at Gege’s work with love and my heart was trampled for it. My post now serves as glaring proof the ending is botched and nothing makes sense. All the plotholes I found solutions for are bigger than ever. JJK 269 in its entirety is utterly pointless narratively. It could’ve been spent on political fallout, grief, or villain backstories, but instead it reads like a defensive Reddit post.
JJK 271 isn't Satisfying
JJK 271 made everything about JJK 269 worse and then added some more nonsense. Sukuna’s last appearance really sucked for me. I found his entire interaction with Mahito to be grossly OOC.
Mahito is a character who finds humans disgusting and doesn’t care about their opinions or what they do. They also don’t like Sukuna. When Jogo believes that the age of curses needs Sukuna to work, Mahito says they can surpass him. The very idea that Mahito would be upset by Sukuna becoming more human goes against their entire established character.
And more continuity errors!
This conversation is actually their 4th. Here are the other 3:
Sukuna warning Mahito not to touch him.
Sukuna punishing Mahito for touching him.
And Mahito telling Sukuna to shut up and watch him be even better.
Their relationship was antagonistic and Mahito desired a world without Sukuna. Why would Sukuna be with them in the afterlife?
And if Sukuna was going to change his mind it should’ve been with someone he cared about. Jogo and Gojo would’ve been great candidates. Or you know…it could’ve been Uraume themself. In the way Yuji voiced his feelings to Megumi and reached out to him, Sukuna could’ve done the same with Uraume. It could’ve been a thing that expanded more on their relationship and how it came to be. But Uraume doesn’t even get to voice how they feel about anything.
What we get is Sukuna talking to someone he doesn’t like about his emotional issues he has been suppressing and then deciding to live for a person whose history we know nothing of.
I knew him being an unwanted child screwed him up. But that kind of stuff takes a long, long time to unpack. And Sukuna, up until this point has given no indication he was ready to acknowledge his trauma, just like Gojo. Even in the end Gojo can’t admit to Toji and Geto traumatizing him. Sukuna knowing his heart and being so casually open about it just flies in the face of the subtle characterization that existed up until that point. (I wanted Hidden Inventory Arc type reveal you know! But tell not show is prevailing seemingly out of spite.)
He dies stubborn and hateful towards Yuji. He lies to him about feeling nothing and not liking flowers. For him to turn around in death and go I was wrong the entire time no problem to someone he has an antagonistic relationship with is extremely OOC because it wasn't earned.
And since when did Sukuna fear his own curse? When was that ever hinted? All that was suggested was Sukuna having a rough childhood and being exploited by others until he had enough.
Even for all the characters that survived, this isn’t a satisfying ending. Their coping with trauma is unrealistic and contradicts earlier characterization. Their relationships are not explored further. All their arcs or goals are neglected, save Yuji. Nobara didn’t even get to meet up with her childhood friends like she always wanted to. Just the mom letter.
It’s also jarring to see that a series that began with mourning, a series that made itself different by having children deal realistically with traumatic things, end where that heart no longer exists. We have so many characters who are explicitly motivated by their trauma. And we get to see them cope with it in their unique ways and still choose to chase joy through the hurt.
And these final 4 chapters? It’s gone. Yuta being so distressed over everyone treating Gojo like an object and not acknowledging his personhood? Gone. Megumi, Yuji, and Nobara sucking at dealing with death? Gone. They all act like none of it really mattered and won’t affect them for the rest of their lives. Those who were lost are forgotten quickly and their efforts are not remembered. (At this point, everyone ignoring Choso hurts worse than Gojo tbh.)
The Totally Not Kenjaku surviving decapitation and brain eating makes no sense if that's real. And the implications from that are horrible. All Gojo wanted to do was mourn Geto’s body. All we wanted was to see someone mourn him or acknowledge his efforts. I was hoping they’d be buried together. The idea that Geto’s body is possibly being used by a the master manipulating rapist while everyone is ok with that sickens me. (Does any remember Choso?! But hey, let’s kill all the incarnated culling game players who were victims of manipulation or outright helpful to the protagonists’ victory!)
It’s also why Mei Mei surviving and going unpunished or criticized for her treatment of Ui Ui sucks to see. And I guess while we’re at it. Kusakabe really did tell a 15 year old to his face he should’ve died. (And he was wrong about that like the higher ups. Yuji and Sukuna were a backup plan and the fingers were getting stronger all on their own. Gojo was the only adult who took productive action against it.)
The revolution really did die with Gojo. His dreams were good and noble. Resetting the Jujutsu Society and its exploitation was needed. But he gives up on them and asks to be forgotten. It's done in a way that feels like Gege is addressing his fans directly and telling them to get over him too.
I knew Gojo was suicidal, don’t get me wrong, but he was characterized as someone who had a hard time understanding that others did care about him. I was hoping for the revelation his intuition was wrong via a funeral or mourning. That didn't happen and it breaks my heart.
Yuta tried to empathize with him. We see it with the Yujo plot that goes nowhere except to disrespect Gojo’s body one last time. We don't even get to know if he was cremated or buried or how Yuta felt about that experience. It is extremely hard to see this all as anything but Gege expressing resentment for Gojo’s popularity.
And I’ll give Gege credit for that. The only theme that stayed consistent was Gojo being seen as an object to be exploited by everyone, except Sukuna. (I’m not even sure if I can include Yuji and Yuta in the cares deeply for Gojo anymore. It’s so OOC for them to be like this that I want to ignore it.)
The balance of the world changed when Gojo was born. We had several chapters dedicated to how this impacted various people's lives from Toji to random curse users. His death should be just as impactful.
But you know. Kenjaku was proven right. The cycle of curses will continue on because the systemic problems were never dealt with.
The conditions that allowed for Yuji and Sukuna to be created still exist.
Reflection
I understand why people like myself want to reject this ending. It doesn’t feel like Gege put love into it. All the fun little quirks this series had are flattened and discarded in what feels like spite. Not even the final battle has the fun energy that was present just 4 chapters ago.
I’ve decided that I’ll accept these last 4 chapters for what they are, but reject everything they stand for. They’re more interesting to discuss and pick apart than actually read…which ironically is how I feel about Umineko’s final chapter.
And speaking of Umineko… My favorite thing about the reaction to my Dream/Delusion Theory was this—the people who said, if they can’t handle what’s in the catbox, this is their canon.
The fans who love the series and want to weave their own tales based on this in a way that helps others cope, please tag me in your creations. (Especially you @rosemaryreality!) It’s all incredibly Umineko and I’m forever grateful I got to experience the Rokkenjima Incident in real time.
Very important to Umineko’s themes, there was a common sentiment type across those that were dismissive of my theory vs those who were receptive to it—their perception of the mangaka, Gege.
To those that believed Gege was a bad writer, the idea that he could be clever and put love into this series was impossible to them, and therefore my theory was impossible. To those that had faith in Gege as a writer, my theory was solid, even if it needed a little tweaking.
I had the most fun with those who cited manga at me to make corrections like @runabout-river. Or those who wanted clarification on the holes I missed.
The ones that were entirely dismissive? It was boring. Their arguments mostly amounted to “Gege bad”. (I won't post screenshots here because I don't want them harassed, but they are there if you want to verify them.) Not a single person offered me an interpretation where the events were literal and took place in reality using manga panel citations in a way that tied it all into JJK’s themes and characters.
That disappointed me immensely. I wanted someone to prove to me my reasoning was wrong with a similar methodology. Instead they drew rebuttals stemming from their perceived flaws or outright dislike of Gege.
This is quite literally what happens in Umineko. It’s a murder mystery that can only be solved if you consider love. Both the love within the characters themselves and the love the author has put into his creation.
Is it magic or is it a simple trick? Is it a delusion or is it reality? Depending on how you answer and solve the mystery, your interpretation of the story itself changes too.
I wound up being wrong of course, and Gege really did screw up everything in the end. But while that delusion was real? I had a blast.
I’ll be forever grateful to everyone that proved Ryukishi right about Umineko’s core theme.
