#jjk lore

[velorawaifu]

[limitlesslyyours]

IDK honey. You tell me… 👀

[hermitw]

Listen I think everyone w the limitless technique gets to be stupid tall

Or at least, Gojo's infinity is strong enough for him to survive at the bottom of the ocean, idek how much pressure that is but

It made me think about astronauts growing a bit in space without so much gravity (iirc it's a temporary thing but still, it seems like Satoru had that on constantly)

Are limitless users prone to being rly tall?

yes

no

idk

Voting ended onDec 13, 2024

Edit to add: I'M PRETTY SURE GOJO LOST HEIGHT from being in the prison realm.

Which is so funny bc that also explains why he came out looking so thick.

I'm not someone who confidently measures heights from manga panels but if you are... Please.... (the other question is whether Megkuna is taller than Fushiguro?)

[tempenensis]

Ten Shadows Technique

Yeah, let's talk about the Ten shadows technique. Again.

Ten shadows technique is derived from the lore of Tokusa no kandakara (十種神宝) or Ten sacred treasures from the Shintoism lore. These are the symbols that depict them - and most of these can also be found engraved on the shikigami summoned using the technique

Okitsukagami (Mirror of the Deep) -- Toad (Fushiguro's)

Hetsukagami (Mirror of the Shore) -- Max Elephant (both Fushiguro's and Sukuna's)

Yatsuka no tsurugi (Eight hands Long Sword) -- Makora (not engraved clearly like most, but literally in its name when Fushiguro summoned it)

Ikutama (Jewel of Life)

Makarukaeshi no tama (Jewel of Resuscitation) -- Round Deer (Sukuna's; very perfect with its use for reverse curse energy)

Tarutama (Jewel of Plenty) -- Black Jade Dog (Fushiguro's)

Chikaeshi no tama (Jewel of turning back on the Road) -- White Jade Dog (Fushiguro's). The combination of Tarutama and Chikaeshi no tama's symbols make up the symbol on Kon Jade Dog.

Orochi no hire (Snake[-repelling] Scarf)

Hachi no hire (Bee[-repelling] Scarf) -- Piercing Ox (Sukuna's)

Kusagusa no mono no hire (Scarf [to ward off] Various Things)

That leaves Nue, Escape Rabbit, and Serpent. Serpent should be ikutama by the glimpse of it, but it's unclear. So Nue and Rabbit would be Orochi no hire and Kusagusa no mono no hire.

After a few years of guessing game, we finally have the full roster of shikigami army that the Ten Shadows technique can summon. Although with unexpected twist of not one, but two users.

[lxmelle]

Overthinking as usual and I’m just going to blab a bit about the “preciousness” of life in JJK.

I think the JJK world is quite heavily influenced by Buddhist principles and beliefs. I could be wrong though; hence me writing this as I try to figure out my thoughts. It is my understanding that in Buddhism, every living creature’s life is precious. Life, birth, death are of importance.

Since there is a belief in reincarnation, every creature’s life is to be treasured as much as possible. From a compassionate point of view, every creature’s life is important to itself. As a human being with higher awareness (for, and of, others), we have a responsibility to care for them and protect. According to the belief over karma / the karmic cycle, this lends itself to a good life, and subsequent death and potentially the rebirth in the next life / realm. (This also explains the emphasis of a good death in JJK).

And from a reincarnation point of view, any animal could have been one’s parent through the infinite lives a soul can reincarnate in the karmic cycle. Thus killing an animal is considered cruel when one has this awareness of the preciousness of life and the soul. This is why many devout Buddhists observe vegetarianism...

In JJK, there is a rule that their powers must never be used to harm humans, which was exploited to use Toji to assassinate Riko to prevent Tengen from renewing its form. This rule was historically instated by Tengen themselves, who travelled to spread their beliefs (if I am not mistaken).

Now of course we understand as humans in this world, the importance of the survival of our race and we know the unspoken rules about morality, compassion, etc.

But going back to if “every life is precious” … I kinda wonder, why is sacrificing crows OK as a means to an end (Mei Mei) and sacrificing humans not OK?

Geto viewed those unable to evolve as the source of cursed spirits. He was willing and open to exterminating the entire human race in order to protect a few.

Gojo (and others I guess?) viewed some sacrifice as “acceptable” as a means to an end, or towards a better good/outcome. This includes sorcerers and students (sorry, but this is true).

I think to answer my own question: This becomes a debate about intentionality. And moral greyness. In our world, necessary sacrifice appears in various forms. We accept (sometimes with understandable difficulty) the fact that we simply can’t save everybody (humans, and any creature of our selection: e.g. dogs/cats but not a vermin). We are also OK with exterminating some creatures, especially if there is what we can rationalise as a just cause. We are selective. It depends on our worldview and what we cherish.

I see how this is what Gege wishes to do when he portrays different characters with different principles and intentions. They’re all debatable and their perspectives are valid (to themselves) but also questionable.

Mei Mei’s characterisation has been interesting where she can be pitted against those who are more righteous, say, like Nanami. Her morals have been depicted as sketchy anyway, as she is driven by the material, personal safety over that of other people, and her relationship with her brother is odd at best. She is one who is likely 100% OK with others (like the lives of infinite crows) being sacrificed for her personal interests.

Others in the recent chapters don’t seem to give much of a thought to the lives of humans, in fact the focus is again on their existences as sorcerers and humans are lowered to the level of “necessary sacrifice” (like ants or animals) towards the merger, for example. I guess this depicts the Heian brutality / worldview.

Tengen themselves were willing to sacrifice a person to ensure they could remain immortal and continue to manage the barriers in Japan. Again, is this what one can view as a necessary sacrifice? It probably highly depends on which character you’re asking. Yuki would say no, and Riko didn’t want to in the end either. Megumi didn’t want Yuji to die, but Yuji wanted to be the necessary sacrifice.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I just thought it was interesting.

I feel like my small brain is missing something though. Thoughts?

Anyone who studied philosophy and ethics care to enlighten me / share their views?

[aliensupersyn]

Part 2; Sukuna and Gojo vs Shinzō Abe: Gege's De(con)struction of Japanese Bureaucracy

Art by me

Manga spoilers below!

Overall thesis for this project: Godzilla and Mothra create the cultural context of creatives using powerful monsters (or kaiju) to disrupt Japanese bureaucracy and society, usually to make some larger criticism.

Gege Akutami probably celebrated the assassination of Shinzō Abe as a dream come true. Gege overtly criticizes the bureaucratic powers that Abe specifically aided in restoring within Japanese politics. The powerful bureaucrats, after being accused of irresponsibly handling Japan's funds, and throwing the nation into an economic crisis, regained their political standing thanks to Abe. Yet, the damage has been done, and many different mangaka portray Japanese bureaucrats as antagonists who must be challenged or killed.

Sukuna unleashes an attack that disrupts Japanese society and throws the powers-that-be off balance, challenging the modern status quo that he once dominated in the Heian era. Gojo goes even further and eliminates that status quo, seeing it as the only possible answer to ensuring his students' safety from their political power. Yet, how did the once reverent bureaucratic powers gain such a tarnished reputation that titles like Bleach, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tokyo Ghoul, and One Piece all depict them as antagonists at the very least, and defeated villains at the worst. Below, I discuss the history that perhaps informs an action like Gojo murdering the Higher-Ups, and explore Shinzō Abe's role within that context.

The bureaucracy emerged as a major power center in the Meiji era (1868–1912) (Shimizu 2013). Bureaucratic autonomy was reinforced during the period of military mobilization and war in the 1930s and 1940s, and further institutionalized in the early postwar years. Many political leaders were purged during the Occupation (1945–1952), while most bureaucrats were not, and this enabled the bureaucracy to entrench its power. (Vogel 103)

While the U.S. forced Japanese government reform in the late 1940s, the bureaucrats emerged mostly unscathed. The different ministries mostly maintained their ranks throughout the years by choosing their officials from a small, conservative pool of candidates from the top schools in Japan. Gege directly references the elitist, conservative selection pool with his establishment of the three great houses and the Jujutsu High School campuses in Tokyo and Kyoto. The Zenin, Gojo, and Kamo houses act as politicians who reinforce the will of Headquarters, Jujutsu Kaisen's bureaucrats. The great families possess hidden or bloodline techniques that they keep to themselves; they inhibit and promote certain techniques depending on tradition; they withhold the right to purge their ranks of undesirables; and they often meddle with the Tokyo and Kyoto schools to push their agendas. The great families and the Higher-Ups in Headquarters notably prefer traditional sorcery techniques, which partly led to Kinji Hakari and Maki Zenin forsaking jujutsu society. Headquarters, who appoints grades to sorcerers, would never acknowledge their unique strength, and therefore neither would ever prosper within a jujutsu society maintained by the bureaucrats. Only those who meet the conservative criteria pushed by the Higher-Ups can prosper in jujutsu society. Therefore, Headquarters' conservative nature often conflicts with the main cast throughout the story.

Gege uses Maki Zenin's story arc to demonstrate some of the irrational extremes the great houses go through to maintain Headquarters' conservative ideals regarding jujutsu sorcery. Maki could have been a powerful asset to the Zenin, but their conservative nature and narrow perspectives were the death of them. Gege uses both Maki and Gojo to slaughter the political powers in JJK. While the story addresses Maki and Gojo's actions as extreme and monstrous, it shouldn't go unnoticed that Gege thrives on depicting the death of those debilitating government structures. Despite Toji Zenin having the power to wipe them out, his family still never truly respected his strength because he did not have a cursed technique. The Zenin could easily be blamed for Toji choosing to become a skilled assassin who targets sorcerers. Toji's family inspired his hatred for sorcerers, which led to nothing good for anyone. The Zenin think because Maki was born a woman, she could never reach the heights of Toji, which lulls them into a false sense of security. One might argue that the Zenin used Maki to take out their bottled frustrations for Toji. Despite her talent with weapons, and acknowledgement from Satoru, the Zenin regularly appealed to Headquarters to inhibit her graded promotions.

Gege consistently depicts Headquarters' debilitating laws as irrational measures, and twice it ends in a bloody mess. Gege's references and depictions of Japanese bureaucrats' conservative nature likely comes from a sudden decline in public opinion and power; this loss of the control that was once so carefully maintained includes powerful reforms enacted by Shinzō Abe's first and second administrations. There's a trail of events that leads to Gege's hostile characterization of Japanese ministries. The bureaucrats were once hailed as saviors of the Japanese economy, a force that led them into the luxurious "bubble" era in the late 1980s. Though, when that bubble popped just as soon as it emerged, and Japan as a nation went broke until the late 90s, the bureaucrats lost the trust of the public and government (Vogel 107). In this weakened state, they were now finally vulnerable to reform.

Prime Ministers Junichirō Koizumi (2001–2006); Shinzō Abe (2006–2007); and Yasuo Fukuda (2007–2008) all proposed extreme reforms to the bureaucrats. Though, by time Fukuda took power, his administration was literally locking ministers out of meetings (Vogel 109). The escalating feud between the bureaucrats and Fukuda's administration led to the DPJ "gaining a reputation for incompetence, as they failed to develop a coherent economic strategy; floundered in international diplomacy, especially US-Japan relations; and took blame. . . . for policy failures in responding to the March 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown" (Vogel 109). Because the bureaucratic ministries held the power to draft and revise legislation, barring them out of politics quite literally led to disaster. I won't get into the specifics of the bureaucrats' power, but Fukuda belittling their presence within the government led to Abe's unexpected return.

Once he returned in 2012, Abe ushered in an entirely new age for Japanese bureaucracy. In some ways, he limited the ministries' powers, but he also created the new cabinet bureaucrats. The new elite class of bureaucrats would dominate his second administration as Abe's most trusted advisors. As the cabinet bureaucrats rose in power after Abe established new and "special “headquarters” (honbu) and “offices” (shitsu) to coordinate major policy initiatives," their public perception continued to dwindle (Vogel 109). In modern Japan, bureaucrats retain only a fraction of their old power, but Vogel points out that for many citizens, that's still much more than they deserve:

The public image of bureaucrats has dropped considerably since its heyday. The share of people who reported that they trust bureaucrats declined from 44 percent in 1994 to 22 percent in 2002, while the share who stated that they do not trust bureaucrats rose from 51 percent to 74 percent (Tsukishima 2006, 286). Meanwhile, many university graduates no longer view the civil service as an attractive career. The number of applicants for civil servant positions dropped from a high of 330,686 in 1995 to 130,090 in 2018, while applicants for the Level 1 (“career”) positions declined from 41,433 to 22,559 (National Personnel Authority 2019b). (111)

Vogel ensures that modern Japanese bureaucrats still maintain strong political power, especially over industry, despite the many reforms they've suffered through the years. The discrepancy between bureaucrats holding onto power despite their poor public perception takes interesting personifications in manga. Below, I examine both Jujutsu Kaisen and Bleach's similar depictions of Japanese bureaucrats in action. Both Gege and Kubo Tite present bureaucratic forces as conservative powers that inhibit growth and the futures of young cast members.

Bleach uses similar visual metaphors of faceless bureaucrats giving orders that challenge the now shaky leadership of the pressured society. In both titles, the bureaucrats reappear after the defeat of the leading force of power in their respective verses. After Genryusai's death and Gojo's sealing, the bureaucrats intervene, often prioritizing their own self-preservation. Doing so, they attempt to enforce laws that hinder the main cast. Bleach depicts Central 46 as cowards who argue against Shinsui's suggestion for Kenpachi to finally evolve and truly inherit his title. In JJK, the Higher-Ups order Yuji's death and declare Gojo a traitor who must not be unsealed.

Both Gege and Kubo Tite characterize the faceless bureaucratic powers-that-be as greedy and controlling forces that will readily inhibit growth if it poses any hypothetical challenge to the status quo; that system being one that allows the jujutsu Higher-Ups and Central 46 to make the rules with little restriction. In JJK 0, the Higher-Ups readily criminalize and attempt to expunge Yuta for Rika being too powerful for them to control. The fact that Gege began with a negative depiction of Japanese bureaucracy before JJK proper existed stresses his honest dislike for that particular sector of government.

Gege provides a straightforward description of the power balance. Interestingly enough, the bureaucratic sorcerers still exist within the whole of the Japanese government. The reason why the Jujutsu Inspector General never appears may be because he resides elsewhere, as a cabinet bureaucrat, the elite position created by Abe; though, take that wth a grain of salt. The Jujutsu Inspector General may also be a reference to the now abolished role of Inspectorate General of Military Training. Both Headquarters (呪術 総監部, Jujutsu Sōkanbu) and (教育総監部, Kyōiku sōkanbu) were bureaucratic powers that performed miliary (sorcery) training and withheld a broad domain of power.

While all the Higher-Ups may not have been a monolith, the conservative faction dominated Headquarters. In the beginning, Gege depicts Headquarters as a corrupt power that manipulates the system and purposely sets Yuji up to die on a botched mission. They discreetly wield power over which sorcerers live and die. Kenjaku gaining control of Headquarters not only erases Kamo's political power that could have been used to aid the cast, but also reinforces Gege's depiction of bureaucrats as an antagonistic force.

Gege demonstrates overt criticism against Japanese bureaucracy in his depiction of them as antagonists that ultimately need to be slaughtered in order to ensure the future of the young cast. The ministries went through a unique journey that included them avoiding American-sanctioned government reforms, introducing an economic boom and crash to the Japanese economy, fighting with Prime Ministers to stay in power, and finally being saved by the infamous Shinzō Abe. Bureaucrats may maintain power, but Gege demonstrates why many Japanese people believe that to be an issue, not a solution to Japan's problems.

Notes:

The manga Noragami depicts the bubble era's sudden end as the God of Poverty, Kofuku's fault. She partied too hard and created an economic crash. As punishment, Ebisu put her under house arrest.

I thought this part would be a focus on Sukuna, but I realized that I really had a lot of foundation to lay before I get there. I had to teach myself a little about Japanese bureaucracy so that I could properly examine it. Thankfully, I found a great source by a clear writer.

Introduction - Part 1

Sources:

The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Bureaucracy, written by Steven K. Vogel, chapter 6 of The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics.

Memorandum Regarding Sorcerer Duties, written by Gege Akutami, pages posted here.

[guiltycorp]

jjk 236 manga spoilers !!! -

Extremely funny how the high school reunion party followed by Gojo's body reveal was framed in that way for the sole reason that this shocking resolution would have been boring as fuck if done straightforwardly hahaha... Honestly i still believe in the potential of Gojo turning into a cursed spirit (because that obvious aspect of the world-building hasn't been delivered on WHATSOEVER yet) or the next 6 eyes somehow being immediately ready to throw down, but i no longer believe that any of it will be written well.

A thing that has been bothering me for a while due to spending too much time on twitter is how shonen bros are very keen on praising the technical aspect of the magic system in jjk, how the fights are so good they balance out the lack of emotional weight. ...but was any of the fighting actually good on that technical shonen level? There are a lot of implications about how various Heian era sorcerers came up with techniques and items that are used today but none of it has any real elegance since every new technique and artifact just conveniently came up whenever characters needed to use them. Did Toji's possession of Inverted Spear make sense? Suuure, and maybe it has some ties to Angel whose technique maybe helped to make it. Doesn't change the fact that it was introduced purely to have a way to deal with Gojo's infinity and Geto's curses. And even the attempt to bring back Yuta-Rika bond in terms of Toji-Worm made no real sense since Rika was created by and bound to Yuta intrinsically while Toji just... tamed and trained the Worm off-screen somehow? Why would Geto's technique not work on it then, how is it different from some cursed spirits being loyal to themselves or the places they are guarding. His use of cursed spirits is clearly different from a regular 'taming' situation. And similar problems happen with techniques like Simple Domain or Falling Blossom, they were just ~invented~ in the past somehow so now people can use that. How do they actually work and why can't people come up with their own bullshit techniques then? Well don't worry about it, it might come up again or probably won't because there is no need for that pesky logic in our magic worldbuilding systems. You could even say that the absence of sense and balance is on purpose since the story on the whole is about how everything is Unfair, but it's not like that's communicated well either so? At this point it feels like anything can happen and not in a good way. Gojo got sealed in a poignant emotional way that im looking forward to in the anime but then... he got released by some convenient technique from a new character? Then didn't give much of a reaction to his plans falling apart in front of him, didn't acknowledge Megumi's situation beyond what it meant for the fight (nothing acknowledging how he both lost one of his strongest potential assets and how he participated in robbing both Megumi and Tsumiki of their youth - this at least might come up in a flashback alongside Nobara's situation, if Nobara is 100% dead then the writing is even shittier for not bringing her up properly), went to have a fun fight, had fun and died rip. Even his dying hallucinations were a generic pat-on-the-back 'u did well haha it's great that u had fun' rather than anything meaningful. You could say Gege is salty towards Gojo specifically but it's not like other main characters are faring any better so far... Yuji vs Sukuna is set up in a way where it's just too simple of a straightforward revenge battle with the side of getting Megumi back or killing him, the only thing we can look forward to really. And i can't be excited about Kenjaku vs anyone bc it's not like Yuji ever showed any interest in his parentage (and no mommy issues agh) or got to know Gojo's backstory or anything that would have given him a personal interest in going against Kenjaku at all and none of the other characters have personal beef with Kenjaku either... Like, Yuta a little, but much less so now that Kenjaku is just another big villain for everyone to defeat rather than 'need to kill him myself so that gojo doesn't have to'. Sukuna vs Kenjaku could also be fun if we learned about their past but a Heian flashback would probably just make the story even less engaging at this point. Plus any fight will still do a bunch of that 'actually i had THIS technique/item/skill all this time or i just came up with it even!!' Probably that's what's going to happen with unrevealed Sukuna techniques and Yuki's research. Yeahhh anyway...

[unolvrs]

[spoiler warning: mahoraga] jjk, word vomit ━━ behind the scenes

apology in advance because this isn’t organized at all. i just wanted to word vomit.

ok, so i was rewriting good thoughts, good words, good deeds because i really want to achieve this ending, yeah? and we all know jjk is heavy on buddhism (ex: gojō satoru’s parallels with buddha, etc.), so i did some research about buddhism in a way that parallels my ocs.

lots of things happened in my process of creating a reasonable cursed technique, then i realized while designing the ‘curse’: oh, this is kind of like mahoraga, huh. so we all know that mahoraga is based off of on one of the twelve heavenly generals of buddhism (十二神将, jūni shinshō), makora (摩虎羅大将, makora taishō).

but then, i thought: isn’t makora’s zodiac a monkey... and then it sunk in—mahoraga. right. so, mahoraga is, in layman’s terms, somewhat of the equivalent of a naga in the sense that they are part-snake. the mythology gets more complicated but the point is that this.

mahoraga’s full name is the eight-handled sword divergent sila divine general mahoraga (八握剣異戒神将魔虚羅, yatsuka-no-tsurugi ikaishinshō makora) according to the wiki page. and if you squint and look at mahoraga’s features, you can see that mahoraga possesses one of the ten scared treasures, specifically the sword, yatsuka-no-tsurugi (八握剣). you can see the eightfold wheel on its head too which is one of the oldest symbols of buddhism and something many of you may be familiar with.

the point is that after rereading the whole mahoraga debacle, sukuna said this:

as someone who knows a lot more about shintōism than buddhism (i’m sorry, papa, rip to you) this made me SCREAM because some of you may remember my theory about tengen being based off of on myōken bosatsu (妙見菩薩) or also known as ‘exalted star king’ (尊星王, sonsē-ō), the deitification of the north star. we know that tengen started the spread of buddhism in japan which is why he has a cult following him around, and that cult literally has star all over their name and has a ‘star vessel’ thing going on.

according to the wiki, tengen started the spread of buddhism around the nara period and the whole sorcerer thing. the worship of myōken in japan started around the 7th century (nara period), and this somewhat started the onmyōji, equivalent of the sorcerers during the heian period. (we also know that the gojō clan and okkotsu yūta’s ancestors is abe-no-sēmē, literally the most well-known onmyōji aside from his kamo master/mentor.)

(note: at this point, i took a break from this word vomit and i have no idea where i was going with the shintōism thing so let’s ignore that.)

but as i was saying, the point is that there must be a reason why the yamata-no-orochi was mentioned because the yamata-no-orochi is from shintōism, was slayed by susanō-no-mikoto who is a shintō god. is this the same thing with tamamo-no-mae being a cursed spirit (i had a whole spiel about it here; same link as before)? but anyway—

the ten sacred treasures, which mahoraga was using, has the ability to grant wishes, even as far as bringing someone back from the dead. here’s a link with some comparisons of megumi’s shikigami with the ten sacred treasures: link. so sukuna is definitely just using megumi to revive himself. that’s it 😟‼️ that’s the whole ‘gotta keep you alive schtick’ and ‘interesting’.

it’s been an hour since i wrote this...

and this is so disorganized. i wanted to delve into the shintōism / buddhism in jjk too + the ten sacred treasures in depth + sukuna lore. this is so disorganized 💀 i just wanted to do some research for my fic but then, this happened.

if you want a more organized version of this / specific things about jjk lore you’d like to ask about or specifics concerning the ten sacred treasures + megumi’s cursed technique, i don’t mind doing some research! i’m going back to school next month so milk out my free time, please.

...i should also make a tag for this lore-delving stuff...