The Phantom Guardian

sideblog for special occasions regarding the phantom guardian jjk fic on ao3. for active discussion and updates, follow my main blog @missingn000 !

[thephantomguardian]

tpg character scars reference post!

hey all! since the tpg characters have accrued a number of scars throughout the fic, i thought i'd make a post with what they are + how and when they got them. slight spoilers for chapter 49 below cut, so please don't click until you've read it!

toji: scar around shoulder and side of torso [gojo, pre-fic]

gojo: scraggly red line around left shoulder [toji, 7]

nanami: three diagonal claw marks across chest [chimera of the highlands, 11] claw marks on neck, shoulder, entire left side of torso [rika, 29]

getou: x across chest [toji, 16] bite marks on right shoulder and clawmark on neck [rika, 21] completely charred left arm (similar to maki's burns in canon) [sukuna, 41]

higuruma: stab mark on side, gash on shoulder, horizontal line across span of shoulders [nanami, 34]

toge: diagonal gash across face [sukuna, 40]

yuuji: spear hole in stomach [getou, 41], 30 degree diagonal gash on left shoulder [unnamed jujutsu high assistant manager, 49]

maki: horizontal slice across left palm [rika, 38]

yuki: fork marks across arms and legs that transect twice across the front of her torso [self-inflicted vs choso, 46]

choso: patched-up hole in right bicep [yuki, 46], dark snakelike vein marks up fingers, hands, and forearms, deep gash above heart [self-inflicted vs yuki, 46]

[thephantomguardian]

hi all! seeing as sukuna's backstory, tears of the emperor, was posted over a year ago, i thought i'd write up a quick summary of it as a refresher so you dpn't have to read through all 76,000 words of trauma to remember what happened. without further ado, here we go!

PART 1

the story starts 1,027 years ago in hida province. sukuna (original human name never revealed), age 21, is sparring with his adoptive sister, tsubaki. she's the lord of the province's daughter and also serves as the province's peacekeeper. they're very close, and it's established that their goal is to become the strongest together.

sukuna is known as the guardian of hida despite not technically being in charge of the province. he often patrols to keep curses and criminals out while protecting the residents. however, his favorite role is that of a storyteller, and he tells stories to anyone who wants to listen from his estate backyard every night. his policy, at this time, is that he wants to protect everyone, and he never lies.

soon, sukuna sees a flyer that the heir of the leader of a strong sorcerer clan has run away. it's implied that this heir is mistreated, so sukuna seeks off to give them a home in hida. he meets uraume, age 23, who threatens him with their weapon, tears of the emperor. though things start off rough in the interaction, after sukuna shows his conviction to give them a home, they return to hida with him and are married shortly after.

next, a new sorcerer arrives to challenge sukuna. his name is kazuyoshi, a former peasant with a plant manipulation technique who now travels japan to fight strong opponents and prove himself. he and sukuna spar, and while sukuna is victorious, sukuna is intrigued by him and invites him to stay. he accepts, is healed by the province's healer and sukuna's close friend shizu, and later falls in love with and marries tsubaki.

a few months later, uraume is revealed to be pregnant. sukuna and uraume are both overjoyed.

during their pregnany, two new people arrive in the province: kaguya and genji, both zen'ins. sukuna impresses genji with a display of fire and invites both of them to stay as well, and genji gives sukuna his treasure, kamutoke, while asking if he can be sukuna's apprentice, to which sukuna accepts. kaguya soon marries shizu.

then, uraume gives birth to two children. sukuna's daughter is named yume (meaning dream) and his son is named jion (meaning mercy). uraume comments that they're perfect names and sukuna promises to protect all three of them forever, since he never lies. almost a year later, tsubaki has a daughter as well, named hinowa. sukuna considers her his niece.

there's a timeskip to yume and jion at 4 years old. yume has the personality of yuuji, kind but lacking brain cells, while jion is snarky yet sweet in his own way like maki and toge. as a family, uraume, jion, yume, and sukuna come up with a character for sukuna to tells stories about: a character named ryoumen sukuna, a curse with four arms, four eyes, two faces, and no heart. 

stating being a monster alone would be too lonely, sukuna's family suggests that another character should be created beside him, a hero named yuu-ji, combining both sukuna's childrens' names. that night, sukuna tells the first installment of the tale of yuu-ji and sukuna, in which the hero yuu-ji aims to save the monster sukuna from himself.

time passes peacefully. sukuna crafts plushes of a swan for yume and a tiger for jion, and spends happy days with his weird, wonderful family. tsubaki is pregnant again and promises to name her child after sukuna. things seem like they'll be good forever, until...

one day, a sorcerer with stitches on his forehead moves into hida province. kenjaku has been searching for sukuna, claiming he needs a home and protection in hida. unbeknownst to sukuna, kenjaku possesses a technique which can amplify the negative emotions of others, and can also hide that he's a sorcerer from sukuna. his true goal is to test what happens when you completely break the human spirit of someone who is the strongest.

kenjaku stays that night to hear sukuna tell the tale of yuu-ji and sukuna, and later tells sukuna he believes there's no way yuu-ji could save sukuna, and such efforts would break them both. kenjaku greets yume and jion and asks if they want their papa to live a long life, then tells them to let him know in due time.

PART 2

one day during a training session with yume, jion, and genji, kenjaku tags along. as they're training, kenjaku uses his technique to amplify sukuna's cursed energy, causing sukuna to accidentally hurt all three children. sukuna is mortified, and though all the children and sukuna's family forgive him, this rouses a bit of suspicion from the hida citizens.

because of kenjaku amplifying the suspicion, curses start cropping up more frequently. on genji's twentieth birthday, he begs sukuna to let him come on patrol, to which sukuna reluctantly accepts. unfortunately, they run into a strong curse, and genji is tragically killed. kaguya, his sister, is distraught, and though her wife tries to comfort her, she shouts at sukuna for being a liar and declares that she hates him.

kaguya is in mourning. a month later, kenjaku and sukuna discuss the event, and kenjaku tells sukuna he'll try talking to kaguya for him. however, instead, kenjaku amplifies her grief to such levels that she then tries to kill yume and jion in attempt to even the score, and kenjaku amplifies uraume's cursed energy such that uraume accidentally kills kaguya in their clash. uraume is devastated and shizu soon leaves the province, saying she has nothing to stay for.

the people of hida are starting to lose faith in sukuna. despite his efforts to protect them, they begin to grow fearful of him and stop believing his promises, despite that he never lies. then, there's a huge fire in the province, the same red as sukuna's flames. it's being caused by kenjaku, but all of the citizens believe it's sukuna's retaliation against them. they struggle to put it out, but kazuyoshi uses his technique to do it, though it deeply tires him out.

the citizens grow even more distrustful towards sukuna. sukuna goes to visit his parents on the outskirts of the province, and there, it's revealed that uraume was brought up in an extremely harsh household where their father taught them to be cold and emotionless, not telling them their soldiers' names so they wouldn't see them as humans, and he even made them eat someone alive to get rid of their compassion. however, there was one person they were still close with, their handmaiden izumi. one day though, they accidentally hurt her, and they decided to run away to save what little was left of their humanity.

sukuna and his family return to the province, but since the fire, things don't look rebuilt. it's revealed that there was another fire brought about by a curse created due to the peoples' fear of sukuna, and the flames were put out again by kazuyoshi, but at the cost of a binding vow trading his life. tsubaki blames sukuna for this, and hinowa tragically begs sukuna not to hurt her father at his cremation service, as now, he will never meet his new baby.

eventually, uraume's luck runs out and their father, the emperor taizou masakado, comes to collect them and bring them home. sukuna fights taizou and it is here that he manifests his domain expansion, ultimately killing taizou. though he did this to protect his family as taizou threatened to destroy the province and kill sukuna and uraume's children, kenjaku convinces the citizens sukuna killed taizou to take over his power and influence, causing them to distrust him even further.

by now, almost nobody comes to sukuna's stories anymore. he still tells the tale of yuu-ji and sukuna, and tries to remain hopeful, but is largely unsuccessful.

with kazuyoshi gone, the harvest is poor. due to kenjaku amplifying his negativity, the province's lord and tsubaki's father, jirochou, is convinced he needs to kick people out of the province to keep the masses fed. sukuna and jirochou clash over this, and due to kenjaku's interference, jirochou commits suicide out of shame when sukuna wins. soon, sukuna is confronted by tsubaki, who is furious at sukuna for killing her father. she tries to kill him but sukuna refuses to fight back, ultimately dispelling her domain with his own after she has exhausted her cursed energy. grieving and in despair, tsubaki tells sukuna she'll do anything to protect her children from him.

then, one of uraume's brothers arrives to retaliate against killing his father. sukuna wipes out the entire army to protect the province, but by now, their faith in him is completely lost. they're all terrified of him, and call him a liar. that night, nobody comes to sukuna's stories except his immediate family. he tells the penultimate installment in the tale of yuu-ji and sukuna, and leaves on a cliffhanger.

shortly after, sukuna receives a letter saying uraume's two remaining siblings are declaring war on hida. he rushes off to yamato province to stop them, but upon arriving, he discovers that they're pacifists, and the letter was fake. he wonders why he'd be sent so far away from his home and his family, so he rushes back...

...and discovers that he's too late.

he discovers the aftermath of a devastating clash between his family and many sorcerers of the province, led by tsubaki. the bodies of uraume, yume, and jion are collapsed in his backyard. sukuna begins to break only for jion to stir, and sukuna rushes to him. however, there's nothing he can do for his dying son. jion asks him in his final moments how the tale of yuu-ji and sukuna ends, and unable to break his heart, sukuna tells jion it has a happy ending. then, remembering kenjaku's words, jion's last words are telling his papa to live.

however, sukuna's will to live has been broken. kenjaku stops by and tells sukuna this is what humanity is truly like, and the heartbroken sukuna has no choice left but to agree. wanting nothing more than to be with his family, sukuna lets the remaining sorcerers drag him to his execution, where he sees tsubaki. he tells one final story which foreshadows his future life with the tpg found family of today, and tsubaki is surprised he hasn't cursed her at the very end.

she plunges an arrow into his heart, and in that moment, all of sukuna's grief turns to rage.

he has truly lost everything. he declares he'll show them all the true meaning of a monster and turns into a curse, forced to continue living due to jion's final words. amplified by his sorrow and fresh transformation, sukuna expands his domain, wiping out the entire province, including his parents. when he finds their bodies, he catches a glimpse of himself in a broken mirror and discovers he has four arms, four eyes, two faces, and no heart.

he has become the monster he used to tell his family stories about. his promises to protect everyone were all broken, so now, he always lies.

since remaining in hida is too painful, sukuna packs up a box of his children's tiger and swan plushes and uraume's signature plum blossom crown, then goes to yamato province and kills uraume's siblings and their handmaiden, eating someone alive for the first time. he moves to yamato permanently and takes over the palace.

sukuna causes death and destruction for many decades. one day, he runs into shizu in a town he has just destroyed. it is revealed that after she left hida, she met a child whom she adopted, but the child was just killed in sukuna's rampage. shizu begs him to kill her too, having nothing left to live for. sukuna agrees and eats her alive, and makes a new policy in place of his old one to never lie: if he kills one member of a family, he'll kill all members of that family, so no one has to be alone like him.

centuries pass. sorcerers of many countries mount an attack against him, and sukuna decimates almost all of them. he finds no meaning anymore in the destruction, and as he's hacking through their bodies, he has a vision of his old family, and they tell him to please rest, and that they just want him to be happy despite everything.

tired of this existence, sukuna stops his rampage when there is only one sorcerer left, a fifteen-year old sorcerer from china named xiaolian. he heals her, gives her both of his weapons, and asks if she'd like to kill the king of curses, to which she accepts. she keeps his weapons after this encounter, though he is unaware of this. it is hinted that she later meets and almost kills kenjaku, but sukuna is unaware of this as well.

as xiaolian is hacking him to pieces, sukuna reminisces on the tragedies he's experienced, apologizing to jion in his final thoughts that the story of yuu-ji and sukuna didn't have a happy ending, after all.

...and that's sukuna's tragic backstory! whew, sorry even the summary was long, but hey, it's still only 2.9% of the length of the actual tears of the emperor, so i consider this a win. hope it was helpful, and welcome back!!

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: hinowa

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[missingn000]

hi all! was informed the tpg discord server invite link was expired -- here's a fixed one! hope to see y'all there. link

[missingn000]

happy halloween, everyone! big news: The Phantom Guardian's hiatus is officially over!

exactly one year after the release of the last tpg chapter, sukuna's backstory: tears of the emperor, i'm thrilled to announce that my break from the story has come to a close. i'm now officially preparing to write the next chapter and return to tpg releases on a regular basis! i've dearly missed this story and this community, and i'm so excited to be back. 

to prepare for writing this story again, i'll be doing a tpg live-react reread in the tpg discord server! come laugh at me as you watch me suffer through the suffering i put all of you through. we can chat about the story, the characters, and reminisce about what a crazy ride it's been and where we could be going from here. come join the fun!! this will also be a great way to remind yourselves of everything that's happened without having to read through all 637,000 words of this monstrosity. join the discord here!

as for when the next chapter will officially come out: i gotta get through the tpg reread first, which might take a bit, but i hope to have ch49 out sometime before the end of the year, if not very early january. i'll be hosting even more fun events and activities to bring us all back together as the next release grows nearer! i don't use bluesky or twitter, but feel free to share this news wherever. i'd love as many people as possible to join the fun!!

i love you all so much, and i can't thank you enough for your patience with me this past year. i hope you're as excited to dive back into this fic as i am!

happy halloween, everyone. we're so fucking back.

[thephantomguardian]

hey, and thanks for reading this post! here, i will delve into the buddhist and japanese folklore themes present in the characters and narrative of tears of the emperor, or sukuna’s backstory, in chapters 47-48 of the phantom guardian. major spoilers for TotE are in this post, so don’t read it until you’ve read the chapters! i put truly so much effort into this research, and i hope you enjoy.

symbolism below cut!

first, i’ll start with the buddhist references and themes in TotE. canon jujutsu kaisen is fraught with buddhist references i couldn’t possibly get into here, from themes to cursed techniques to characters. for this sake, i will focus only on the themes relevant to and woven into TotE. 

let’s start with a very brief summary of some major tenets of buddhism. as a disclaimer, i am not buddhist, so if there are any inaccuracies here, please let me know!

buddhism teaches the four noble truths: the first truth, dukkha, represents the innate suffering that comes from clinging to impermanent states of being. we expect happiness from states which cannot last, and thus are unsatisfied, unable to attain true happiness.

the second truth, samudaya, teaches that clinging and craving these impermanent things leads to karma, keeping us trapped in the cycle of renewed dissatisfaction throughout reincarnated lives. craving sense-pleasures and craving to not experience the pain of existence are part of this truth.

the third truth, nirodha, is attained by the renouncement of clinging and craving, thus nirvana can be attained. nirvana is attaining peace of mind and happiness by releasing desires for impermanent things.

finally, magga is following the eightfold path leading to this renouncement. to this liberation, one must understand and act upon: (1) this world is fleeting and unsatisfying, (2) craving keeps us tied to this fleeting world, (3) to display a friendly and compassionate attitude to others, (4) to master a correct way of behaving, (5) to exercise mind-control, which means not feeding on negative thoughts, (6) and nurturing positive thoughts, (7) constant awareness of the feelings and responses which arise; and (8) the practice of dhyana, meditation.

i highly recommend reading this presentation if you’re interested in more of this. it’s incredibly well-researched and helped me significantly with these themes!

buddhahood is attained by an awakened being who has reached the end of the eightfold path and attained nirvana. a buddha has freed themself from the world’s three poisons: craving, aversion, and ignorance. (poisons...sound like any king of curses and poisons we know?)

the second type of enlightened being along with a buddha is a bodhisattva. bodhisattva have attained enlightenment and are certain to become a buddha, but they delay buddhahood so they can bring others to enlightenment. 

in canon jjk, this is represented by gojo, who attains his “enlightenment” in the second toji fight yet remains at jujutsu high to become a teacher. in TotE, this is sukuna.

...in the beginning, at least.

sukuna is widely beloved throughout the province, largely living a life free of pain and suffering. while he could leave and use his strength to do whatever he desired, he instead remains behind in hida so he can protect the people. he accepts genji as his student and trains alongside his children as well, aiming to raise them to his level of strength so they can protect hida as well. 

especially with the arrival of his found family members, sukuna is well on the way to leading all of hida to lives free of pain and suffering. however, a being comes along that amplifies the negative emotions leading to buddhist tenets of suffering. this is kenjaku.

kenjaku begins poisoning the citizens’ minds (remember the three poisons above?) against sukuna. instead of marching the eightfold path free of suffering, kenjaku traps the citizens’ mindsets, amplifies their negative emotions, and convinces them the root cause of their pain is sukuna. 

thus, in order to free themselves of their suffering, they choose to follow a darker path and destroy sukuna at any cost. they commit a grave sin, killing sukuna’s family in order to prevent sukuna from attaining true peace and enlightenment, ridding him of his desire to live.

in the end, sukuna is unable to let go of his earthly attachments. the downward spiral caused by kenjaku leads him to be gripped by the three buddhist poisons: craving (wishing his family were still alive), aversion (bitterness and hatred towards the ones he tried to protect killing his family), and ignorance (his unawareness of kenjaku scheming his downfall). thus, sukuna is unable to escape the cycle of suffering and reincarnates into a curse.

in both canon jjk and TotE, there is a buddhist being sukuna represents: daijizaiten. daijizaiten often holds a trishula (trident) in one hand while the other holds a bowl of blood. daijizaiten has a consort named uma, and they are often depicted together. he lives in the sixth heaven of the world of desire, and is a member of twelve devas, consisting of the eight guardians plus the guardians of heaven, earth, sun and moon.

uma...trident...blood...heaven, earth, sunlight, moonlight...sound like anyone we know?

further, daijizaiten is also another name of shiva, the supreme hindu deity. he is benevolent as well as fearsome. he wields a trishula as one of his weapons and is the supreme lord of the universe and the three realms. there is a third eye on his forehead that turns everything to ash when it opens -- sukuna’s flame abilities are highlighted in TotE for this reason. shiva is often depicted slaying demons, just as one of sukuna’s main duties protecting hida is exorcises curses. shiva is known as the destroyer, while his wife parvati is the creator. 

uma, daijizaiten’s consort, is also another name for parvati, shiva’s wife. she is the goddess of power, energy, love, beauty, and motherhood. despite her gentleness, she is also capable of vast destruction, slaying many powerful demons in hindu mythology. she is considered to be the divine energy between a man and a woman: in other words, an intersection of gender. sound like anyone we know?

parvati is an inspiration for uraume in TotE, as shiva’s wife and mother of his children. they are journeying towards gentleness while also being capable of unimaginable violence. they are nonbinary as well.

shiva and parvati have two children, ganesha and kartikeya. ganesha is thought to bring good luck and as well as remove obstacles, full of intelligence and wisdom. kartikeya is the hindu god of victory, as well as commander of the four devas. in TotE, ganesha is represented by jion while kartikeya is yume.

however, there is complication between shiva and ganesha: when ganesha came between shiva and parvati, shiva cut off his head. however, unwilling to fully kill his own son, he replaces ganesha’s head with the head of an elephant.

this is one of the symbolisms behind jion dying in sukuna’s arms. further, though sukuna’s children and their souls are lost, yuuji is given to him in their stead, whose personality and appearance is a combination of both of his children.

in buddhist lore, there are buddhas known as the five wisdom kings. this is highly relevant to TotE, as each of the main adults in sukuna’s found family besides himself and uraume (who are represented by daijizaiten/shiva and uma/parvati) represent one of these, with an exception i will discuss at the end.

before becoming a buddhist deity, daijizaiten and his consort uma were killed by one of the wisdom kings: gozanze myo-o. in TotE, gozanze myo-o is tsubaki.

gozanze myo-o wields arrows which shoot people who have gone astray from the path of enlightenment. similarly, tsubaki’s main weapons are mineral arrows, and she destroys sukuna and his family when their actions and existence are contrary to what she believes will free others of suffering. gozanze myo-o is invoked for certain rituals of subjugation -- this is a theme behind tsubaki being the one tasked with executing sukuna. gozanze myo-o is literally named as the one who subjugates the three worlds, while daijizaiten is lord of those three worlds. 

the next wisdom king represented by one of the TotE characters is gundari myo-o. gundari myo-o is the enemy of the devils, and often depicted with snakes coiling around his hands and neck. in TotE, this is kazuyoshi: his design features vines coiled around his body, and he is vanquished by a devil spawned from daijizaiten (sukuna).

the third wisdom king is daiitoku myo-o, who has the power to heal pain and poisons. in TotE, this is shizu. daiitoku myo-o has the power to vanquish evil and create goodness, which is represented by shizu preventing disease from crossing hida’s borders. daiiitoku myo-o’s body is blue-black, similar to shizu’s gradient blue-black hair. 

the fourth wisdom king is kongo yaksha myo-o, who is represented by kaguya. he is often depicted seating upon a lotus, which is where the lotus on kaguya’s tessen fan comes from. his rite was often depicted as earning the love and respect of others, which is one of the reasons why kaguya’s personality centers upon love and creating more goodness in the world. however, kongo yaksha myo-o is also the destroyer of foolish human desires. this is reflected in her actions after being tainted by kenjaku, attempting to destroy something precious to sukuna.

the final wisdom king is fudo myo-o. in canon jjk, other theorizers, such as in the presentation linked above, have realized this wisdom king is gojo. for TotE, i decided to leave this untouched, and instead created many parallels between gojo and sukuna: both are the strongest who drove others away with their strength, and lost family members due to those people fearing their strength. sukuna attains “enlightenment” by awakening a domain while fighting taizou, while gojo reaches the enlightened potential of hollow purple during his fight with toji.

it is stated in canon jjk that gojo’s weakness is other people, since they’ll often just get in his way. this is reflected in the genji & sukuna vs curse fight, where sukuna could’ve killed the curse in seconds were he alone, but instead genji’s presence leads to sukuna being unable to use his techniques to the fullest, costing genji his life. 

there are so many parallels between sukuna and the other characters (especially toji, who became a jaded killer after losing a family member, and getou, whose impulsive action destroying people led him to create a philosophy where they all deserved it to stomach what he’d done, and also killing his own parents) that it would take an entire separate post to describe them. instead, i’ll discuss the final buddhist reference in TotE.

in canon jjk, the hand symbols for domain expansions are mudra (hand poses) of various bodhisattva. you can find an amazing explanation of them in the sources below. both of the domains in TotE have mudra tied to them, along with specific symbolism. 

the hand sign for tsubaki’s domain is the bhumisparsha mudra, which is the earth touching mudra. it belongs to the shakyamuni buddha, which represents the buddha’s awakening with the earth as his witness. in his moments before enlightenment, the demon mara tried to frighten him with demons and monsters to prevent his awakening. since tsubaki’s technique relates to minerals and earth and her domain fight with sukuna is caused by her seeing him as a monster preventing her family’s safety, i chose this hand sign for her.

the hand sign for taizou’s domain is the dhyana mudra. this is the mudra for meditation and concentration of the good law, which i chose as a contrast to taizou’s true self: while he may present himself as a composed leader, he sinks to ruthless depths to maintain power and control. the triangular shape of this mudra also represents spiritual fire, which is connected to his defeat at sukuna’s hands.

now, for some more fun! each character in sukuna’s found family is associated with a japanese myth or folktale. i will describe them all here. each character's design is linked in their name!

shizu

beyond serving as the representation of the wisdom king daiitoku myo-o, shizu’s outfit and further symbolism is based off of onmyoji, which were practitioners of onmyodo, an ancient japanese spiritual art of divination, magic, healing, and astrology. her love of alternative medical practices aside from jujutsu represents the wide array of divination tools used in heian era onmyodo, and the outfit she wears is similar to court-appointed onmyoji.

of heian onmyodo practitioners, the most famous were abe no seimei and ashiya douman, who were rivals. seimei was the leading onmyoji for emperors and the heian government during his time, while the jealous and darker douman was his rival. douman tried repeatedly to shame seimei and usurp his position, with seimei thwarting him every time. 

a famous tale tells of douman challenging seimei to a divination duel to discern the contents of a box. he had someone put 15 oranges in the box, and "divined" its contents. but the more powerful seimei saw through his cheating, and turned the oranges into rats then correctly divined its new contents. douman was surprised and defeated, then he was exiled. after douman was exiled, he was sentenced to the mountainous harima province, often depicted with tall peaks and flowering trees. 

for the majority of the story, shizu takes up the position of seimei: she was hida’s prominent healer and served the people alongside sukuna and his found family. however, after genji and kaguya’s deaths, she transitions into the role of douman, “exiling” herself after a final straw causes her exodus from hida. it is not explicitly stated, but the province shizu left for after leaving hida was harima. the patterns on her clothing represent the topography and imagery of harima province, and the orange and gray color scheme represents seimei and douman’s final duel.

another lesser known tale tells of douman slitting seimei’s throat. this is why when shizu is killed, sukuna starts by eating her throat. 

kaguya

kaguya is named after the character princess kaguya from the famous tale of the bamboo cutter. this folktale details an old bamboo cutter who came across a mysterious golden bamboo stalk. curious, he cut the stalk and found a baby girl inside. he and his wife raised the girl and named her kaguya-hime. 

when kaguya-hime grew up, she was incredibly refined and beautiful. word of her beauty spread, and many men came from far and wide to ask for her hand in marriage. five princes came to the bamboo cutter, and convinced him to let his daughter choose between them. 

uninterested in any, kaguya-hime gave them each an impossible task to bring her something: the stone begging bowl of the buddha from india, a jeweled branch from the mythical island of hourai, the legendary robe of the fire-rat of china, a colored jewel from a dragon's neck, and a cowry shell born of swallows.

all five princes failed. finally, the emperor himself came to visit kaguya-hime and fell in love. while she rejected him, they remained in contact via letters. 

one day, kaguya-hime looked up at the moon and her eyes filled with tears. her behavior becomes increasingly erratic and eventually she tells her foster parents that she is not of this world and must return to her people on the moon. she had been sent to earth, where she would inevitably form attachments, as the punishment for a crime that is never revealed.

when a parade of heavenly beings come down from the clouds to collect kaguya-hime, she tells her foster parents that while she loves them, she must return home. she writes farewell letters to her parents and the emperor and is then given a feather robe, and upon wearing it, all her sadness and compassion for the people of earth is instantly forgotten.

this story influences both TotE kaguya’s character and design. since politics in the three great clans often resemble the complex rituals of the heian noble court, i thought it fitting for a zen’in to be named after a princess. following several of the items kaguya-hime tasked the men with retrieving, kaguya in TotE wears something similar to a fire-rat robe from the story, and the gems on her tessen fan represent the dragon’s neck jewels. the bamboo patterns on her kimono come from the tale as well.

the feathers on kaguya’s kimono are reminiscent of the robe kaguya-hime wore when she was forced to forget her earthly connections. similarly, it is kenjaku’s influence that force kaguya to lose her compassion towards sukuna and his family, forgetting her own loving disposition and attempting to vengefully murder yume and jion while in the throes of despair. 

further, though TotE kaguya didn’t task the men who asked for her hand in marriage with any impossible items to retrieve, she was impossible for them to attain because she’s gay.

genji

genji is named for the titular character in the tale of genji. written by musasaki shikibu in the early 11th century, it is often considered to be the world’s first novel. it chronicles the life of genji, one of the emperor’s many children. similarly to his sister, genji is also named after a royal: since politics in the three great clans often resemble the complex rituals of the heian noble court, i thought it fitting to name a zen’in boy after a prince.

since tears of the emperor is, at its heart, a story about stories and storytellers, genji’s visual symbolism reflects its author more than the contents of the story itself. many pieces of traditional art representing murasaki writing the story show her by the sea, hence the ocean patterns on his clothing. genji wears a sokutai, often worn by princes, and the colors of his outfit are also drawn from depictions of genji from the story in traditional japanese art.

tsubaki

tsubaki trees, or camellia trees, are well established in japanese folklore. when these trees reach 100 years old, it is said they develop a spirit and become a youkai. tsubaki’s camellia kanzashi (hairpin) as well as her red color scheme is derived from this.  

there is a legend stating that long ago in yamagata province, two men were travelling when they passed beneath a tsubaki tree. suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared from the tree and breathed on one of the men, turning him into a bee. she returns to the tsubaki tree and the bee follows, landing upon one of the flowers, but its fragrance has been turned into poison, and both the flower and bee drop dead.

the other man rushed his friend and the flower to a nearby temple, begging the priests to save his friend. despite the priest’s prayers, his friend does not return to life nor his original human form, and the man has no choice but to bury both the bee and the flower. 

another legend speaks of a burial mound in gifu prefecture which was excavated. the man who dug it up found a mirror and some bones, then died shortly after. the locals blamed a curse for it, and planted a tsubaki tree into the earth. once it had aged into a youkai tree, a beautiful woman could be seen on those burial grounds every night.

in TotE, tsubaki and her technique have symbolism from these legends. she is a beautiful woman representing camellia trees, and her earth/mineral technique is derived from the excavated gifu burial ground and its contents. a curse was blamed for the man’s death in the story, while sukuna manifesting into a curse causes tsubaki’s death in TotE.

further, relating to the tale of the two travellers, tsubaki’s actions were the final straw in sukuna losing his human form and turning into something monstrous: especially since canon ryoumen sukuna is known as the king of poisons, i thought it appropriate for the one to turn him into something poisonous would have poison itself. 

the kanji in tsubaki’s name also has the character for “the end of an era” and “younger sibling.”

hinowa

hinowa, tsubaki’s daughter, is also derived from the yamagata legend. the flower originally came from the woman in the tsubaki tree, but when touched by the man she had twisted from human form (the bee), it died. this is reflected in how hinowa dies at sukuna’s hands upon tsubaki’s actions causing his final manifestation into a curse. 

while hinowa’s official art design is still in progress, her color scheme and clothing will mirror this tale.

kazuyoshi 

kazuyoshi’s symbolism comes from youkai that have appeared in many tales throughout the ages: kodama. kodama have been mentioned in japanese legends for hundreds of years, with the oldest specific mention coming from the heian book wamuryorui jyusho,written between 931-938. 

kodama are tree spirits whose souls wander beyond their tree hosts, protecting the forest and maintaining the balance of nature. kodama bless the land with prosperity and vitality, which is symbolic of kazuyoshi using his technique to bring bountiful harvests to hida province year-round. while kodama can take many shapes, some take human form if they fall in love with a human so they can be together. this is reflected in kazuyoshi’s reluctance then acceptance of his feelings for tsubaki, later marrying her.

when a kodama’s tree dies, the kodama itself dies. this is representative of kazuyoshi’s final actions: in order to use his plant technique to its maximum ability, he creates a binding vow with his life as a trade-off. once the last of his cursed energy and life force has been given to the plants he controls, he dies.

uraume

along with their symbolism as daijizaiten’s consort uma, uraume’s symbolism further is derived from the heian era play motomezuka, or the sought-after grave. the kanji for their ice formation technique is found in this play where the setting, a marsh, is described as thinly-covered in ice. despite it being spring, the wind was bleak and the ground was icy and cold. 

a central character in motomezuka is a woman named unai, who had drowned herself in the river prior to the start of the story. unai was extremely beautiful and kind, and two men fell in love with her, professing their undying love at the same time. 

unai was very compassionate, and could not choose between them, so her parents devised a series of contests to select a winner who would have unai’s hand in marriage. they were equal in each contest, even going so far as to shoot a mandarin duck in the same wing with their arrows. 

looking at the dead bird, unai thought of its mate and the family it would never go home to, and fell into despair. she realized its mate probably cherished their lives together, and she blamed herself for that destruction. in her grief, she took her own life, and the sleeves of her gown spread like broken wings in the river. when the men realized what their love had done to her, they had one final fight and killed each other. 

in the end of the story, priests in the story prayed for unai’s soul to be released, but she could not ascend due to her attachments, and instead spent a short time in the eight great hells. this included the hell of unending wounds, surrounded by spectral flames, before returning to her grave.

sound like anyone we know? just as in motomezuka, uraume could not let go of their attachment to sukuna and was reincarnated in tpg. further, you can see similarities between them and unai: the duck which caused unai’s despair was shot by an arrow, and uraume was killed by tsubaki’s arrow in TotE. the mandarin ducks appearing on uraume’s junihitoe are also symbols from this story representing the cause of uraume’s demise. the wings on the sleeves of their kimono are reminiscent of unai’s sleeves in the river after she drowned herself.

additionally, despite their reincarnation and second chance at life, uraume’s heart has fully frozen over and their outlook is bleak, just like the setting of motomezuka. the wounds of losing their children and being betrayed by their family have not healed, and their soul is still in torment. similarly to the men who were in love with unai who thought life was pointless without her, sukuna was stricken by grief at uraume’s demise and lost his desire to keep living.

while there are theories that canon uraume has ties to sugawara no michizane, the same ancestor of yuuta and gojo, i decided not to make such a logic leap and instead tie their family lore to another of the three great vengeful spirits of japan: taira no masakado. masakado led the first recorded uprising against the kyoto government, and was descended from emperor kanmu, who first moved the capital city from heijo-kyo to heian-kyo at the start of the heian era. 

heijo-kyo was in yamato province. this is one of the reasons why in TotE, sukuna ends up having so much trouble with yamato and its rulers.

despite being of noble descent, masakado was demoted to commoner status. thus, he led a revolt and ended up capturing many provinces: kozuke, hitachi, and shimotsuke included. after his conquests, he claimed the title of “new emperor” for himself. he was eventually defeated, and his sorceress daughter takiyasha-hime raised an army of youkai to continue his rebellion. she attacked a man who told her of her father’s brutal death with black magic, but was defeated.

this legend appears in TotE as taizou. descending from yamato, he was irked at the power yamato once had and amassed a vast army and power for himself, calling himself an emperor despite not being part of the actual royal family. historically, masakado’s own cousin is the one who finally took him down, which is mirrored in taizou’s son-in-law (sukuna) being the one to kill him in sukuna’s backstory. uraume is connected to takiyasha-hime, though instead of using their sorcery powers to avenge their father, they seek to save sukuna from his brutal demise and bring him back to his former glory.

lastly, the kanji for uraume’s name means “the plum in the shadows.” their plum blossom crown is derived from this meaning, as well as the pinks and purples in their design’s color scheme, and its placement on their head represents where the head wound and red marking they eventually receive rests. the cerulean color and ice pattern on their kimono is derived from their ice formation technique.

yume and jion

yume and jion are not connected to any ancient japanese folktale beyond the buddhist symbolism described above: rather, the inspiration for each of them was derived from yuuji. the “yu” and “ji” kanji in each of their names is the same as the spelling for yuuji’s name. 

yume has yuuji’s pure of heart, dumb of ass personality, while jion has his bright-eyed, fluffy pink haired appearance. jion’s personality is a combination of toge and maki, who are tpg yuuji’s brother and best friend, respectively. yume and jion are both extraordinarily compassionate, creative, and want to protect and help others.

jion, who dies in sukuna’s arms, is shot in the heart with one of tsubaki’s arrows. this reflects canon yuuji’s first death in the anime when sukuna ripped out his heart, a death only sukuna could be blamed for.

yume and jion’s outfits both depict yuuji’s most famous canon outfits: jion wears a yukata based off yuuji’s jujutsu high uniform, while yume’s kimono is similar to his yellow hoodie and his yellow, purple, and blue outfit in jjk’s first anime ending. 

and last but not least, sukuna.

oh boy. there is so much lore relating to sukuna that it’s hard to know where to begin. many have theorized about these connections before me, so be sure to give those sources a read! i’ll summarize them and combine them here, as well as explain how they extend to TotE.

real life legends of sukuna come from the nihonshoki, a collection of historical stories and legends published around 720. in the nara period, prior to the heian era, the capital was heijo-kyo in yamato province. however, at the start of the heian period, it was moved to yamashiro province and heian-kyo. the stories of ryoumen sukuna originate in the nara period, when the yamato court still held power. 

the stories from nihonshoki describe sukuna as a man with four arms, four eyes, and two faces, hailing from hida province. some variations describe him as a man who caused chaos, death, and destruction, as well as looting from the people. he had the strength of 50 men and wielded swords along with bows and arrows in his four arms. 

in the legends, the yamato court’s influence reached hida province, and they appointed a man named ooyahashi no mikoto as hida’s local authority. however, sukuna, who controlled hida at the time, disobeyed the royal court, so a general named takefurukuma no mikoto, along with a suppressing force, was sent to subdue sukuna.

seeking to avoid war, the ryoumen sukuna of legend went to a place called dewagahira village. he protected the villagers, cared about their struggles, and showed them compassion. he was viewed as a deity there, and dearly loved.

but this did not last. he was ambushed by takefurukuma no mikoto and his suppressing force. 

the symbolism of these stories is very prevalent in TotE. just like sukuna from the myths, sukuna controlled/guarded hida without being officially appointed as its local authority (which was jirochou’s duty), but he held the real power in the province, as kenjaku points out. 

the yamato provincial court, which was ruled by the masakado family, was frustrated by sukuna killing the emperor taizou. to this end, seiji and his army rush to take down sukuna and conquer hida into their rule. obviously, this fails.

however, this theme appears a second time. in the last scene of the backstory itself, a suppressing force is sent to kill the king of curses once and for all. they storm the yamato palace he has resided in since slaughtering the masakado family 268 years ago. the real life legend goes like this: after a harrowing and deadly battle, the only two left alive are ryoumen sukuna and takefurukuma no mikoto. after a great duel, takefurukuma no mikoto ties sukuna up, and when sukuna refuses to surrender, mikoto defeats him.

similarly, the suppression force sent to yamato in TotE eventually whittles down to just sukuna and xiaolian, who takes up the role of takefurukuma no mikoto here. 

historically, takefurukuma no mikoto was a general for the army of empress jingu. in the early 200s, empress jingu ruled japan after the death of her husband. she achieved many conquests, and subdued rebellions against her with takefurukuma’s assistance. in volume 9 of the nihonshoki (the same story series the original tale of ryoumen sukuna is from) the princess of china is described to have met with empress jingu upon the empress paying tribute to her father, emperor wu. this is why i chose for xiaolian to be a young sorcerer girl from china.

the final scene between xiaolian and sukuna in TotE is deliberately opposite from the legend: TotE sukuna does willingly surrender to the one person left alive after his slaughter, allows himself to be restrained, and then brutally killed.

sukuna from the legends was a hero to some, a monster to others. in TotE, sukuna starts as a hero to everyone in hida, but slowly, they begin seeing him as a monster. outside of hida, rumors of his strength grow, and fear spreads throughout japan, until everyone sees him as a dangerous force that must be stopped.

honestly, i’m probably forgetting stuff -- i did so much research to create this crazy story, and after writing 76k in a month, my brain is totally fried. i’m surprised i had the energy to write this, and i really hope you liked it!

beyond symbolism, i did a huge amount of research into life in the heian era i hope is also obvious when reading the story. i simply don’t have the energy to get into it, and the character symbolism is more important to me, so i hope you liked this post <3 thank you so much for reading this, and for reading tears of the emperor and tpg!! love yall!!

sources:

hand positions 

motomezuka

uraume (1)

five wisdom kings

takiyasha-hime

sukuna (1)

hand seals (cont)

sukuna (2)

abe no seimei

ashiya douman

buddhism in jjk

japanese tree mythology

empress jingu

tsubaki tree mythology

the tale of the bamboo cutter

uraume (2)

kodama (1) (2) (3)

myo-o

daijizaiten and uma

ganesha

shiva 

parvati 

kartikeya

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: genji

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

part two warnings/reading guide!

hello! below is a list of scenes i think could be potentially triggering and where to start & stop reading in order to safely skip them. if you think they will trigger you, PLEASE skip them. context clues will tell you what happened, so you won’t miss anything. the list is as follows:

successful suicide: starts at “he can afford no such luxury here” and ends at “you say you didn’t do many things”

graphic on-screen cannibalism: starts at “predators have no concept of mercy” and ends at “both siblings reel back, mortified”

graphic mass murder: starts at “that’s when all hell breaks loose” and ends at “and all the while, sukuna laughs”

graphic on-screen cannibalism (again): starts at “but instead, it comes out as:” and ends at “when he’s finally done, sukuna flops back”

if you read through part two and find something you think should’ve been on this list, i apologize. please let me know so i can add it! thanks y'all <333

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: kazuyoshi

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory ocs: yume and jion

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: kaguya

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: shizu

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory: uraume

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory oc: tsubaki

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000

[thephantomguardian]

tpg sukuna backstory: human sukuna !!

artist: @mistyyai

fic author: @missingn000