#kuji-kiri

[lady-owl]

Celebrating my Birthday today (March 7th) with a fan art illustration of Master Splinter from TMNT.

Started this one late last year as a mix of the 1987 cartoon + Shredder's Revenge with an emphasis on his Japanese & Shinobi background.

[More of my TMNT Fan arts tagged here]

[thatboiblastey]

For you, my lovlies

Extra doodle under the cut~

[fyeahygocardart]

Kuji-Kiri Curse

[ninjajustice]

[dblackthorne]

Kuji-Kiri. The 9 Levels of Power. Ninpo.

[sokeanshu]

How To Do the Ancient NINJA Hand SPELLS of KUJI IN

[snackugaki]

...visdev really is my enrichment activity for i am just a bored tiger in my enclosure, looking to figure out how to get this steak out of this metal ball.

________

my tmnt au (where everyone made it past their 20s, splinter’s alive just old, venus is here, and they deserve some goddamn respite and shenanigans)

tmnt au part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

tmnt au omake 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

lny visit 1 | 2

also uhhh... i guess still idw, next mutation, and like 1 mirage spoiler? mostly for the kids who haven’t but were planning to read/watch

you’re about to perceive so much

p r e p a r e

so close to getting this AU looking as crunchy as i want it, almosttttt tttthhhhhere...!

just somewhere tasty between Mignola’s use of deep black shadow, what MTV Liquid Television woulda greenlit re: The Maxx, a dash of 2007, 1 part Next Mutation, 2 parts funny proportions

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh str ugglingggg

Leo’s shortest because haha (family baby gang, get rekt)

this is so much thought for something I’m just doing to give these turtle ninjas some softness and the genx/millenial pop culture references gag comics

Splinter is full of ghosts

(specifically the onryo borne from the murdered Yoshi Hamato and Tang Shen [because oroku saki a bitch])

[ redacted ] and Tang Shen’s ghost gained control and guided Splinter to raise the boys in love and not [ redacted ] to [ redacted ] in [ redacted ]

Splinter was just a regular little rat... who on his 1000th birthday witnessed the death of his friend/unwitting master and his wife, and thus transformed into a wrathful kyūso (minus the kitten eating) and chased Shredder until losing his trail in New York

Shredder’s fuck around and Splinter’s rampaging as the find out caused the tengu to repo some of the mysticism from ninjutsu

now all the (remaining) ninja clans debuffed and mad about it

The tengu bestowed the ninja the ability to summon shit (kuchiyose), enact mystical effects upon people and objects (kuji kiri), going invisible, minor flight (actually just qinggong/light body technique), and manipulation of the 5 elements, and creating doubles (bunshin)

but again, Shredder fucked up so now ninja can like barely control anything bigger than a lit torch or a 16 oz bottle of liquid and that’s if you got in enough hours to do even that

I mentioned elsewhere but for me in any AU I make, Venus is a cultivator and the more I think about it the more I will die on this hill, not only does it fit better than her being a “shaman” or “shinobi” it’s sick as fuck

Jennika’s origin was pretty fkkn metal, she still falls in with the Foot, gets shanked, Leo gives blood-- bam, turtle time

Jennika goes to hang with Venus in China and get a better understanding of her new turtle body

Keno’s here, still tried to infiltrate the Foot (with Jennika) but bugged out when she couldn’t stay without being made (Jennika refused to leave womp)

teaches Leo some arnis techniques for Leo’s dual wielding; Donnie also just in case his bo is shattered... again. :)

Irma has made all the boys blush at least twice

Irma is also soap opera buddies with Splinter

they meet up at least twice a month to gab, gush, and groan over what’s currently going on in their stories, when Venus visits she also joins in, Irma also has a conversational grasp on Japanese and Venus’ regional dialect because of these visits

April has a full out shoujo manga romance with Chu Hsi

and he’s a hot dragon prince uhuhuhuhuhu

Irma is privy to all the steamy details

keeping Leo and Karai as character foils

both received scars from one another

both released each other from sealing wards from [ redacted ]

now they just meet every so often to eat the greasiest fast food and unclench of an hour

Raph still gets his ass worked by Ninjara, folded like an omelette sat on a lawn chair

Vam Mi is also here, she’s fought first (because honestly she should’ve been either brought in earlier in the season or had a few more episodes because that shit coulda resolved better)

Venus is brought to NYC for this antagonist instead of Dragonlord escaping (and murdering her father figure forcing her to seek out his friend Splinter for aid)

Donnie doesn’t take the news of real vampires or real magic well

Donnie and Venus have a knock down drag out fight over it (because they’re 17 at this point and being li’l shits to each other about their respective fields of expertise)

“The nerds are fightingggggg!” cries Mikey, Leo and Raph don’t believe it so imagine their surprise when they get a demo in real time on how scary competent staff fighters are

Leo gets Splinter when one of Donnie’s missed strikes cracks the concrete

Splinter breaks them up like talking a walk in the park and it’d be comical if they both weren’t bleeding from the mouth and peppered with swelling contusions

Venus begins accepting Donnie when his tech prevents her from becoming a thrall of Vam-Mi

Donnie begins accepting Venus when she uses a massive amount of chi to manipulate gravity just before he becomes street pizza when Vam-Mi throws him off a bridge

they also combine skill sets to save Mikey so there’s that

Venus goes from calling Donnie, “Horatio (derogatory)” to “Horatio (affectionate)”

they now have a dumbass long-as-fuck handshake that’s unforgivably nerdy 

April is still a magic drawing-brought-to-life baby, Venus puts her in a painted scroll when she starts phasing in and out of existence (she and Chu Hsi have a great time in the scroll... while everyone is shitting bricks until Venus and her sect stabilize her and get her made real, Pinocchio style)

April’s grandmothers gifted Venus 2 pieces of jade jewelry, and her family’s recipe for sweet potato pudding respectively for saving April

the boss fight against Dragonlord is dope as fuckkkkk, Chu Hsi is being cool as fuck, fiddled with some concepts* that has Leo and Karai being a champion of Genbu, Raph for Byakko, Mikey for Suzaku, Chu Hsi’s retainer (a good dragon, wink wonk) steps in for Seiryu because Donnie and Venus are siphoning and redirecting an enormous amount and variety of mystical power

*i’m just pulling from fushigi yugi honestly

splinter, the boys, and venus (and others) mutating from mutagen laced toxic waste was a pure accident

Splinter was investigating a lead on Shredder’s movements concerning the Foot the same night an animal liberation sleeper cell ‘freed’ some animals from the back of a pet store (that was a front for black market domestic and exotic animal trafficking) that is also the same night a stolen truck driven by some corporate spies filled with a competitor’s chemical waste, which then collides with said liberation sleeper cell’s truck and... ooze happens

Leatherhead, the Mutanimals, Mondo, Mona Lisa, Slash also get mutated from the events of that night, either leading up to or following the aftermath

plus some others etc etc

Venus still washes down the gutter, gets rube goldberg pinballed onto a crate of plums where Chung I finds her and still gets named Mei and taken to live in China and eventually learns to cultivate

Tokka and Rahzar get made, and unmade ala TMNT II; the mutagen made them a little silly tho, April adopts Rahzar and passes him off as a low content wolfdog, Leatherhead takes in Tokka

April went through a couple of major changes so now she’s a journalist with a computer programming background who now does a podcast as an informal neighborhood news reporter with a segment for chatting with people from around the street

Mikey’s the most frequent guest and co-hosts sometimes; Donnie troubleshoots free of charge

Venus brings her province’s regional delicacies when she comes to visit, Splinter and Leo both get pu er tea cakes (she managed to get one the same age as him; Splinter is too old so she got the oldest she could find, Leo has so many tea pets and a nice yixing collection); Raph, Keno, and Casey fight over the pickles, meat jerkies, and chili oil; Mikey has an artillery of cool shirts and a lifetime supply of haw flakes, Donnie has a mountain of doodads with increasingly specific uses, April gets neat accessories and the occasional care package sent with Venus from her grandparents, uncles, and aunties; Irma gets neat frames and coats that never fail to get a “Where did you get that??”

Raph rides a Kawasaki Ninja because it’s funny

A lot of bodegas give Mikey free snacks because the bodega cats love him, and he’s also saved some from being run over or ripped apart by stray dogs or the few large angry raccoons

Donnie’s the only one of his brothers to wear both a top and bottom with shoes because once he figured out how to integrate a motherboard and miscellany wiring onto clothing... he’s been a walking computing menace ever since

Splinter does his best to enjoy his time with his sons (because as a kyūso, he knows the chances of outliving his precious sons is very high (ᴗ‿ᴗ✿)  ...give or take one of the many opponents and obstacles his sons take on takes him out first ( ◕ᴗ◕✿ ) )

god whathefuck, I was just going to make silly comics for them. how did it come to this.

[wtf-a-psychoanalysis]

Leo angst Any TMNT.

Tw: Death ideation, derealization, implied sh

"How do I tell them, I'm going to die"

Leo pondered as the scene around him was warm and familial. His brothers surround him, Michaelangelo cracking jokes, Donatello reflecting on tech performance, Raphael offering suggestions and Splinter listening eagerly to all of them.

All except Leo who fell quiet that night and the nights before. An uneasiness started to consume him, slowly but surely. Any waking moment it catches up to him, training, missions, meditation, and even family dinner. Deafening silence detaches him from his own body.

He lost his appetite a week ago yet he still eats around them so they don't worry, he would have forgotten to eat if it wasn't for them. If it wasn't for them he would have fallen mute too. He had no problem speaking to them on missions, but really having a conversation has been getting more difficult to say the least.

"If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have suffered so much"

"I have dishonored you "

"I don't deserve to live."

"I've been falling behind."

"I don't deserve this."

And more thoughts like that swam through his mind like turtles in a pond, coming up to the surface to bask. And while they bask he finds a way to drown them out, filling the waters of his mind with techniques and training. His body becomes numb to the pain and overexertion, anything to ignore the thought of his own downfall or even speed up the process. Despite all the training and times of relative peace, new scars scatter his body. He kept secret the ones of his own design.

It starts to consume him once more, a cold sensation starting from his center traveling up his spine. It was all he could feel. A feeling worse than pain. "I could stop this, you know" Leo offered to himself. "No, I don't deserve such mercy, yet" he argued back, unconsciously positioning his hands to the kuji-kiri, Rin and Kai.

"Leonardo, my son. Is there anything troubling you"

Splinter's words snap him back to the sewers,

"I'm fine, Sensei" Leo lied

[youkaigakkou-tl]

The Kyoto Arc Analysis Post (Part 3)

This part covers a look at the magic circles used, more manga geoguessr, and what exactly soul-Haruaki's plan was

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Magic Circles

A lot of magic circles came up this arc, so this is a good chance as any to look at them.

The one that shows up most frequently is this one Byakko uses.

I believe this is based off a luopan, a chinese compass used in fengshui divination. The words match, as well as the compass degree markings in the outer ring.

If it’s an existing asset online, then I haven’t found it, but it’s probably a custom design.

While it doesn’t often have the yin-yang symbol in the center (that’s where the compass goes) there are some designs that do feature it in the center.

Haruaki has actually had 2 versions of his pentagram, from vol 1 to 8 there was a pentagon inside the circle, and from vol 9 onwards it’s just the star.

However, the star has gotten more detailed this arc! Specifically, you can now see where the lines cross over. (Idk how to explain this just look at it)

(When used by white haired Haruaki. You can also see the principal’s kuji-kiri in his barrier.)

Interestingly, the star doesn’t show up at all when Haruaki was summoning the four gods, instead it’s just the luopan design.

Double interestingly, Seimei has a totally different circle!

(Note the big dipper design in the middle. Or maybe little dipper? The handle is bent the wrong way again! Tanamai sensei do you know the two dippers are different….)

Also, this cloud pattern also shows up on the mark on principal's face.

But when Douman uses it, it’s the star overlaid over the luopan design?? What does this all mean?? Don’t get me started on the rest of that scene. Rest assured that comes later in this essay.

I think this panel in ch 22 is the clearest we get to see Sano’s magic circle. I think the letters are siddham script, used in buddhist scriptures, but I’m not sure what the letters are exactly. This combined with the lotus imagery on the ch 43 cover page means… idk??

There’s also this variant, which is just wacky circles I think.

And then there’s the ones from this arc. (They’re ever so slightly different, I think)

That one in ch 90 actually seems to be the same one as ch 80.5.

What are the words at the top of this color spread?

This is a good time as any to talk about this. The characters over the four gods’ are just the directions they represent, in order, east, west, south and north.

Albeit, they don’t look like typical kanji, because these are in fact the chinese pictograph versions of them, which eventually developed into the chinese characters now as well as kanji. Specifically, they’re the jiaguwen versions.

Geoguessr part 2

You see, there was a 3 day gap between the JP raws for ch 90 releasing and the chinese tl to come out, during which time I was bored as hell but also couldn’t do anything else because I was busy refreshing the chinese tl site every 5 seconds.

Clearly, the sane thing to do in this situation is to look at every street near Kinkaku-ji to find where this panel happens.

(Although, this is after I cleaned all the sfx from the JP chapter, but then I had to do it all over again for the CN pages anyway since it’s higher quality and I can’t just paste in the JP blurry raws)

I was originally going to also try to find the previous panel, where Rintarou and Ebisu are hiding under a fan, beside a vending machine, but I couldn’t find where that is.

Anyway, by god did I find this goddamn street.

But you see, dear reader, there’s a twist. This is not one street. This is two sides of the same estate, in other words, the left and right halves of the image are two different streets.

Here’s the link to google maps street view, if this is hard to visualize.

Look at this. What the hell is this. geoguessr impossible difficulty

(Thank god I don’t live in Japan I would have gone there on foot just to check every street)

What Was Soul-Haruaki’s Plan?

If you think about it for one second, his plan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Why is he using his power if it doesn’t work on his body? He’s not stupid so what is it?

But if you think about it for two seconds it actually makes sense. Without powers (and even with powers), Haruaki is Just Some Guy. If 1/5 of him starts trying to kill him, what’s he going to do? Run about it? This guy can run just as fast!

The real goal of this maneuver, besides getting Haruaki here, was also to gather the youkai who could possibly help him in one place and knock all of them out. The only reason that didn’t happen was because the principal was there, and Haruaki didn’t know about him before all this anyway.

Also, a translation note/explanation for the term “anti-youkai power”. This is just what the official translation chose to use since the start, since it worked in the moment (and most of the time really). But the japanese word doesn’t actually specifically say it’s “anti” “youkai”. The word is “退魔の力” (taima no chikara), and a more conventional translation is probably “exorcism power” which you may have noticed I use sometimes. The “力 chikara” part is without a doubt “power”, so this is about what “退魔 taima” means. If you were to take the meanings of the two kanji separately, it would be “dispel magic”. The word “魔 ma” is also often used as a prefix for magical beings, so maybe that’s where “anti-youkai” comes from. Anyway, with the “dispel magic” definition, it should be pretty clear why his power works on both youkai and gods, given they’re both magic-based.

Also, as for why this power works on the four gods both times (when Douman stole it from Seimei, and then when soul-Haruaki used it) when it’s never affected Sano very much may be because the four gods bodies are magical constructs summoned into a piece of paper, whereas Sano’s physical body is just here.

(Or maybe also because both soul-aki and Douman were gunning for the kill, and Haruaki is never gunning for the kill ever. could be multiple factors.)

Where is Mount Ooe?

In case you forgot, Mount Ooe has the youkai town where Miki’s family lives. You’d think this is pretty close by, considering it’s repeatedly mentioned that it’s “in Kyoto”, and also Haruaki went there as a kid somehow.

The thing is, (maybe you knew this already and I’m just stupid) Kyoto PREFECTURE is fuckoff massive and Kyoto city is only a tiny tiny part of it.

So Mount Ooe is on the other side of Kyoto from where the city is. This is in the mountains, nearly 80km from the city! My new question is what the hell was 10 year old Haruaki doing there??? How did he get there?? Who let him do this?? Mamaaki and Papaaki watch your goddamn son!! Is this what kids in Japan do?? Fuck off 80km into the mountains??

Image limit again, part 4 will be the last! (Finally!)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

[pigeonwit]

Venus stares at him, jaw to the floor, her already bulging eyes wide.

“How,” she shudders and jabs a finger at him, “are you doing that?!”

Donnie frowns.

“Doing what?”

Venus’s face goes through about a million thoughts at once, all seeming to overlap and crash into what Donnie can only describe as a thousand-way pile-up of follow-up questions, until she settles for simply flapping her hands at him and making some sort of bizarre honking sound.

“Wh- oh, walking!” Donnie laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, um – there’s this Shugendo practice, uh – Kuji-kiri? Well – we call it Healing Hands, but it – it, um… Heals you. Faster. Basically.”

Venus presses her hands together and touches them to her lips, taking a deep breath as she casts her eyes towards the ceiling, as if she were praying to some imaginary god of hijinkery.

“Okay.” She says, voice flat, pointing her pressed hands towards the floor. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

[the-eldritch-psychologist]

Tips for Creating Breathing Styles?

Hello,

So, I'm making a breathing style to go with a character (and there's logical reasons I'm having them make a breathing style, but I'm not going to spoil that here) and I would like some pointers/tips/constructive criticism if y'all are cool with that. I'm kinda just going to copy and paste my notes into here so any name mentions are my character and can just be ignored.

Note(s):

I am not Japanese nor am I a practitioner of Shinto so any criticism of my lack of knowledge will be ignored cause I'm already rather aware of that. That's why I'm asking for help.

Also, you do not even know how much research I've already put into this project so just kindly point me in the right direction and I will happily fuck off.

Also also, don't judge my egregious use of wikipedia. If there are better sources I should be using please just tell me what they are.

Anyways, thanks in advance, here's my notes:

Vaguely based off the mikagura Ren does during festivals

Kind of mimicking the mai and odori portions of the dance

I should probably look up videos for reference; that might help

Is an offshoot of Kaminari no Kokyu and ~technically~ Hono no Kokyu

Also technically based off of firestorms, but my idiot doesn’t know wtf that is

https://scijinks.gov/firestorm/

Named after Shonetsu Jigoku? Or Daishonetsu Jigoku?

Would name it Kasai Arashi but that’s a bit of a mouthful and also, as previously stated, Ren doesn’t know wtf that even is

I’m also an idiot so I don’t know if that’s even the correct term

Most of my knowledge comes from this page among others

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Shinto

Ren is a Miko which is why there is heavy inspiration taken from Shinto in the katas

Katas:

1st Kata: Kiyome (Purity)

A languid slash that leaves behind a feeling of peace

Usually used when an oni surrenders

If the slash doesn’t behead the oni, the oni’s regeneration ability is reduced

Helps them to remember some human memories?

2nd Kata: Mikagura (Shinto Dance)

Maybe have a reference to Amaterasu or Ame-no-Uzume since they were the ones that started the legend that created kagura

Footwork taken from the mikagura dance? I don’t know shit about sword-fighting

3rd Kata: Hyoi (Possession)

A spinning slash that includes multiple rotations

The demon slayer’s strength and reflexes are then greatly enhanced for a time?

Kind of meant to mimic the end of the mai portion to a mikagura when the miko is meant to be possessed by a kami

Ends up creating a fire whirl as well

4th Kata: Izanami (One of the First Kami)

The effect of the attack creates a feeling of burning alive

Kind of like how Izanami died giving birth to Kagutsuchi

5th Kata: Akuryo Taisan (Exorcism (essentially, but kind of not really))

I have no idea what this would do yet but it would definitely hurt

I imagine it would also hurt without a nichirin weapon tho

6th Kata: Tatarigami (Cataclysmic Demons)

A reference to the fact this is based off of firestorms?

The effect of this one would be even more if it comes right after the 3rd, 8th, or 9th kata. Or maybe after any other kata

It's a combo kata I guess

Probably a strike that focuses on power?

7th Kata: Amano-Iwato (the cave Amaterasu hid in)

A slash that creates a bright flash of light that mimics sunlight

Can disorient and blind an opponent

Meant to reference when Amaterasu left her cave after hiding

Maybe I’ll just call it Amaterasu so Izanami’s not the only god referenced

8th Kata: Jigoku (Hell)

Eight consecutive attacks that burn more and more as they reach the end

Has the effect of reducing an oni’s regeneration ability

There’s a special effect for each attack but I don’t know what they are yet

All I know is they represent each level of Jigoku

Or maybe the effect is that there is more and more of an actual firestorm around them as the attacks continue?

Final slash results in a bigass explosion like from a pyrocumulonimbus?

9th Kata: Kuji-Kiri (Nine Symbolic Cuts)

Nine consecutive slashes and cuts made in the correct horizontal and vertical order while saying the yo and in-syllables in the correct order

Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen?

The effect of this kata greatly reduces an oni’s regeneration ability

If the Kuji-Kiri is done to an oni w/out a nichirin sword it still hurts like a bitch imo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuji-in

Uh... I think that's it. If I remember or come up with anything else I'll probably just edit it in.

[literallynerm]

Hand Sign Meditation has helped me, maybe it can help you?

Kuji-kiri (九字切り, lit. "nine symbolic cuts") is a practice of using hand gestures found today in Shugendō and Shingon Mikkyō. It is also present in some old and traditional schools ("ryūha") of Japanese martial arts including but not exclusive to schools that have ties with ninjutsu.

The Nine Cuts

(臨) Rin – POWER over oneself & others

(兵) pyo – DIRECTION of Energy

(闘) Toh – HARMONY with nature

(者) Sha – HEALING of oneself & others

(皆) Kai – PREMONITION of danger

(陣) Jin– KNOWING the thoughts of others

(列) Retsu – Dimension

(在) Zai - Creation

(前) Zen – ENLIGHTENMENT

See Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuji-in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra

[kultofathena]

Hanwei Practical Shinobi Ninja-to

The Paul Chen / Henwai Practical Shinobi Ninja-to is the lastest generation of the Practical Ninja Sword, whose construction patterns closely that of the Practical Katana and is a wonderful addition for those studying the Way of the Ninja. The blade is made of hand-forged high-carbon steel and is differentially tempered using a traditional claying method. All the fittings (koshirae) are done in antiqued black iron. The ornate tsuba displays the kuji-kiri (energy-channeling hand positions) employed by the mystical ninja. The tsuka is wrapped in a synthetic ray skin (same), and the tsuka-ito is done in imitation black leather. The saya has flat black finish with demon-head bindings for the black Japanese cotton sageo and an intricate kojiri on the end of the saya. A sword no practitioner of Ninjutsu should be without. Features a sharpened high carbon steel blade.

[artesmarcialescom]

Ninja y sus 9 Sellos

Ninja y sus 9 Sellos

Los 9 sellos del KUJI-IN simbolizan a las fuerzas del universo y su poder contra el mal; por ello, a menudo la gente lo utilizaba como protección y para incrementar su suerte. Cuando los nueve sellos se realizan al aire con los dedos o en un trozo de papel, se le llama Kuji Kiri Rin: poder Kyo: energía To: armonía Sha: curación Kai: intuición Jin: consciencia Retsu: dimensión Zai:…

[ninjajustice]

Watch "Bloodsport JCVD Frank Dux Ninjitsu Tai Chi Meditation Stretching" on YouTube

[never-surrender]

Tengen not only knows sign language as a member of the corps ... but Kuji-Kiri as well. Coming from a family line of shinobi, this was among his training to enhance his abilities, and is part of the reason why he’s so damn fast and skilled in combat. 

description/origin: Kuji-Kiri originates from ninja, and are a series of 9 hand signs that invoke ‘supernatural abilities’. I’ll place the 9 signs and their meanings below the cut, down below. Using these symbols, people fully believed enhanced a ninja / shinobi’s ability depending on the use, and could allow a shinobi to hear a person thoughts, become invisible, and even heal oneself.

So how does this pertain to Tengen now? Well ... its ingrained in him. he still uses it, though not as religiously as others and will be the first to disspell the rumors / superstition that surrounds it ... but on the flip side he will also be the first to tell you that it does have its benefits. Its similar to mediation when used, and often Tengen will use it just before battle to send him into the ‘zone’, put him in the right mindset of battle and erase any fears / anxieties that he may have. Using Kuji-Kiri does give him an upper hand, there’s no doubt about it ...

After battle, Tengen will use it as well. Though this is more of a meditative state while he maintains one of the symbols with his hands. Think of it as a sort of ... therapeutic action that he’ll perform, to help with the come-down from everything that happens to a persons body and mind during battle.

Though it does lead me to believe that should he face against another human who isn’t educated, using the Kuji-Kiri in front of them would unnerve them and give him an upper hand in the sense that the fear factor will work to his advantage.  

(臨) Rin – POWER over oneself & others

(兵) pyo – DIRECTION of Energy

(闘) Toh – HARMONY with nature

(者) Sha – HEALING of oneself & others

(皆) Kai – PREMONITION of danger

(陣) Jin– KNOWING the thoughts of others

(列) Retsu – Dimension

(在) Zai - Creation

(前) Zen – ENLIGHTENMENT