tempenensis

[tempenensis]

just realized wrote this 2 weeks before chapter 266, at the time they released the last 5 chapters announcement. mulutmu harimaumu ig 🙂

Jujutsu Kaisen will end in 5 chapters, with the final chapter in Jump #44, 30 September 2024

[tempenensis]

Jujutsu Kaisen will end in 5 chapters, with the final chapter in Jump #44, 30 September 2024

[tempenensis]

Did I just login to post about Yuuji? Yes, yes it's always a very good day when Yuuji gets powered up.

[tempenensis]

The seal of Yuuji's domain expansion seemed to be hand seal of Acala (不動明王), whose name means "Immovable Lord" in Sanskrit. He is a wrathful deity, known as destroyer of evil and has been theoretically connected to Shiva from Hinduism due to its role of destruction and reincarnation. Also interesting to note that Acala is known as one of the deities of Womb Realm, so this ties nicely to Kenjaku's hand seal. A very fitting choice for Yuuji's character.

A brief look into the Hand seals (印) of Domain Expansions

The hand seal used by Domain expansion users is shirushi (印) or mudra of various bodhisattvas. In normal practice, these seals are performed while chanting the mantra for respective Bodhisattva.

1. Jougo, Domain: Coffin of Iron Mountain (蓋棺鉄囲山 / gaikan tecchizen); seal is associated with Daikokuten.

Also known as Mahakala, or "the Great Black one", or "the Great Time", Daikokuten is originated from Shiva in Hinduism, who plays role as the destroyer of all things as per his connection to "time" (kala), whose aspects later adopted by Buddhism. In Japan, Daikokuten is one of the seven lucky gods (七福神 / shichifukujin) associated with food and wealth.

2. Gojou Satoru, Domain: Unlimited Void (無量空処 / muryoukuusho); seal is associated with Taishakuten or Sakra

Sakra means "powerful" or "mighty", and is originated from Indra. Taishakuten is often depicted as a pair with Brahma (or Bonten) as the greatest protector deities (dharmapala) of Buddhism. As Indra governs other devas in heaven, Taishakuten is also depicted to govern other 32 gods in heaven and served by the Four Heavenly Kings (四天王 / shitennou).

3. Ryoumen Sukuna, Domain: Malevolent Shrine (伏魔御厨子 / fukuma mizushi); seal is associated with Enmaten or Yama

Enmaten is more famously known as King of Hell, he is a deity who governs fate, death, and underworld. He passes judgements to soul of people who had died, to send them to the appropriate afterworld. He is often depicted to have fierce expression. He is also the protector deity of south direction.

4. Mahito; Domain: Self-Embodiment of Perfection (自閉円頓裹 / jihei endonka); seals are associated with Kokuuzou bosatsu or Akasagharba and Gigeiten

Kokuuzou bosatsu (虚空蔵菩薩) is known as one of the eight great bodhisattvas, whose wisdom is said to be as vast as the space, hence his association with the space element (虚空 ; kokuu, lit. "empty space"). He is worshipped for wisdom, knowledge, and memory.

On the other hand, Gigeiten is a celestial maiden who governs over entertainment and good fortune. She is said to have been born from the hair of Maheshavara, thus she possesses good looks. She is also a master of various art forms.

5. Fushiguro Megumi, Domain: Chimera Shadow Garden (嵌合暗翳庭 / kangou'an eitei), seal is associated with Bhaisajyaguru or Yakushi Nyorai

Also called as Medicine Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai is known for his twelve vows to attain enlightenment. He aspired to heal people's illnesses, cure diseases, and erase the sufferings of sentient beings. The twelve Heavenly Generals (十二神将 / juuni shinshou) are his followers, originated as yakshas who were converted by his teachings. Hence Makora, or Mahoraga as one of Fushiguro's shikigami.

6. Okkotsu Yuuta, Domain: unknown, seal is associated with Dakini

Dakini is a type of female demon or yakshini. The portrayal of Dakinis vary among beliefs, ranging from flesh-eating female demons, similar to Kali in Hinduism, to goddess associated with constituents of human body. In Japan, the Dakini later were coalesced into a single deity called Dakiniten, who later syncretized with deity Inari, goddess of agriculture, represented by a celestial maiden riding white fox.

7. Ishigoori Ryu, Domain: unknown, seal is associated with Kujaku Myo-ou or Mahamayuri

Mahamayuri is a female bodhisattva, whose name means "Great Peacock". She is depicted to have three faces and four arms. Because peacock eats poisonous snakes such as cobra and other pests, Mahamayuri became known to be able to protect her followers from pain and disasters. She is also believed to be able to protect people from poisoning, either physically or spiritually.

8. Uro Takako, domain: unknown, seal is associated with Kundali

Also known as Amritankundali, he is a wrathful protector deity regarded as the manifestation Ratnasambhava, who was focused on equality, to destroy greed and pride. He is also said to be manifestation of Akasagarbha. In addition the nectar of immortality is believed to be originated from him.

9. Hakari Kinji, Domain: Idle Death Gambler (坐殺博徒 / zasatsu bakuto), seal is associated with Benzaiten or Saraswati

Benzaiten as one of the seven lucky gods (七福神 / shichifukujin) is worshipped for monetary fortune. She is often depicted playing biwa as goddess of music. Saraswati is also regarded as goddess of river, hence she becomes known as goddess of "all things flow"; water, time, music, eloquence, fortune, and knowledge. Another version of Benzaiten depicted her as a protector deity having eight hands holding weapons; a bow (弓 / yumi), arrow (箭 / sen), sword (刀 / katana), ax (斧 / ono), spear (三股戟 / sankogeki), long pestle (独鈷杵 / tokkosho), iron wheel (輪 / rin), and rope (羂索 / kenjaku).

Other known domain expansion but unknown hand seal

10. Hanami, domain: unknown, seal is unknown

11. Dagon, domain: Horizon of Captivating Skandha (蕩蘊平線 / tau'un heisen). Seal has "golden pouch" (宝袋 / houtai) motif, which symbolizes wealth.

12. Higuruma Hiromi, domain: Deadly Sentencing (誅伏賜死 / chuubuku shishi), seal is unknown.

誅伏 (chuubuku) means to be sentenced for one's crime or sin, while 自裁 (shishi) means to be ordered to suicide. So his domain means sentenced suicide due for one's sin.

[tempenensis]

Hello, I'm alive if you're wondering. Life got to me unfortunately and I barely have the energy to maintain this blog. Just pop in for a bit.

I'm more active on my twitter, though it's a personal account with random gacha posts and just a sprinkle of jjk. But in case you're wondering how to reach me, it's @/leclarius on twitter. Will try to answer your question or if you have anything you want to discuss QuQd

[tempenensis]

YUUJI HAS ACTUALLY ACQUIRED REVERSE CURSED TECHNIQUE. FINALLY A POWER UP FOR MY BOY.

(also, hello. I'm alive lol)

Now that eugene is near death from that gut punch do you think he'll experience an awakening like Gojo? With the parallels with geto and gojo getting stronger with megumi getting taken over like geto I think it's possible

There's the possibility, but since we're talking about jjk not other shounen manga, my confidence on things like awakening happening is not very high. It's just that I don't think gege works like that. Yuuji for one, before he took in Sukuna's finger, couldn't even see curses, and couldn't use curse technique. He only started to see curse because his grandfather died and he and Fushiguro was in a curse hotspot, which was his old school. The next question now is whether he still retains curse energy or not, because he only got it from eating Sukuna's finger. Although I doubt his curse energy will go away completely, I also think that Sukuna moves out his body will take a good chunk of it.

So I think "awakening" have a low possibility for now to happen, but rather for Yuuji has to maximize more of his Blackflash or other martial arts technique that he currently has. Even against Mahito, who is practically his arch enemy, he doesn't really do other thing, he just keeps doing what he can do. Of course this is just my opinion on the matter based on how jjk before, but I could be wrong and gege does something different later

[tempenensis]

This weapon finally appears. The original name in Japanese is 神武解 (kamutoke), seems to be taken from 神解け (kamitoke), meaning "to be struck down by lightning" - which is actually funny if you remember he is fighting Kashimo lol.

Also the way he addressed Kashimo as 亡霊 (bourei), literally meaning spirits of the dead. It's like a parody of an exorcist who uses the sacred weapon to purge ghosts.

Once in a while, I always come back to this color page of buffed original Sukuna. Not because of his muscle, but because of the symbolism in the weapons he hold. The long one is a trisula, a weapon of destruction, while the knife-like thing seems to be a cross of kila and vajra, both of which used in ritual to purge evil.

Sukuna on his original lore not only literally have two faces, but also have two sides of personalities. In his main lore from Nihonshoki, it was said that Sukuna is evil and cause trouble for civilians, and thus Emperor send the General to exile him. On the other hand, minor lore of Sukuna (especially from his place of origin in Hida) said that he acts like a local hero that do things like exterminate dragon or exorcise evil spirits. Some even said that he introduced Buddhism. 

Keep reading

[tempenensis]

Additional info from vol. 24 extra pages

The first is that the mark on Sukuna's Nue on its forehead is the same as Orochi, which is ikutama (no 4).

Mark of Escape Rabbit is kusagusa no mono no hire (Scarf [to ward off] Various Things; symbol no 10). It says that the mark is only present on one rabbit out of many. If the marked rabbit is defeated, all of the other rabbits will disappear.

By way of elimination, the last symbol, orochi no hire (no 8) should be on the tiger

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.

[tempenensis]

I know you don't usually weigh in on non-canon content, but I've seen a lot of people say 236 was a bad ending, or like gege joked, that things are moving too fast or he's missed a chapter (or 20, I'm personally annoyed that we jumped from Nov to Dec 24, I know gege wants the manga to end for some reason, but those three weeks of training/preparation would have been a great time to let us get re-invested in the student characters since the culling game arc felt like it was missing so much)

Do you have any feeling for what could have been a better way to end things, if indeed things are ended, for Gojou Satoru? Or do you agree that things have been moving too fast?

Sorry for this and please feel free not to answer if this is not the kind of question you want to entertain, I am just curious if you have an opinion you're willing to share since I feel you have a very good grasp of the jjk's plot and themes! I trained as a literature major, so my interest is always in whether character consistency is maintained and what a story is saying and whether that message is carried successfully or not and what that might mean for us as readers. I'm personally still on the fence about this particular twist because I'm trying to withhold judgement of the piece until we actually see it as a whole, but I am starting to feel that the narrative started to unravel a bit after Shibuya, like somehow we didn't see a lot of the characters to their full potential (like Nobara T.T my baby Nobara). Maybe this is just part of gege's notorious fast pace.

Some of this I believe is due to JJK's titular meaning of the issue of curses and what they represent being an "endless battle" but there's only so many times one can show hopelessness and loss I think before it becomes almost redundant. We actually haven't seen that many on-screen sorcerer deaths, but somehow it's been two of the most popular adult characters so far, and only direct mentors, which is a frequent trope of the hero's journey in western literature. I think that even though I really wish it hadn't happened, Nanami's ending made a lot of sense. Power-wise, Gojo's current death also makes sense, and he's not the kind of character who instantly changes his mind or learns something in his heart from a single experience, but I think it feels somewhat frustrating from my point of view because despite the bodhisattva imagery, he had more to learn as a living person, rather than continuing to believe he was like a flower and maybe no one had the right to ask him to understand. I don't know, it's just a bit frustrating for me because I think it feels character consistent (which I think gege tends to be pretty good at) but somehow incomplete too.

Again my apologies for the long ask, you're always the one I wish I could sit down and have a conversation about these things with!

-raindrop anon

Hi, raindrop anon,. Good to see you again.

First of all, I don't really think Gojou's death is particularly bad, but yeah, as you said, there might be something leaves to be desired in the plot - if jjk is a traditional shonen manga, that is. But jjk is different, which is also the reason for its popularity. I feel that jjk storytelling has always been fast-paced, and one thing that Akutami-sensei does really well is to stick to the main points that he wants to tell with his manga. The last time we have a non-serious non-battle chapter was probably chapter 64 lol - but at the same time, this also shows how jjk departs from the traditional shonen jump manga custom where the mangaka tends to drag the story to make the manga runs longer. Gege on the other hand, seems adamant to want to end the story sooner than later (if his last estimation is to be believed, only a few months left for jjk).

I don't actually have a strong feeling of how gege should end thing with Gojou, but it's been a habit of him to get to the.. shocking side of things; we see this with Gojou getting sealed back in Shibuya. Nanami's death. Then we see the Culling game, and Tengen getting killed. And lastly for Gojou to die. The longstanding status quo is going to be changed eventually. And the next one with status quo is already targeted; Sukuna himself.

As I follow this manga, "things moving too fast" has always been the opinion I saw a lot discussed here in my askbox for many, many developments in the manga. And this is more of a personal preference, but I actually like the fast-get-to-the-point-storytelling that Gege uses with jjk, exactly because how it breaks away from traditional jump manga. I feel that this fast pace is just how gege do his storytelling since the beginning lol

tldr is all I can say is jjk has always been different and fast-paced, gege is unpredictable, and I'm in the opinion that Gojou's death does make sense, unfortunately :')

[tempenensis]

Hi Lele. For now seems that Gojo's character is finished, what thoughts do you have about him? I saw different opinions about it and from different extremes, people who believe that "his character arc was ruined and he never had growth", or "he's a very complicated and contradictory character", or "everything he was, did, didn't, motivated him, his whole character basically revolved around Geto", and people who believe "there is a possibility that he will return", etc.

I think he's a pretty complex character, and multi-faceted at that. Although Sensei commented that he "doesn't have personality", Gege accidentally actually makes Gojou more complex than what he actually seems lol.

I would disagree with "he never had a growth" actually. Gojou had a growth phase - that is the whole Hidden Inventory arc is about. He matured during that arc to be the Gojou that we know in the current storyline. So it's not that he never had a growth, he already did and what we get more is adult Gojou who had finished his growth.

I would agree actually with Nanami's comment, that Gojou is "a pervert who uses jujutsu for his own sake" (yes, he straight up called Gojou hentai in the jpn text lol). Since he's the strongest in jujutsu society, his ego would center on using jujutsu for his own satisfaction. But that's not all of him; he is also a teacher who cares for his students because he wants to see them grow strong, despite his motivation for them growing strong is rather egoistical too. And you can see here, that his character is a mixed of egoistical but also caring -- simply said, pretty human for one called to be strongest.

In jjk, to be strongest means to be alone. To stand on the peak that no other ever see, that no other ever feel. The only people who understand the feeling is the one who also reach that peak. For beings like Sukuna and Gojou, seeing others is like them standing alone on top of the tallest mountain, looking down at people who don't even have the motivation to even glance at the peak - because noone would ever want to try to compete to be the strongest while those two are around. This is the flowers metaphors that appears on the latest chapter; that you can grow the flowers but you can't ask them to understand. Gojou will help his students, people around him, caring and making them stronger, but he can't never ask them to try to reach for that highest peak, to that loneliness of being the strongest. They can't never understand how it feels to be a beings like him or Sukuna.

"his whole character basically revolved around Geto" - well, just no. Yeah, he holds Geto in high regard, but if he really does anything for Getou's sake, then he'd join Getou's case in destroying jujutsu society. But as we see, he doesn't. He becomes a teacher because he wanted to change jujutsu society so no one would become another Getou, not because of Getou's sake, but rather the sake of younger generation. So that he can prevent another youth being wasted by the jujutsu society tradition; which is why he picks up the most "troublesome" students that jujutsu society least cares for; from Maki, Yuta, Inumaki, even Yuuji.

"there is a possibility that he will return" -- this is oddly specific, but did their brain can still move the feet? Did they get a flashback-kinda chapter? If the answer is no and yes, then I'm sorry; they most likely won't come back.

[tempenensis]

How are the jp fans taking the news? They also inhaling copium? with the "as long as his head is still fine..." logic

Ah yes. From topmost, hashtag is "magazine jjk", akutami-sensei, and gg-sensei. Mostly i saw aktm-sensei 人の心なかった (hito no kokoro nakatta, does not have a heart), not to mention his weekly comment :")

[tempenensis]

So did sukuna pull a ryougi shiki eyes of death perception type of shit?

Remember on the Paradox Spiral when Shiki tears down Araya's barrier he placed on the apartment by unsheathen her sword because she cuts down the death lines of the barrier. It's something like that. Probably.

[tempenensis]

Dang, he really did not win.

No, you don't understand. This is the most glaring sign that Gojou, in fact, is NOT winning this fight.

[tempenensis]

Does Gojo Satoru go to the college?

If you mean the jujutsu high school (since the official name for the jujutsu school actually translated closer to 'college' rather than 'high school'), well yes. If you mean college as in like university, probably not. Nanami might though.

[tempenensis]

Hi Lele, thanks for still being active during your semi-hiatus til the end of jjk. Your commentary is my favorite ❤️

I didn’t see this in your asks yet, but I was wondering if you could explain how Sukuna can use Piercing Blood? And why is he relying on it so much in recent chapters vs his trademark Cleave and butcher-inspired moves?

Thank you!!

Hii, thank you for the kind words. I promise I will try until the last chapter :")

Yeah, we still don't have much detail on that, though there are a few possibilities. The first that he took it when he was in Yuuji's body, since Yuuji shares blood with Choso so there might be trace of the technique engraved in his soul but his curse energy is not enough to manifest it. The other possibility being Sukuna copies it. We still don't know what exactly Sukuna's curse technique even now. Slashing is his preferred technique until now - but we don't even know if it is his actual curse technique. Not to mention the fire arrow that he used against Jogo in Shibuya. For all we know, his curse technique might be stealing or copying others. And the last possibility (that I don't really like but can't be dismissed nonetheless) is Megumi. Since we don't actually know the details on his mother, it might be from his mother's side that Megumi or even Touji don't know.

I am personally leaning on the second possibility, since as you see, he then keeps using piercing blood. If he can "copy" technique, he might need time to adjust it. Hence he only uses it recently after he can perfectly copy it.

[tempenensis]

Hello Lele!

I wish to get a tattoo of Sakayume's lyrics and I wanna be sure I'm getting the right characters written. I keep finding different lyrics on the internet for the first two sentences, so could you confirm this is the good spelling for "if you wish, shoot through my heart"?

「あなたが望むなら

この胸を射通して」

Thank you ❤

Yep. It is right

[tempenensis]

How about dedicating also a side of the blog to star rail’s lore? I read you are quite into it

I have one... that even more inactive than this lol. It's @spook-me-welt (Welt has just spooked me in Fu Xuan banner I should probably change the name now :"))