Sukuna

## Biographical Information

### Alias

King of Curses
Imaginary Demon
Disgraced One
The Strongest

## Personal Description

### Species

Human
Incarnation

## Portrayal

### English Voice

Ray Chase

**Ryomen Sukuna**(両 (りょう) 面 (めん) 宿 (すく) 儺 (な) ), more often referred to as simply **Sukuna**(宿 (すく) 儺 (な) ), is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer from a thousand years ago. Regarded as the undisputed **King of Curses**(呪 (のろ) いの王 (おう) ), Sukuna is one of the primary antagonists of the *Jujutsu Kaisen* series.

According to legend, Sukuna was an **Imaginary Demon**(仮 (か) 想 (そう) の鬼 (き) 神 (じん) ) during the Heian Era but in truth he was a sorcerer also known as the **Disgraced One**(堕 (だ) 天 (てん) ). Jujutsu sorcerers of the Golden Age of Jujutsu gave their all against him but ultimately fell one after another. Sukuna existed throughout the ages by transforming into a cursed object after death, a state where he split his power into twenty indestructible fingers.

Sukuna was incarnated in June 2018 when Yuji Itadori consumed one of his fingers. Sukuna was trapped inside Yuji's body and was rarely in control until he managed to transfer his soul into the body of Megumi Fushiguro.

## Appearance

His past appearance is described as a demon with four arms and two faces. Previously, he used to take the appearance of his former host: Yuji Itadori, but with pink spiked hair slightly pushed upfront and with tattoos/lines on his forehead, nose, cheeks, upper body, and abdomen. He also has a second pair of eyes underneath his normal eyes, which are usually closed.

Now, he takes the appearance of his new current host: Megumi Fushiguro, but with uniquely styled black hair with long spikes that jut out in every direction around his head, resembling a sea-urchin and with tattoos/lines on his forehead, nose, cheeks, upper body, and abdomen. He also has a second pair of eyes underneath his normal eyes. Sukuna also has two lines on both his wrists, upper arms, circles on both his shoulders with a dot in each, two-segmented curve lines on his chest, and two lines on his stomach while possessing Yuji/Megumi.

Sukuna wears a light-colored kimono with a black edge, a black scarf, and black shoes.

Sukuna in Yuji's body.Sukuna in Megumi's body while still using his likeness.Sukuna in the manga. (gray)
## Personality

Sukuna is selfish, cold-hearted, immoral, and exceptionally sadistic. When he was reincarnated shortly after Yuji ingested his finger, he commented, implying the slaughter of women and children and likening them to maggots crawling around. Due to his immense power, he rarely cares about the consequences of his actions, even if these affect his host, Yuji Itadori. In fact, he frequently taunts and insults Yuji, calling him a brat and even laughing at or enjoying Yuji's despair on multiple occasions.

Sukuna is aware of his immense power and is quite arrogant about it, brutalizing a finger bearer while being patronizing and proclaiming his superiority over it. For this reason, he is highly dismissive of his opponents and rarely takes them seriously, even explicitly stating he would kill Satoru Gojo to his face. However, these brutish traits are not to be confused for stupidity. Sukuna is highly intelligent and manipulative, taking Yuji's body hostage by tearing out his heart to force him into a Binding Vow. He has also displayed the ability to acknowledge and praise his opponents, as shown by how before killing Jogo Sukuna acknowledged his strength despite having completely overpowered him and told Jogo that he should be proud.

Through Sukuna's conversation with Yuji during their fight after possessing Megumi's body, Sukuna espouses that he likens human beings to insects and admits he is unable to comprehend why the weak cling so desperately to life instead of quietly accepting the suffering that life forces them to endure since the weak should have no right to complain. He also claims that he doesn't understand how a creature that falls apart at a touch can say that it always wants to be happy, which expresses his antipathy and disregard of human emotions and their will to live. It also reveals that Sukuna's perception of life adheres strongly to social darwinism. It is also repeatedly stated that Sukuna has a myopic view on love and does not comprehend the value of relationships.

## Abilities and Powers

**Overall Skill Level**: Back in the Golden Age of Jujutsu, the Heian Era, Ryomen Sukuna was feared and regarded by awe by all those in his time as the most powerful sorcerer of the time, defeating and killing thousands of Jujutsu sorcerers even as they sharpened their skills against him. One of his feats included single-handedly slaughtering the both the Sun-Moon-Stars and the Five Empty Generals so utterly that they were unrecognizable as corpses, the most elite of the Fujiwara Clan's Subjugation Units, leaving the authorities of Japan so utterly terrified that they were willing to hold festivities in his honor. The impact Sukuna left on history until he died earned him the title of the "Strongest Sorcerer In History", as well as the "King of Curses", regarded as the strongest Cursed Spirit in history. His strength is still held in such a high regard that even Satoru Gojo, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age, with arrogance levels of confidence and pride in his abilities, acknowledged his strength and that a fight between the two of them would be difficult.

More than living up to his titles, Sukuna possesses vast amounts of cursed energy and equally incredible control over it, with an extraordinary grasp over jujutsu, but he was also not reliant on jujutsu alone, possessing overwhelming physical prowess as well, capable of dispatching almost any opponent without unveiling his true cursed technique.

Even at his weakest state upon his incarnation in Yuji's body for most of the time he spent there, due to lacking most of his fingers, Sukuna remained extremely strong, capable of effortlessly dispatching powerful cursed spirits, including the likes of a cursed spirit who had ate his finger, which he easily retrieved from the cursed spirit after completely overpowering it. While purposefully weakening himself by removing Yuji's heart to ensure Yuji could not switch back with him, Sukuna utterly defeated Megumi Fushiguro, the inheritor of the Zenin Clan's prized Ten Shadows Technique and a prodigious genius who started school as a Grade 2 sorcerer with one of the highest potentials in Jujutsu High, to where Megumi admitted how utterly outmatched he was and was more than willing to unveil Mahoraga to defeat him. Sukuna would have killed Megumi had he not been interested in Megumi's unique talents, although before he could fight Megumi's trump card, Yuji managed to regain control of his body.

Sought out by Mahito's group under the belief that his revival could ensure their success, with just three fingers, Sukuna demonstrated an overwhelming superiority in power compared to Mahito by being able to resist his Idle Transfiguration completely and effortlessly inflict such a severe injury on Mahito when finally angered too much along with dispelling his Self-Embodiment of Perfection with a single attack. This terrified and intrigued Mahito to where he came to firmly believe that with Sukuna being on such a whole other level, his resurrection would surely bring about the Age of Curses.

Once Yuji's body had consumed fifteen fingers, Sukuna's overwhelming cursed energy was felt throughout Shibuya once he was awakened, compared to Satoru's own while being overwhelmingly more sinister. With 75% of his strength restored, Sukuna proved capable of overwhelming Jogo, the most powerful cursed spirit in Mahito's group, in a mostly one-sided battle as he easily overpowered the best efforts of his foe, leaving him utterly unable to even land the single hit that would get Sukuna to join him, before killing him with his own speciality of fire. His last act during the Shibuya Incident was to defeat Mahoraga single-handedly, a feat no user of the Ten Shadows Technique and even a member of the Gojo Family with the Six Eyes had done.

**Incarnation**(受 (じゅ) 肉 (にく) ): There is a slim chance that Sukuna will incarnate into whoever eats his fingers, gaining a physical, human body in the process. Upon Yuji consuming the first of his twenty fingers, Sukuna immediately came to possess his body, which he used to inhabit. Unlike other incarnated sorcerers, according to the Angel inhabiting Hana Kurusu, Sukuna, after experiencing death, had developed the knowledge to split his soul as cursed objects, which he demonstrated by imbuing all his cursed energy into Yuji's pinky finger and then force feeding Megumi with it to possess his body.

**Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant**: While immensely powerful as a jujutsu sorcerer, Sukuna is also shown to be an extremely skilled and powerful hand-to-hand combatant, using martial arts as his first method of combat before unleashing his jujutsu abilities. Sukuna can unite his cursed technique and his hand-to-hand prowess, making him an extremely difficult opponent to overwhelm in battle.

During his fight with Megumi, he was able to effortlessly overwhelm Megumi in unarmed combat, countering his attacks in close-range with ease before delivering a strong punch that send him flying. When Yuji attempted to attack him in his Innate Domain, Sukuna effortlessly countered all of Yuji's attacks before seeing through his attempt to trip him and defeating him with a single kick.

With fifteen fingers, Sukuna easily overpowered Jogo with hand-to-hand combat alone before finally killing him with a single use of a cursed technique. He was later capable of fighting on par with both Yuji and Maki Zenin, both being exceptional unarmed fighters with extraordinary physical ability, deflecting most of their blows and landing a few hits on his own, using hand-to-hand combat.

**Immense Strength**: In his first appearance Sukuna has shown to possess immense physical strength despite being in an incomplete state. He could easily defeat a very large cursed spirit with just a simple swipe, and during his fight against Gojo he was able to punch the roof of the school so hard it causes the building to rupture and crack. He easily overpowered the likes of a finger bearer, a special-grade curse. When gambling Yuji's life against Megumi, Sukuna managed to fling the sorcerer through several building floors without effort and he easily overpowered and destroyed Megumi's shikigami. He even punched Megumi so hard, the raindrops in that area dispersed. With fifteen of his fingers, Sukuna punched Jogo through buildings and even destroyed the latter's jaw. His blows had considerable effect on Mahoraga. Upon taking over Megumi's body, he was able to easily pierce through Yuji's gut and send him flying across the city with a single punch, stunning him temporarily.

**Immense Speed**: Sukuna has repeatedly displayed overwhelming levels of raw physical speed, capable of effortlessly surprising most opponents with the sheer quickness of his movements. With three fingers, Sukuna easily slammed a finger bearer to the ground and even cut off his arm without him noticing. He was also able to effortlessly blitz Megumi several times, delivering powerful blows with Megumi barely able to react at all. With fifteen fingers, he easily overwhelmed Jogo and was able to keep up with Mahoraga in their fight. Sukuna was even able to appear in the middle of Atsuya Kusakabe and Panda, both capable sorcerers, with the former being a Grade 1 sorcerer.

**Immense Reflexes**: Sukuna can easily counter any opponent and is fast enough for his opponent to not even realize that their limb has been cut off. He consistently dodged Mahoraga's blows and countered during their fight. He was quickly able to put Mahoraga down for good before he had finished regenerating. He was able to dodge Jogo's Maximum: Meteor.

**Immense Durability**: Even in Yuji's body, Sukuna can use cursed energy to bolster his host's resilience. Sukuna was punched through five buildings and shown to be completely fine. Sukuna was able to survive a 200% Hollow Technique: Purple during his fight with Satoru Gojo.

**Great Tactical Intellect:** Sukuna is an extremely intelligent individual. He has fully grasped the nature of cursed techniques, curses and reverse cursed technique as a whole. Due to that, he is able to quickly deduce the inner workings of cursed techniques after only seeing them once or twice and creating suitable foils to such techniques. He did this against Mahoraga in their fight, and was able to defeat the shikigami after gaining an understanding of its technique.

Sukuna was also able to realize the potential of Megumi's cursed technique just by seeing it once during their short battle and he was able to create a binding vow with Yuji in order to take Megumi's body patiently waiting for the right moment before executing his plan. During his fight with Hana Kurusu by using Megumi's memories he was able to make Hana think that Megumi is in control of his body and thus when she hugged him he was able to critically injure her.

**Metamorphosis**: Sukuna can create new eyes and mouths on his host, allowing him to see and speak without controlling the body of the host. For example, he made a single eye and fanged mouth on Yuji's left cheek to belittle and taunt him.

### Jujutsu

Sukuna has an unnamed Binding Vow with Yuji. The King of Curses agreed to revive the boy after his apparent death in during the events of the Fearsome Womb Arc under two conditions: ① Yuji would allow Sukuna to take over his body for one full minute when the cursed spirit would chant "Enchain" and ② he would forget about the agreement. Yuji initially opposed the Binding Vow, making Sukuna promise that he wouldn't kill or hurt anyone during that minute. The boy still disagreed with the terms and instead had a battle against the King of Curses, where he'd allow the agreement to occur if he lost. Sukuna effortlessly defeated Yuji, forcing him into the Binding Vow.

**Reverse Cursed Technique**(反 (はん) 転 (てん) 術 (じゅつ) 式 (しき) ): Sukuna is highly proficient with reverse cursed technique. While incarnated in Yuji's body, he used his reverse cursed technique to instantly heal any injuries, including even regenerating lost limbs within moments. Regained limbs maintain the same integrity as the rest of Sukuna's body. He can go further and even heal others, something few can do. Sukuna can also use reverse cursed technique to heal his burned-out cursed technique by destroying the part of his brain that cursed techniques are engraved in and regenerating it. This displays Sukuna's extremely high level usage of the reverse cursed technique.

**Malevolent Shrine**(伏 (ふく) 魔 (ま) 御 (み) 厨 (づ) 子 (し) ): Sukuna's Domain Expansion creates a Buddhist shrine decorated with skulls. Malevolent Shrine has a unique trait; it doesn't create a separate space using a barrier. By allowing an escape route, a binding vow is formed which vastly increases the guaranteed hit's effective area with a maximum radius of nearly 200 meters.

## Battles & Events

**Fearsome Womb Arc**

* Satoru Gojo vs. Sukuna: First Fight
* Sukuna vs. Finger Bearer
* Megumi Fushiguro vs. Sukuna

**Vs. Mahito Arc**

* Yuji Itadori & Kento Nanami vs. Mahito

**Shibuya Incident Arc**

* Sukuna vs. Jogo
* Sukuna vs. Mahoraga

**Culling Game Arc**

* Yuji Itadori, Maki Zenin & Hana Kurusu vs. Sukuna
* Sukuna vs. Ryu Ishigori
* Sukuna vs. Yorozu

**Shinjuku Showdown Arc**

* Satoru Gojo vs. Sukuna
* Hajime Kashimo vs. Sukuna
* Jujutsu Sorcerers vs. Sukuna

## Trivia

* Sukuna is based on the same-named figure from Japanese mythology: **Ryomen-Sukuna**(両 (りょう) 面 (めん) 宿 (すく) 儺 (な) ). He is a demonic/specter-like figure described in the Nihon Shoki(日 (に) 本 (ほん) 書 (しょ) 紀 (き) ), said to have appeared in the Hida Province (today's Gifu Prefecture(岐 (ぎ) 阜 (ふ) 県 (けん) ) in ancient times, during the reign of "Emperor Nintoku"(仁 (にん) 德 (とく) 天 (てん) 皇 (のう) ) in the 4th century.
	+ He was described as a man of inhuman strength, with a two-faced head plus a total of eight limbs, four arms and legs respectively, that served each face. Wielding a multitude of weapons in his many hands (incl. a bow, arrow, and sword), he terrorized village after village in ancient Hida, plundering and leaving chaos in his wake. That is, until a brave military commander dispatched by the Imperial Court, named Takefurukuma no Mikoto(建 (たけ) 振 (ふる) 熊 (くまの) 命 (みこと) ), stepped forth and put an end to the monster's tyranny, expelling him from Hida.
	+ Ryomen-Sukuna was worshipped by some as a minor deity, and statues depicting his distinctly two-faced head can still be found today in Gifu temples and shrines.
	+ One theory states that Ryomen-Sukuna is a symbol of twins and brothers, therefore it refers to Ōusu no Mikoto(大 (おお) 碓 (うすの) 命 (みこと) ) and Ousu no Mikoto(小 (お) 碓 (うすの) 命 (みこと) ) (i.e. Yamato Takeru no Mikoto and his brother), twins in ancient Japanese history. Another theory states that Ryomen-sukuna refers to Emperor Chuai's(仲 (ちゅう) 哀 (あい) 天 (てん) 皇 (のう) ) sons, Kagosaka no Miko(麛 (かご) 坂 (さかの) 皇 (み) 子 (こ) ) and Oshikuma no Miko(忍 (おし) 熊 (くまの) 皇 (み) 子 (こ) ). Both pairs of brothers are deeply related to Mino and Hida Provinces. Takeuchi-monjo(竹 (たけ) 内 (うち) 文 (もん) 書 (じょ) ) (an ancient text which recorded the lineage of ancient kami and a dynasty preceding Emperor Jinmu) wrote Hida Province as ("日 (ひ) 玉 (たま) 國 (くに) " or "日 (ひ) 靈 (たま) 國 (くに) "), indicating that Hida was Takamanohara(高 (たか) 天 (まの) 原 (はら) ) and Kuraiyama Mountain was the Pyramid. It is considered that Ryomen-sukuna had a Hida-based dynasty the same size as the Yamato Dynasty.
* Sukuna's kimono is very loose akin to a ladies kimono, as such space granted him more comfort while having four arms in the past.
* Sukuna's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows;
	+ Sukuna ranked 10th in the first Popularity Poll with 5,860 votes.
	+ Sukuna ranked 13th in the second Popularity Poll with 1,977 votes.
	+ Sukuna ranked 12th in the third Popularity Poll with 1,202 votes.
* Sukuna's technique names appear to have some relation with cooking. His Domain Expansion, 伏 (ふく) 魔 (ま) 御 (み) 厨 (づ) 子 (し) (Fukuma Mizushi), has been translated officially as "Malevolent Shrine", but 伏 (ふく) 魔 (ま) (Fukuma) is more literally translated as "place where demons hide" and 御 (み) 厨 (づ) 子 (し) (Mizushi) is an archaic word referring to a kitchen or the emperor's eating area. His cutting techniques 解 (カイ) (Kai) and 捌 (ハチ) (Hachi) also use kanji used in cooking to refer to "dismantling" and "filleting" fish.
* According to Jujutsu Kaisen Official Fanbook:
	+ His hobby is eating.
	+ He dislikes nothing in particular (he doesn't care about anything other than himself).
	+ In the official fan book Q&A with Gege Akutami, the author stated Sukuna's fingers taste like soap.
	+ Sukuna was a curse user, but Gege thinks he is something closely similar to a natural disaster.
	+ He possesses the memories of when he was a human.
	+ Sukuna can't be compared to Gojo in terms of fear. But it's not necessarily like that, a long time ago (during Sukuna's time), curse users and cursed spirits alike ran rampant more than in the present time. They gradually calmed down but when Gojo burst into life, the excitement raised again.
	+ When he was still a human, his surroundings were scared to death. He was known as the "King of Curses" even before he became a cursed object.
	+ When Yuji died, Sukuna felt no impact. It was still within the range where Sukuna's reverse cursed technique could revive him. However, if time passed beyond that range, Sukuna would also die.
	+ Cursed spirits are not enough to be his vessel so his consciousness does not emerge in Finger Bearers.
	+ If his fingers are sealed or taken in by cursed spirits, he can’t gather information from them. He can understand/get some information if the finger is near. If the finger is freed from the seal, he somehow can understand the situation in its surrounding. That's why he said "that's good" during Fushiguro's fight under the Yasohachi bridge.
	+ In his previous life, Sukuna did not have a wife or children. He had Uraume, who was his subordinate.
	+ For common understanding of his technique, if anyone were to search through the literature, they would understand that there’s slashing involved to a certain degree. However, the fire-based powers are rather unknown.
	+ When Gojo has said that Yuji can be a radar for Sukuna’s finger, it was a wrong prediction that Sukuna will act like upon it to take back his power.
	+ He was not considered to appear in Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High.
	+ In the region where Ryomen Sukuna originated, he was not treated as a hero nor did he have anything named after him. The Sukuna of "Jujutsu Kaisen" is named as such because his appearance and strength are like that of Ryōmen-sukuna.
* Sukuna has won the award for "Best Antagonist" in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021.
* The mononym is comprised of the Go-on readings for "lodging, inn" (宿, suku) and "exorcism" (儺, na). The title "Ryomen" means "two faces".

## References

*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 3 (p. 5).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 1.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 1 (p. 49) and Episode 1.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 118 (p. 8-11).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 225 (p. 11).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 225 (p. 10).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 115 (p. 18-19).
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 119 (p. 1).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 236 (p. 15).
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 246 (p. 5).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 215 (p. 12-13).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 225 (p. 1).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 8 (p. 13).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 237 (p. 6).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 238 (p. 4).