Highlights
- Cursed Objects, such as the remains of powerful individuals or spirits, play a crucial role in the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen and are of great interest to various characters.
- Special Grade Cursed Objects are extremely powerful and can ward off Cursed Spirits. They cannot be destroyed and often possess unique supernatural powers.
- The process of Incarnation involves a human consuming a Cursed Object and becoming a vessel for its Cursed Energy, leading to a fusion of consciousness and physical form. Some vessels may have the power to control the Cursed Object's power, like Yuji Itadori.
Introduced as early as the very first episode and chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen, Cursed Objects have played a pivotal role in driving the plot of Gege Akutami's dark fantasy series. In fact, the very reason Yuji Itadori was thrust into the world of Jujutsu Sorcerers and Cursed Spirits is due to him coming into contact with a finger from the original body of Ryomen Sukuna, a famed sorcerer from the Heian Era. Since then, other Cursed Objects such as the Prison Realm used to seal Satoru Gojo, have played a prominent role in several successive story arcs in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Feared for the dark histories associated with them, Cursed Objects have been the subject of much fascination for Jujutsu Sorcerers, Curse Users, and Cursed Spirits alike. More often than not, they consist of the remains of powerful individuals or spirits from history who can be reincarnated on being ingested by a suitable vessel to channel their power. This has been a plot point at various junctures in the narrative, highlighting the importance of the concept to the series' progression.
What Are Cursed Objects?
In effect, most Cursed Objects are ranked in a manner similar to Cursed Tools, Cursed Spirits, and Jujutsu Sorcerers. Any item that possesses Cursed Energy and does not fall into the category of Cursed Tools or Cursed Corpses can be classified as a Cursed Object. The range of these items distributed across the world is quite vast, and they play a considerable role in fostering the growth of Cursed Spirits and the festering of Cursed Energy in the areas surrounding them.
Certain sealed Special Grade Cursed Objects can also be used to ward off Cursed Spirits. Cursed Objects of this grade cannot even be destroyed, as their survival is ensured by the Binding Vow used to create them. In this manner, those that turn into Cursed Objects cease to be living beings and are prevented from harming others. This is why no one was ever able to destroy all of Ryomen Sukuna's 20 fingers in the centuries after his death.
Besides their use in reviving people, Cursed Objects have unique supernatural powers, or can serve as charms to ward off spirits. One example of this is Prison Realm, a Special Grade Cursed Object which is said to consist of the remains of a Sorcerer known as Genshin — based on an actual historical figure from Japan's Heian Era. It contains a barrier powerful enough to seal one of the world's strongest sorcerers, Satoru Gojo.
How Can They Be Created?
Very few Jujutsu Sorcerers hold knowledge on how to turn an individual's body into a Cursed Object after death, and Kenjaku is one of the few who was able to make Binding Vows with hundreds of Sorcerers for this very purpose over centuries. Sukuna is the only person in history to have succeeded in transforming himself into a Cursed Object following his death, as most other Jujutsu Sorcerers required external help in attempting to do so.
Generally, such an act is committed in the interest of reviving themselves later on in time through a process known as Incarnation — as was also the case with Sukuna — even though the odds of successfully doing so are not always favorable. Additionally, Sukuna's fingers have the added power of being able to select their vessel, and their Cursed Energy is so potent that they routinely attract high-level Cursed Spirits to their location after lying dormant and unused for centuries.
The Process Of Incarnation
When an individual consumes an ancient Cursed Object, they take on the role of a vessel for the Cursed Energy attached to said item, facilitating their Incarnation. In most cases, this involves the human giving the owner of this Cursed Energy a physical form which allows them to once again roam the world of the living. While some Cursed Objects can completely overwrite the appearance and nature of a human vessel, others may only be able to induce a partial transformation.
This process is essentially a sort of fusion between the Cursed Object and the human flesh that constitutes the body of the vessel, where the consciousness of the host may be partially or completely suppressed. Additionally, the owner of the Cursed Energy associated with the Cursed Object will retain all of their original Innate Cursed Techniques and physical abilities, but will also attain the memories and knowledge of their vessel.
In some cases, the vessel may be powerful enough to contain the power of a Cursed Object, preventing their Incarnation from occurring completely. Yuji Itadori is the most obvious example of this anomaly, where he is more of a "cage" rather than a proper vessel, to the point where he can restrain Sukuna's power apart from select instances where he loses control of his body to the ancient Sorcerer's will. Hana Kurusu is a similar case, although her relationship with the ancient Sorcerer Angel is far more symbiotic than that of Yuji and Sukuna.
Finally, the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, are an especially unique type of Cursed Object, which do not contain the Cursed Energy of a deceased Sorcerer. Instead, they were a set of nine special items created through a combination of a cursed spirit and a human. Sealed with a Binding Vow for over 150 years, they lay dormant for this duration and all of them were gradually acquired by Tokyo Jujutsu High School. Resembling human-like fetuses, each of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings produces a Special Grade human-cursed spirit hybrid capable of using Jujutsu, and can be seen by normal humans unlike other Cursed Spirits.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to stream on Crunchyroll & Funimation.