Highlights
- In Jujutsu Kaisen, Heavenly Restrictions are limitations placed on sorcerers at birth in exchange for certain abilities or attributes.
- Kokichi Muta's Heavenly Restriction resulted in him losing his right arm and lower part of both legs, but gaining a massive amount of cursed energy and puppet control.
- Maki Zenin's Heavenly Restriction granted her physically strength and cursed tools expertise, sacrificing her cursed energy in return.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, most Jujutsu sorcerers are blessed with abilities that are incredibly powerful and they're given these innate techniques at birth. These abilities are somewhat of a mirror of who these characters are and can be used to devastating effect. However, there are very few sorcerers within the world who have to give something up at birth to stand alongside their contemporaries. These limitations, much like the innate techniques, are also assigned to these specific sorcerers at birth.
These limitations are known as 'Heavenly Restrictions' and in the current setting of Jujutsu Kaisen, there are only 3 known characters that have had these restrictions placed on them at birth. Though lacking in one aspect, these characters make up for it in another, allowing them to exchange one thing with another. There are two kinds of Heavenly Restrictions and in this article, we will take a look at both of them.
What is a Heavenly Restriction?
In the simplest of terms, a Heavenly Restriction is a limitation that is placed upon a sorcerer at the time of their birth. During this time, a contract is essentially made where the cursed energy within the sorcerer's body is affected in some way in exchange for something else. The first and more widely known kind of Heavenly Restriction is one where the inherent cursed energy within a sorcerer is greatly lowered or even finished. This is done for the physical prowess and body of the sorcerer to be greatly enhanced to an unparalleled degree, as seen with Toji and Maki in the Culling Game.
The other kind of Heavenly Restriction is the exact opposite. For this, physicality is greatly reduced for a vast amount of cursed energy that the user can use for their cursed techniques. The amount of cursed energy that is given with this Restriction is described as being way above average and was seen with 'Mechamaru', or Kokichi Muta, as almost all of his physicality is given in exchange for his massive pool of cursed energy. So, let's take a look at each of these characters to see how the Heavenly Restriction affects them so we can get a better understanding of it as well.
Mechamaru/Kokichi Muta
The Heavenly Restriction for Kokichi Muta is what is considered to be an extreme example of it. The bindings of this pact led to him being born without his right arm or the lower part of both of his legs with skin so meek and fragile that it is said that even moonlight could burn it. On top of this, he was also constantly in crippling pain which he described as every pore in his body being stabbed repeatedly, requiring him to always be sitting in a bathtub filled with water and covered in bandages.
In exchange for this, Kokichi Muta gained a massive amount of cursed energy and could control many different Mechamaru puppets at the same time. On top of this, the range that he could use for his technique was greater than anyone else we have seen in the series as he could control his puppets within a radius the size of Japan. However, he never deemed this to be a fair trade. He hated his condition and said that if he could give up his cursed energy for a normal body, he would.
Maki Zenin
Maki was born into the Jujutsu world with the opposite type of Heavenly Restriction as that of Mechamaru where she had very little cursed energy at birth. However, in exchange for this, Maki was physically stronger and faster than most of her peers and was very adept at using cursed tools. However, this Restriction wasn't completely realized initially due to her being a twin, leading to her being fairly weak at the start of the story.
However, during the Culling Game arc, Maki is thrown into a pit filled with many cursed spirits and is too weak at that point to do anything about it initially. This is when Maki eventually develops her Heavenly Restriction to its maximum potential, sacrificing whatever little cursed energy that she has left in exchange for receiving maximum physical prowess. At this stage, she is said to be as strong as Toji because just like him, she too has zero cursed energy in her body.
Toji Fushiguro
Toji came to be known as the 'Sorcerer Killer' due to his skills and the fact that he had fully developed his Heavenly Restriction to its maximum potential very early on. Where Maki was born with little cursed energy, Toji was born without a single drop of it, leading to him being ostracized by the Zenin clan who pride cursed techniques above all else. They would throw Toji into the same pit of cursed spirits, after which Toji only suffered a scar on his lip. He was a man who hated Jujutsu society for the way that they treated him due to his Heavenly Restriction.
Since having zero cursed energy led Toji's physical abilities to reach a point where no one could match them, he was able to use his body to its maximum potential. Though Maki is stated to be just as strong as him, many in the fandom believe that Toji would still win over her due to his experience and skills that he has been honing with the perfect body since his early years. It was these same skills that led him to defeat special grade sorcerers Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, who were at a level that even Jujutsu society couldn't handle, and change the world in the process.
Due to the limitations put on sorcerers due to Heavenly Restrictions, many argue that this is not at all a fair trade in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. However, these Restrictions can still be fully realized to their full potential, giving the users abilities that simply cannot be met by most of their contemporaries, something that is most evident with feats that both Maki and Toji have undertaken that have put them on a level that is far beyond many other Jujutsu sorcerers.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media and the series can also be read by fans for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The Jujutsu Kaisen anime can be streamed on Amazon Prime.