Highlights
- The Ten Shadows Technique in Jujutsu Kaisen allows the user to summon ten powerful shikigami through the manipulation of shadows and cursed energy.
- This technique is highly coveted and regarded as extremely powerful by all sorcerers, including the King of Curses himself, Ryomen Sukuna.
- Each shikigami has unique strengths and weaknesses, and the user can control shadows for various purposes, such as concealing items or surprising adversaries.
Passed down in the Zenin clan, one of the Big Three Sorcerer Families in Jujutsu Kaisen, the Ten Shadows Technique is an inherited technique currently in the possession of Megumi Fushiguro. Coveted by all who bear the name of the Zenin clan, the Ten Shadows Technique essentially permits the user to summon ten uniquely powerful shikigami. It does so through the manipulation of shadows, which serve as the means for summoning. Additionally, those who gain access to this technique can also manipulate shadows according to their will.
The technique is regarded as extremely powerful by all sorcerers in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Even Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses himself took an interest in Megumi on realizing that he was the one who had inherited the technique. The technique's potential is near boundless depending on the sorcerer's own strength and mastery of their cursed energy, with Sukuna believing that anyone with access to it can easily outclass a Special Grade Finger Bearer cursed spirit. A further testament to the technique's power is evidenced by how the Zenin clan were more than willing to pay a small fortune to Megumi's father Toji, to sell his son to the clan and allow him to inherit the technique.
What Is The Ten Shadows Technique?
In effect, the Ten Shadows Technique allows a sorcerer to call upon ten different shikigami as familiars to aid them with their offensive or defensive capabilities in battle. Anyone who inherits the Ten Shadows Technique will first gain a pair of Divine Dogs. Initially, the user must perform an exorcism ritual and defeat the shikigami they have summoned in order to gain control over them. Once defeated, the shikigami will fully submit to the user and obey all of their commands.
Each shikigami is summoned with the aid of a unique hand sign which creates a shadow puppet of the familiar in question. The shadows act as an intermediary for the summoning, and the user's hand signs mimic the appearance of the shikigami, creating a shadow puppet that manifests the actual familiar from the liquid shadow itself with the aid of cursed energy. Once killed or completely destroyed, a shikigami cannot be summoned again, and their power will be inherited by another. For instance, if one of the Divine Dogs is killed, the user will be able to summon a more ferocious version of the shikigami.
Besides allowing them to summon shikigami, the Ten Shadows Technique also permits the user to control shadows to some extent. These shadows can be used to physical mass through shadows, use them to conceal items, a user's own body, or that of another. This can be extremely helpful when a user wants to surprise their adversary, or if they want a wider range of weapons in their arsenal, which can be stored by the technique.
Which Shikigami Can The User Summon?
As long as the user has enough cursed energy, they can activate or deactivate the technique as they see fit. There is no external condition required to activate the Te Shadows Technique. However, summoning each shikigami consumes an amount of cursed energy that is proportional to their strength. Hence, to summon the more powerful shikigami under their control, a user must expend larger amounts of cursed energy.
Shikigami summoned with this technique possess their own unique strengths and weaknesses, which can be used to gain the upper hand in various combat scenarios. The shikigami in Megumi's possession all have some relation to the "Ten Sacred Treasures" in Shinto mythology, with the markings on their bodies also bearing similarities to the emblems of the hallowed regalia they are associated with.
To begin with, the Divine Dogs are quite helpful when it comes to identifying and tracking curses, allies, or locations, and they are also able to use their powerful jaws to rip apart lower grade spirits. Next among the list is Nue, a winged familiar who can grab the user and allow them to maneuver in the air at high speeds, or deliver devastating shock attacks with its charged electric wings. Toad is another shikigami which can grab, crush, or fling opponents with its incredibly powerful tongue. Moreover, its size also allows it to carry injured humans in its mouth.
Great Serpent is a massive snake shikigami that could wrap around targets or use its jaws to crush them, although, it was completely destroyed by Sukuna during Megumi's fight against him. One of the shikigami that requires the most amount of cursed energy to summon is Max Elephant, a massive creature whose size can crush opponents or spew large volumes of water from its trunk. A more diversionary usage is found with the shikigami Rabbit Escape, which unleashes a swarm of small rabbits that can serve as a distraction allowing the user to slip away from opponents.
Round Deer is among the more powerful shikigami in a user's arsenal, as it can heal with reversed cursed techniques, and disrupt an opponent's control over any objects they may have strengthened with cursed energy. For more offensive functions, Piercing Ox can charge towards a target in a straight line with devastating momentum, and the distance it traverses determines the amount of power it can build up.
Finally, Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga is the most powerful shikigami associated with the Ten Shadows Technique, such that no one in the Zenin clan has ever been able to bring it under their control. It possesses the Sword of Extermination which is coated with positive energy. Aside from this, the most fearsome ability of this shikigami is its capacity to adapt to any technique thrown at it and render it ineffective, such that no attack can be used twice.
The Domain Of The Ten Shadows Technique
While its full power has not been displayed in series, as Megumi still lacks control over it, Chimera Shadow Garden is the Domain of the Ten Shadows Technique. On activating it, the area around the user is filled with numerous fluid shadows, which can be manipulated to summon shikigami as required. When Megumi first activated it, his inexperience and limited cursed energy produced an incomplete Domain Expansion without a sure hit function. Despite this, his ability to manipulate shadows was greatly enhanced, where he could create doubles of himself. Furthermore, he could also summon more Shikigami to overwhelm his opponent, as he did against the Finger Bearer cursed spirit.
Chimera Shadow Garden has a closed barrier, which effectively imprisons a target inside the shadow of the user. The entire space is recolored in a negative palette, as a large object resembling segments of a spinal bone emerged from above, but soon dematerializes after the Domain becomes active. Those caught within the Domain will have to reinforce their feet with cursed energy or risk being caught up in the abyssal depths of liquid shadows between them.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to stream on Crunchyroll & Funimation.