Chapter 196

Sakurajima Colony, Part 6 (⑥) is the one hundred and ninety-sixth chapter of Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen.

Summary
Rokujushi Miyo finally finds someone to wrestle with when Maki agrees to a match in order to clear her mind. Maki can't focus because she can't achieve the level of strength she desires and for the first time, needs to rely on someone else to progress. Miyo shows Maki the path to freedom the only way he knows how, through sumo.

Plot Details
Maki is too tense and Rokujushi Miyo can tell that it's dulling her edge. He invites her to sumo wrestle him and she accepts, surprising Noritoshi. Miyo's simple domain is a pure sumo bout where the challenged must agree to the match in order to bypass any need for binding vows. Noritoshi doesn't understand what Maki is thinking but she explains that she's been thinking too much. Maki needs to clear her head and walks into Miyo's simple domain while asking herself what it is that she isn't seeing.

In their first sumo match, Miyo tosses Maki aside despite her aggression. Miyo expresses his love for sumo and admits Maki could easily defeat him in a head-on fight. He wants to know why she isn't at her best and asks why she can't focus. Maki doesn't have anyone she'd call a teacher because she thinks Satoru and Atsuya are imbeciles. It never occurred to her to rely on others to make herself stronger. Maki tells Miyo that she can't understand what Daido meant about seeing everything and Miyo tells her that he can only explain it to her through sumo.

Miyo tells Maki that she's been entangled and caught up with everyone and everything around her. Sumo wrestling is about grappling and getting entangled with an opponent, but people have to develop outside the ring before they enter the bout. Every experience leading up to the moment of entering the ring of a wrestling match flows naturally into the combatants. Miyo compares the sensation they feel to smelling light or seeing sound. This sensation is the ability to sense everything around you and your opponent. At that moment everything including the competition falls away and becomes meaningless in the grand scheme of expressing oneself. Miyo reveals that the sensation Daido was describing is true freedom and now Maki must experience it for herself through sumo wrestling.

After numerous bouts of sumo, the domain dissipates and Maki rejoins the fray. Everyone witnesses looks on as something has clearly changed within Maki. With a smile on her face, Maki proudly proclaims that she's at her best.

Character in Order of Appearances

 * Rokujushi Miyo
 * Maki Zenin
 * Noritoshi Kamo
 * Naoya Zenin
 * Hagane Daido

Battles & Events

 * Culling Game
 * Maki Zenin vs. Rokujushi Miyo

Locations

 * Sakurajima Colony

Jujutsu
Rokujushi Miyo Techniques
 * Simple Domain