Shrine

Shrine
Title
Kanji	御廚子
Rōmaji	Mizushi
Capabilities
User(s)	Sukuna Yuta Okkotsu (Copied) Yuji Itadori
Type	Innate Technique
Move Range	All Ranges
Capabilities	Offense
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Chapter 8
Anime Debut	Episode 4

Shrine (御 (み) 廚 (づ) 子 (し) , Mizushi^?) is Sukuna's innate technique that allows him to unleash invisible slashes, either at range or through physical contact, to cut down his enemies. It also empowers him to unleash an arrow of hellfire under certain conditions.

Description

Dismantle

Dismantle (解 (カイ) , Kai^?) is the user's default slashing attack that can be launched point-blank or at range, and can be used against inanimate objects, cursed spirits, and sorcerers to great effectiveness. To fire Dismantle, the user typically makes a hand gesture at his target, usually pointing, though he can omit this motion. An invisible slash then flies towards the target at great speeds, cutting them.

Dismantle's slicing power depends on the cursed energy outputted into the technique. With less than ten percent of his output, a barrage of Sukuna's Dismantle only left bloody gashes on Yuji Itadori's body. At its highest, it was able to cut a skyscraper in half with one slash. Unless a sorcerer bolsters their durability with cursed energy reinforcement or weakens the slashes with Simple Domain or Domain Amplification, Dismantle could easily cut them apart.

However, there are cases where Dismantle can be perceived, avoided or even deflected. For example, Mahoraga was able to "see" and even deflect a slash after being struck by Dismantle and adapting to it. In another scenario, Maki Zenin, a human with zero cursed energy and instead with enhanced senses, was able to perceive an incoming Dismantle and dodge it, much like the shikigami.

Sukuna launches a slash that cuts into the wall behind Jogo.

Sukuna reduces Nanako Hasaba into cubes of flesh.

Sukuna uses Dismantle on Mahoraga.

Sukuna slicing off Mahoraga's limbs.

Yuji Itadori withstands a barrage of weakened Dismantle slashes.

Yuji uses Dismantle.

Slash That Cuts The World

Using Mahoraga's second adaptation to Limitless as a model, Sukuna learned to enhance Dismantle by broadening its target area to include space, existence, and the world themselves, transforming the regular slashes into "slashes that cut the world" (世 (せ) 界 (かい) を断 (た) つ斬 (ざん) 撃 (げき) , Sekai o Tatsu Zangeki^?). Using this enhanced version of Dismantle, Sukuna was able to bypass Satoru Gojo's Infinity, an otherwise impenetrable barrier that slowed all things it touched to a stop, and finally kill the jujutsu sorcerer by slicing him in half.

When he originally learned it, Sukuna only needed to form the hand sign of Enma (閻 (えん) 魔 (ま) 天 (てん) , Enmaten^?) to unleash the slash, the same two-handed sign needed to cast Malevolent Shrine. However, Sukuna was unable to fulfill this condition after losing a hand to Gojo's Hollow Technique: Purple (prior to returning to his original, four-armed form). In order to bypass the initial activation condition and unleash the slash that cut Gojo in half, Sukuna imposed a binding vow on himself that would require him to fulfill not one but three conditions for all subsequent world-cutting slashes: (1) to make the necessary hand sign, (2) to recite Dismantle's incantation, and (3) to direct the slash's trajectory with his palm.

The incantation for activating this technique is "Dragon Scales." "Repulsion." "Paired Falling Stars." (〝龍 (りゅう) 鱗 (りん) 〟〝反 (はん) 発 (ぱつ) 〟〝番 (つが) いの流 (りゅう) 星 (せい) 〟, "Ryūrin" "Hanpatsu" "Tsugai no Ryūsei"^?).

Sukuna launches an enhanced Dismantle against Kashimo.

The world-cutting Dismantle aimed at Higuruma cuts apart a bridge.

Maki dodges a slash that cuts the world.

Cleave

Cleave (捌 (ハチ) , Hachi^?) is the second slashing attack that adjusts its power depending on the target's toughness and cursed energy level to cut them down with one attack. Unless used in their domain expansion, the user must make physical contact with the target in order to activate Cleave.

Similar to Dismantle, the cutting power of Cleave also depends on the user's cursed energy output. Both Yuta Okkotsu and Yuji Itadori, who gained access to Shrine through their own means, were only able to deal minor injuries to Sukuna when using Cleave, whereas Sukuna's Cleave was able to cut through the cursed energy reinforcement of Ryu Ishigori, a Culling Game player with the highest recorded cursed energy output in history.

A Finger Bearer cut to pieces by Cleave within Sukuna's domain expansion.

Sukuna cuts apart Ryu Ishigori's head.

Sukuna severely injures Yuji with Cleave.

Yuta uses Cleave against Sukuna.

Yuji using Cleave to cut out a pillar.

Spiderweb

Main Article: Spiderweb

Spiderweb (蜘 (く) 蛛 (も) の糸 (いと) , Kumo no Ito^?) is an extension technique of Cleave that is applied to the inorganic environment. By placing a hand on the ground and activating Spiderweb, the technique adjusts its power based on the surroundings' toughness, cutting apart the ground in the pattern of a spiderweb and collapsing it in one fell swoop.

Sukuna collapses the ground with Spiderweb.

Divine Flame

Divine Flame (竈 (カミノ) , Kamino^?, lit. "Hearth/Stove/Furnace") is a cursed technique that can only be used after the user performs Dismantle and Cleave. It allows him to create and manipulate flames for long-range attacks by forming them into the shape of an arrow before launching it.

To activate this technique, the user verbally utters the technique's name followed by the command "Open" (開 (フーガ) , Fūga^?). During Sukuna's initial usage of Divine Flame against Jogo, its name was censored as "■" in the manga and silenced in the anime. The firepower of this arrow completely outclassed a concentrated fire blast from Jogo, a special grade cursed spirit whose defining trait involves extremely destructive pyrokinetic powers, and even burned him to death.

Despite its power, Divine Flame lacks speed and has a narrow effective range. To mitigate this weakness, Sukuna imposed a binding vow on himself, restricting him from using Divine Flame against multiple targets unless within his domain. As a result of this binding vow, Malevolent Shrine's cursed technique is expanded, imbuing all pulverized matter within it with the same explosive energy as Divine Flame, which Sukuna contains within the range of his domain by expanding a barrier around it and altering its specification to allow entry and exit to only living creatures. This transforms the dust particles into thermobaric explosives that spread throughout the domain, which are detonated after Divine Flame is unleashed, causing instantaneous high temperatures, shock waves, decompression and intense pressurization.

Sukuna activates Divine Flame...

...and forms a flaming arrow.

Divine Flame's heat incinerating Shibuya.

The destructive power of Divine Flame.

Sukuna uses Divine Flame, revealing its name.

Sukuna's ultimate secret art returns in Shinjuku.

Domain Expansion

Main Article: Malevolent Shrine

Malevolent Shrine (伏 (ふく) 魔 (ま) 御 (み) 廚 (づ) 子 (し) , Fukuma Mizushi^?) is the Domain Expansion of Shrine, which summons a Buddhist shrine decorated with skulls in its center. Within this domain, anything without cursed energy is targeted by Dismantle while anything with cursed energy is hit with Cleave. Until the domain expansion ends, all targets except Sukuna himself are relentlessly slashed. The degree to which these targets are damaged is catastrophic, as entire buildings within a populated area of Shibuya were reduced to dust, and the people killed by it were disintegrated.

Malevolent Shrine has a unique trait that it only shares with Womb Profusion; it does not create a separate space using a barrier to construct the innate domain. Instead, the innate domain is materialized into the current airspace without enclosing it with a barrier. This ability is considered a divine technique that borders on the impossible, akin to an artist painting a masterpiece on air instead of a canvas. By allowing others to escape the domain, a binding vow is formed that vastly increases the sure-hit ability's effective area to a maximum radius of nearly 200 meters. In addition, this lack of a defined barrier makes Malevolent Shrine impossible to destroy or dispel by traditional means; the only way to dispel the domain is by injuring Sukuna to the point he cannot maintain Malevolent Shrine any longer.

The extended range of Malevolent Shrine has an advantage. In case the domain equally clashes with another domain, Malevolent Shrine's much wider radius allows it to attack the other domain's barrier from the outside. Since most domains' barriers are weak to external attacks, this destroys the barrier and deactivates the opposing domain expansion altogether.

Sukuna activates Malevolent Shrine against the Finger Bearer.

Sukuna uses Malevolent Shrine against Mahoraga...

...to relentlessly slash the shikigami.

Malevolent Shrine equally clashing with Unlimited Void.

Malevolent Shrine endlessly slashes Gojo.

Sukuna's impromptu Malevolent Shrine.

Trivia

• The abilities of Shrine seem to have an overarching cooking motif:
  • Mizushi (御 (み) 廚 (づ) 子 (し) , Mizushi^?) is an archaic word for "kitchen" (containing the traditional kanji 廚 (づ) for "kitchen"). More specifically, mizushi-dokoro (御厨子所, mizushi-dokoro^?) refers to a section of the Emperor's residential compound in the Kyōto Imperial Palace, where food from the kitchen compound, meant for the Emperor's meals, was traditionally brought for more advanced stages of preparation. Also of note, in this context, is the term zushi (厨子, zushi^?), denoting a type of small Buddhist shrine with double doors like a feretory, storing ritual implements like statues, relics, and sūtra scrolls; an example of such a "shrine" (which Sukuna's domain coincidentally resembles) is the Hōryū Temple's Tamamushi Shrine (玉虫厨子 (たまむしのずし) , Tamamushi no Zushi^?). The original function of a zushi was as a storage cabinet in a monastery's kitchen, for cooking utensils and ingredients.
  • In Chinese, chúzi (廚子/厨子) is a colloquial term that translates to "chef" or "cook" (with a potentially offensive/derogatory connotation).
  • The Japanese names of Dismantle and Cleave, Kai (解 (カイ) , Kai^?) and Hachi (捌 (ハチ) , Hachi^?) respectively, consist of kanji that, in a cooking context, can refer to "dismantling" and "filleting" meat/fish; Kai means taking something apart (like meat), while Hachi may be based on the verb sabaku (捌く, sabaku^?), which means to prepare meat/fish for cooking, to dress meat, and/or to cut and trim fish. Additionally, when the narrator explains the workings of Dismantle and Cleave in Chapter 119, both are visualized as Japanese kitchen knives (the one for Dismantle resembling a pointed gyūtō or deba knife and the one for Cleave having a more cleaver-like shape, not unlike a takohiki).
  • In the magazine version of Chapter 118, at the end when Sukuna unleashes his domain, an editor's note reads The Kitchen of Certain Death Appears!! (万死の厨房、現る！！, Banshi no Chūbō, arawaru!!^?). At the beginning of Chapter 119, another editor's note says: A delicious death requires careful preparation. (美味なる死は入念な下拵えから。, Biminaru shi wa nyūnen'na shitagoshirae kara.^?), adding to the cooking theme.
  • The official English Crunchyroll subtitles of Episode 41 initially translated Dismantle as Dissect and Cleave as Fillet while rendering Malevolent Shrine as Malevolent Kitchen.
  • The Japanese name for Divine Flame, Kamino (竈 (カミノ) , Kamino^?), uses the kyūjitai form of the kanji 竃, which means "hearth/stove" or "furnace" (i.e., a traditional fireplace for cooking).
  • When Sukuna unleashed Divine Flame for the final time in Shinjuku, the narrator explained that "the door to [Kamino] opens only after the steps of "Dismantle" and "Cleave" in the cooking process [are completed]." ( 「解 (カイ) 」と「捌 (ハチ) 」の調理工程を経て初めて「竈 (カミノ) 」の扉は開く, Kai to Hachi no chōri kōtei o hete hajimete Kamino no tobira wa hiraku^?), hinting at the idea that Shrine embodies different rudimentary steps in the process of cooking.
  • The shrine construct summoned by Sukuna's domain features large, gaping mouths instead of doors, complete with teeth and tongues, thus evoking the image of eating.
  • Sukuna's speech is rife with cooking- and/or eating-related vocabulary, e.g.: "filleting (into three pieces)" (三枚におろし／卸す, sanmai ni orosu/-shi^?), "dicing up" (切り刻み／む, kirikizami/-mu^?), "hunger" (飢え, ue^?), "taste" (味見, ajimi^?), "savoring" (噛み締める, kamishimeru^?), "chewing up" (噛み潰して, kamitsubushite^?), etc. Upon facing off against Satoru Gojo in Shinjuku, Sukuna called him a nameless "fish on the cutting board" (俎板の上の魚だ, manaita no ue no uo^?), boasting "First I'll strip away your scales" (まずはその鱗から剥いでやる, Mazuwa sono uroko kara haide yaru^?). He later referred to Yuta Okkotsu as his "main dish" (主菜, shusai^?).
  • In keeping with the "eating" motif, according to the Official Fanbook, eating is Sukuna's main hobby and greatest joy, and he is a cannibal who originally took in Uraume as his servant due to the latter's knack for cooking human flesh. In the same vein, Sukuna expressed his philosophy on life being that he shall do as he pleases at all times, whether eating or killing, as nothing else befits his nature, and that to him humans are but a fleeting diversity of "tastes" to savor, in order to pass time until his death. Sukuna's claim that he ate up his own twin brother in his (possibly starving) mother's womb further adds to the imagery of eating and cannibalism.
• According to Gege, Sukuna's abilities are not a complete unknown in the present day, and if a sorcerer of today did their reading, they could at least learn about his slashing techniques, though perhaps not about Divine Flame. Sukuna himself showed surprise at Jogo's lack of knowledge of his technique, but then guessed that a cursed spirit not knowing it made sense.
• Before and early on during the Shinjuku Showdown Arc, Viz Media erroneously translated "Shrine" as "Malevolent Shrine" (Sukuna's domain), likely because, at the time of the chapters' release, the exact nature (and indeed whether or not "Shrine" was Sukuna's technique or just shorthand for his domain's name) had not been firmly established.
• In Chapter 119's original magazine version, the narrator says that while "Cleave" is meant to target anything with cursed energy, "Dismantle" is for inanimate objects (無生物には「解 (カイ) 」, museibutsu ni wa "Kai"^?); this was revised in the volume version to the narrator saying that "Dismantle" is for anything without cursed energy (呪力のないモノには「解 (カイ) 」, juryoku no nai mono ni wa "Kai"^?).

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