Jujutsu Kaisen: Gege Akutami reveals his inspiration behind Malevolent Shrine

Sukuna is the strongest character in Jujutsu Kaisen, which means his Domain Expansion, Malevolent Shrine, is basically unbeatable. Creator Gege Akutami has now revealed the inspiration behind it.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s main villain Ryomen Sukuna is hailed as the King of Curses. His Domain Expansion is an ominous Buddhist Shrine covered with skulls and with horns on the roof. Anyone trapped inside the domain, except Satoru Gojo, is sure to get sliced into pieces within seconds.

Akutami draws inspiration from Buddhism and Japanese mythologies for his manga, which is specifically reflected in Sukuna – even Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine is inspired by Buddhist deities.

As shared by a popular JJK translator, Akutami said of the Malevolent Shrine’s first appearance, “I was inspired by the status of Yamantaka and Gozu Tennoh and thought it’d be nice to have a lot of buffalo skulls at the bottom since buffalo are considered messengers of the gods. This gave the shrine a sense of irreverence that matched Sukuna well.

“I also added a shrine cabinet vibe to the whole structure. In order to show the flow of the story to my editors as soon as possible, even when I submit rough sketches in a rush, I almost never review them.

“When you see the changes going from rough sketches to drafts, there’s not a particular reason for the changes, but it’s because I usually didn’t think about it too deeply when sketching and then adjust the manuscript drafts.”

Yamantaka is the “destroyer of death” deity of Vajrayana Buddhism, and Gozu Tennoh is a Japanese deity of disease and healing.

While Yamantaka is Yama’s adversary, his image mimics Yama in many ways: he frequently rides a buffalo and is shown with a buffalo skull. On the other hand, the Shinto shrines dedicated to Gozu Tennō of the Gion cult tradition, such as the Yasaka Shrine, have a similar architecture to Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine.

Check out the release date and spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 263. For more dark sorcery, check out our explanation of the latest plot twist and all major character deaths in the manga so far.