Breaking Down Yuji Itadori’s Complicated Family Tree In Jujutsu Kaisen

Calling Yuji Itadori’s family tree complicated is an understatement.

Not only was it revealed that he was Sukuna’s nephew, but a finger was sealed in him at birth, which made Yuji a perfect vessel.

We all thought what Megumi felt in the first chapter was just the remnant cursed energy rubbed off on Yuji due to touching Sukuna’s finger, but it was the real thing after all!

However, things get even more puzzling, because Yuji has 9 other brothers and 3 parents.

(Source: Reddit)

I’m going to start with the most normal person in his family, Wasuke, Yuji Itadori’s grandfather, because he’s the one who raised Yuji. You know… the one who told him that “Live your life by saving and helping others”.

Wasuke Itadori (Yuji’s grandfather)

Yuji revealed to Junpei that he doesn’t remember his parents at all, which means they were dead just like his grandpa claimed they would be if Jin proceeded to bang his wife.

Wasuke was left with no friends and family apart from Yuji, so when he was on his deathbed, Yuji went to great lengths to take care of him. Despite both of them sharing a similar nature of being stubborn yet caring, they argued a lot over wanting the best for one another.

For example, Wasuke would scold Yuji for bringing him flowers and not participating in the things that other kids his age do instead of spending his time in sad places like the hospital.

However, Yuji also did not hesitate to call out his grandpa for trying to act cool with his final words to go out in style.

Eventually, Wasuke left a huge impact on his grandson, wishing Yuji would not die alone as a loser like himself, instead, leaving the world surrounded by loved ones and using his immense strength to save as many people as possible.

Now you may think, How did Wasuke know Yuji was powerful? Well, he was extremely famous at school, having the name “Tiger of West Junior High,” and could casually break world records without cursed energy, which his grandpa knew about.

His final words leave a curse upon Yuji in which he pursues the goal of a “Good death”, and it’s actually a trigger that he remembers multiple times in the story.

(Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 1)

For example, in chapter 1, right before he saves Megumi, Yuji thinks back to his grandpa’s words, “The death I face now and Grandpa’s, how are they different?” as he believes Wasuke passed away peacefully, and yet he told Yuji not to end up like him.

This pushes Yuji to put himself in danger, as the life of a sorcerer is depressing and unfair, and achieving a peaceful death is almost impossible, as we learn throughout the story.

Yuji’s grandpa became a cornerstone to his character development as his words appear again in Chaper 143, when he wanted to give up after the Shibuya incident, but once Megumi requested to save him, it triggered something inside Yuji once again.

However, his parents were still a mystery, as he chose to ignore hearing what Wasuke had to say, which backfired in the worst way possible to be real…

Because this geezer knew how twisted Yuji’s birth was, which brings us to his parents, Jin Itadori and Kaori.

Jin Itadori and Kaori (Yuji’s parents)

Both were part of jujutsu society, where we find out in Chapter 208, Kaori was a sorcerer who had a cursed technique of anti-gravity.

However, this wasn’t the reason Kenjaku killed her to take this overpowered technique literally saving him from a BLACK HOLE that can destroy the entire planet.

Instead, He wanted to smash Jin Itadori with her body!

So After being killed and revived by Yuta, Yuji’s near-death experience triggers a memory of his birth, and he dreams of being a baby held by his father.

Where Wasuke tells Jin to STOP smashing Kenjaku because it will cause him to die.

However, Jin wanted a child more than anything and did not listen, the Kenjussy was just too good and his love for Kaori overpowered his rationality.

As a result, Jin Itadori replied to Wasuke that he should not say such things in front of the newborn Yuji, who would remember the conversation.

It turns out Kenjaku took over and given how his cursed technique functions, Jin Itadori would feel like his wife was alive again so we have to cut him some slack.

Brain Transplant allows Kenjaku to swap bodies even if they are dead, this technique leaves a stitched scar across the forehead because it cannot heal due to a binding vow revealed by Gege Akutami in the Jujutsu Kaisens Official Fanbook.

“Q: Why didn’t he heal the scar on his head?
A: It’s the “binding vow”. As you’d expect, Reverse Cursed Technique can be useful.” 

Once Kenjaku was inside Kaori Itadori’s body, he gained access to her cursed energy and memories, allowing him to replicate Kaori’s behaviour, conversations and more.

For example, Sukuna did the same thing to Hana Kurusu using Megumi’s memories in Chapter 213, exploiting her love for him.

The crazy thing is, Even the Six Eyes cannot recognise Kenjaku as an imposter so how could Yuji’s father? Love made him blind, which as Gojo stated is the most twisted curse of all.

As a result, Kenjaku orchestrates everything, as we learn through Chapter 257 that he also possessed one of Sukuna’s fingers that was sealed into Yuji while pregnant to ensure he was a perfect vessel and cage for Sukuna.

16 years later, Kenjaku planted another finger at Yuji’s school, which led to Sasaki from the occult club being endangered and the sequence of events that forced Yuji’s hand to eat another finger.

This links to Kenjaku’s statement in Chapter 222, “Not Everyone has the courage to put their own life on the line, but if their hand is forced by someone else, they have no choice but to take action towards their ideals.”

So given that Yuji said he was scared of death in Chapter 1 but remembered his grandfather’s words, he was also left no choice but to save Megumi.

And during the Culling Games, Kenjaku thanked Sasaki for being Yuji’s friend in high school, revealing that he had been watching his son all along.

In his twisted way, Kenjaku pointed out that Sasaki created the perfect opportunity for him to manipulate Yuji.

But that raises two questions, Number 1, why did Kenjaku want to create Yuji and how does he have 9 brothers?

In chapter 202, Kenjaku wondered what would happen if he could advance cursed spirits to a higher level.

150 years ago Kenjaku became Noritoshi Kamo and attempted to create a superior race, a cross-breed between humans and cursed spirits.

He undertook cruel experiments on a woman with a special genetic makeup in order to create these perfect hybrids by forcing her to undergo multiple pregnancies.

This led to the birth of nine Death Paintings Cursed Wombs.

Choso, Eso, Kechizu and the other 6 Death Paintings Cursed Wombs

These fetuses had three parents: the woman, a cursed spirit, and Kamo’s mixed DNA for their birth.

Death paintings 1, 2, and 3 were worthy of being called special-grade cursed objects. However, much to Kenjaku’s disappointment, Choso and his brothers failed to become extraordinary, which is why he discarded them and moved on to create his masterpiece: Yuji Itadori, who, by the way, is a distant descendant of the Kamo clan, making his family tree even more complicated.

However, none of them knew the truth until Chapter 106.

Choso has a traumatizing flashback, a memory of an event that never happened was born inside his mind.

He sees himself and Yuji with his already deceased brothers, happily out on a picnic. What’s even more, is that in this memory, Yuji goes ahead and calls Choso Oniisan too.

From then on, Choso didn’t hesitate to protect Yuji.

Thanks to his unique ability to sense his brothers no matter how far they are, so in Chapter 135, it was clear as day that Yuji is Choso’s brother because he felt Yuji was in danger.

But the second question is, why did Kenjaku need to use Jin Itadori’s ding dong to make his masterpiece?

Well, In many ways, Yuji was the chess piece Kenjaku needed to set his tragic plan into motion because this time, instead of just combining his DNA with some random people, he chose the family line of the king of curses, Sukuna himself!!

Ryomen Sukuna (Yuji’s uncle)

Kenjaku claimed that Sukuna is the strongest sorcerer in history in Chapter 187, Even after losing to two six eyes users in his past bodies and experiencing sorcery for 600 years at this point, he realised that all these Era’s he’s lived in cannot produce someone as powerful, thus the golden age must return via his culling game to force an evolution.

This influenced Kenjaku’s decision to use The King’s bloodline to create Yuji, as it’s revealed Sukuna had a twin whom he ate in the womb, but that soul went through the cycles of rebirth and reincarnation.

Kenjaku then found out that Jin Itadori was the person who had the twin’s soul so as a result, Yuji’s father indirectly “shared” the same soul with Sukuna, as Jujutsu considers twins as two halves of one, which was a bad omen.

The reason for this is because as Mai puts it, “to gain something you have to sacrifice something”

As a result, since Maki and Mai shared the same soul, Mai could use a cursed technique but Maki couldn’t and she was restricted from becoming stronger no matter how hard she tried.

This is why Sukuna claims to have rejected the destiny of being a twin. To avoid starvation, he sacrificed his brother, which explains his immense power and disturbing craving for human flesh.

All of this contributed to the astonishing power within Yuji.

Gojo mentioned in Chapter 2 that Yuji’s ability to suppress Sukuna’s soul is something that occurs only once in a thousand years. Given that 80% of a sorcerer’s potential is influenced by genetics (as explained in Chapter 12), we now understand why Yuji possesses a special grade body with the potential to rival Sukuna’s strength.

In Chapter 12, Gojo also revealed that Sukuna’s cursed technique was imprinted in Yuji’s body, allowing him to eventually use it as his own.

Sukuna’s presence within Yuji turned him into a cursed object, which is why he was able to consume the remaining brothers, who had been preserved as fetuses. This event triggered a power boost, enhancing Yuji’s Blood Manipulation and making his Reversed Cursed Technique even more formidable.

But there’s more to consider! What about the finger Yuji was sealed with? Why didn’t Sukuna reincarnate immediately at birth or at a more opportune moment?

The finger was sealed, just like the other cursed objects Kenjaku placed within incarnated sorcerers’ bodies. The finger Yuji was born with remained inactive until Kenjaku used Idle Transfiguration in Chapter 136 to break the seals.

Kenjaku even referred to these vessels with cursed objects as potentially unleashing a thousand Yuji Itadoris into the world.

This explains why Yuji received a Kogane before even entering a colony in Chapter 160, where it was stated that he was a player, a fact confirmed by Sukuna in Chapter 257.

According to the timeline, Yuji’s school had the second finger, which Gojo then gave him as the third. The Juvenile Detention Center provided the fourth, and Sukuna secretly consumed the fifth finger at Yaso-hachi Bridge.

During the Shibuya Incident, Mimiko and Nanako offered Sukuna the sixth finger, and the ten fingers from Jogo brought the total to sixteen.

However, Sukuna only had access to fifteen fingers at this point because Kenjaku hadn’t undone the seal until Chapter 136.

So, how did Sukuna regain the sixteenth finger? In Chapter 212, he tore it off Yuji and infused all of its power into one finger to feed Megumi.

This explains why Uraume fed Sukuna only three more fingers in Chapter 222, bringing the count back to nineteen, while Yuta has the last one since Rika consumed it.