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What Is Heavenly Restriction? All That We Know About It

Heavenly Restriction is a mysterious but powerful ability as we saw from our favorite characters possessing it. Here is all we know about it.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s power system is fascinating to discover. Beyond question, there’s been much thought put into each ability, like Gojo’s Limitless. His technique is so complex that JUMP Giga featured a collaboration with the Department of Statistical Mathematics explaining it too. With so many techniques and abilities, it is but natural that they are daunting to grasp. And remember, too, with the vast cast of characters. Worry not; we have a guide to all Cursed Techniques to assist you! Thank us later. 😀

In such a detailed power system, “Heavenly Restriction” is another significant term to delve into. The ability remains a mystery but still has influenced the story a lot. And with its different cases, there are many questions about the technique. What is it all about? What do we know of it until now? Let’s dive right in!

What is Heavenly Restriction?

The Heavenly Restriction is a tradeoff or a ‘binding’ on a jujutsu sorcerer’s body right from birth. Simply put, a shaman with heavenly restriction gets other abilities that an average human won’t have against a specific condition. According to Yuki, cases of this ability are few and far between. So, even she couldn’t find enough about it.

Kokichi explaining Heavenly Restriction

The terms of heavenly restriction vary from shaman to shaman. Sometimes it results in a boost of cursed energy range or physical prowess. On the other hand, it might also take away cursed energy or entire body parts, depending on the case. There have also been cases where Heavenly Restriction reduced a person’s cursed energy to normal levels. But, Toji was the only case with no cursed energy before Maki.

Even with over 150 chapters in Jujutsu Kaisen, this concept still remains an enigma. However, we know that this exchange is usually without the consent of the shaman. It probably means that there is some ritual or process to place the heavenly restriction on someone.

We also don’t know if the repercussions can be undone with anything other than Idle Transfiguration. And that method, too, may only have worked in the specific case of Kokichi Muta. Kokichi is just one of the shamans with Heavenly Restriction, so here are all the known shamans with their respective conditions:

All shamans with Heavenly Restriction

So far, we have seen three shamans with Heavenly Restriction placed on them. This number might seem small but considering the impact, we can’t say it is so. Let’s see all of them one by one.

Toji Fushiguro is perhaps the most influential character with Heavenly Restriction. He is a man that needs no introduction. Other than being a gigolo, Toji is the nightmare of the Zen’in clan. He was born without cursed energy but immense physical abilities.

He could not see cursed spirits, but with his sharp senses, he could fight them by sensing them. His most remarkable feat is probably defeating Gojo, a Six Eyes & Limitless user once. Well, it might also be owning the Zen’in clan both in life and death.

Toji's unique Heavenly Restriction

Kokichi Muta, a student of Kyoto Jujutsu School, was another unfortunate victim of Heavenly Restriction. He was unfortunate because he got the shorter end of the stick with his condition. While he did receive a big boost in his cursed energy, the downsides made his life pretty miserable.

He was born without his right arm and the lower half of his body. Moreover, his skin would get burnt with exposure to sunshine or moonlight. Such an extreme case of Heavenly Restriction confined him into rooms, away from people. However, with his incredible amount of cursed energy, he could use Mechamaru (sort of robots) to live his daily life and fight in his place. He despised his ability and wanted to live a non-shaman everyday life instead. 

Kokichi's terms of Heavenly Restriction

Maki Zen’in – the name you have been looking for. This badass woman quickly found her place in our hearts with her strong character and fighting spirit. She also possessed a Heavenly Restriction like Toji: physical power in exchange for cursed energy. However, her case was slightly different; keep reading to know why that was so!

How was Maki’s Heavenly Restriction different?

The following section of this article contains manga spoilers, read ahead at your own discretion.

Despite being the non-fan-favorite twin, Mai highly influenced Maki’s life and decisions. And in the same manner, she affected Maki’s Heavenly Restriction as well. Everything about Maki happened too fast in the latest chapters. This sudden development made us question why really did she get a power-up at once? 

Maki’s condition is the same as Toji’s, yes, but why was she not as strong as him since the start? The answer lies in the fact that Maki and Mai are twins. According to jujutsu, twins are considered to be one person. The twins are essentially two halves of one shaman. This means both of them only have a certain limit they can grow with the other twin not growing. This reason is also why twins are seen as taboo in jujutsu families like Zen’in.

Twins are a bad omen

So, in Maki and Mai’s case, Maki could only train so much to grow. She was already as powerful as she could get without Mai wanting to grow. All the rest of her training was going to waste. There was, however, another factor that came into play here. Unfortunately for both of them, their abilities were canceling each other out. The twins were sharing their abilities in the worst way possible.

Maki’s condition of having no cursed energy is the opposite of Mai needing vast amounts of it for her creation technique. Mai’s little cursed energy was interrupting Maki’s awakening of Heavenly Restriction. And Maki’s Heavenly Restriction suppressed Mai’s otherwise high cursed energy. This situation left her unable to make anything other than one bullet per day. In not so nice words, useless.

It is sad to realize that they both were eating into each other’s existence. When Mai died (ouch), she took away with herself the cursed energy she had. This cursed energy belonged to Maki, too, in a way. So, Mai’s death eliminated all cursed energy in the world that Maki had. She finally tapped onto her true potential that was not bound by anything. Thus, what we saw in the Zen’in clan arc was not a mindless upgrade. All of it was Maki’s latent potential on full display that will only keep growing.

Maki after Heavenly Restriction

Talking of growth, we can’t not talk about Itadori Yuji. He has already grown exponentially in the story, but there is a question about his potential to grow:

Is Jujutsu Kaisen hinting at Itadori’s Heavenly Restriction?

Objectively speaking, shamans with Heavenly Restriction alone have impacted the story more than any other technique. Be it Toji or Maki, both of them affected major plot points. Even Kokichi came close to defeating the menace, Mahito. Undoubtedly, it makes for exceptional ability in this way. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the story reveals that Itadori has this power too. We can even call this a tinfoil theory.

Itadori has superhuman strength for unexplained reasons. You might say that even Todo is strong, but the difference in Todo and Itadori’s physique is too obvious to miss. Itadori’s level of strength is certainly abnormal. In fact, Megumi and Okkotsu themselves attested to Itadori’s physical abilities. What is crazier is that they compared Itadori’s agility to Maki!

Okkotsu attesting Itadori's strength

That is only one of many factors, yes. But Itadori couldn’t use cursed energy before he consumed Sukuna’s finger. So, the cursed energy he uses is not his own. And nor does he have any cursed technique of his own – Black Flash and Divergent Fist are just applications of cursed energy.

And then there is the suspicious situation of his birth. Kenjaku being Itadori’s mother was definitely not for fun and games. Add that to the fact that we don’t know how Heavenly Restriction happens in the first place, leading us to believe something was up. But there is a slight error in this theory too. If Itadori did have Heavenly Restriction, how did he see the curse all the way back in the first arc? It just doesn’t make sense!

We will probably get our answers for this ability soon enough as the story progresses. Keep an eye on this space for more updates and answers. What do you think of Heavenly Restriction? And do you believe Itadori has it? Put your thoughts in the comments section!

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4 thoughts on “What Is Heavenly Restriction? All That We Know About It”

    • Yes, of course. But if he did have heavenly restriction from back then, he should not have been able to see them. Take Toji, for example, he could not see curses but only sense them. Yet Yuji could, which is why the confusion arises in the first place.

      Reply
  1. Everyone has cursed energy. That’s why Toji was so crazy. All people in the world have cursed energy but it leaks off of them and creates curses. This is why one of the worlds Kenjaku envisioned was one where only sorcerers exist because their cursed energy would not leak. Yuji, before Sukuna, had cursed energy. That’s why he could see curses under stress. He may have heavenly restriction in some way. But that restriction, whatever it is, doesn’t take away from his cursed energy levels. If it did, he wouldn’t have the capabilities to use Black Flash so well. Before you tell me it’s Sukuna’s cursed energy, it is not Sukuna’s cursed energy. Yuji only uses Sukuna’s energy when he’s possessed.

    Reply
    • Everyone does HAVE cursed energy, but they can’t use it. Yuji (assuming if he is an average human, which he totally is not) could see curses only because he was in a near-death situation. And he could only use cursed energy when he was trained for it, by which time he had already consumed Sukuna’s fingers. Also, at this point, Yuji and Sukuna’s cursed energy has a blurry line of distinction between them, as Gojo hinted in chapter 12. The last part of the article is questioning — not stating — because a lot of things do not add up until we know what Heavenly Restriction is in detail.

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