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Who Are Yuji Itadori’s Parents? Is Kenjaku His Mother?

This article contains major spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. Read ahead at your discretion!

In the first episode/chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen, Granpadori tried to talk about Itadori’s parents. But he was not curious about knowing about them, and we were deprived of that information which otherwise is quite crucial in a shounen trope.

Thanks to this, a lot of theories came up about his parents over the course of the story. A popular theory even said that Itadori’s mother is actually Yuki Tsumuko.

However, Gege Akutami struck that theory down in an interview.

Instead, he said that he planned on introducing Itadori’s parents in the story soon. And voila! In chapter 143, we finally got to see his past and meet his parents. Well, there were a few shocking revelations too.

Who is Yuji Itadori’s mother?

Itadori’s mother Kaori Itadori was revealed in chapter 143 and she is the Brain or Kenajaku. And guess what? She had stitches on her forehead similar to Noritoshi Kamo and Geto Suguru.

This little piece of information confirmed that Kenjaku was indeed possessing Yuji Itadori’s mother Kaori Itadori!

Itadori's mother is Kenjaku

Chapter 143 definitely sent some shocks through the fandom with the mom reveal. Well, a few people did call that the Brain is Yuji’s parent, but the stitches confirmed this (earlier) tin-foil speculation.

While the woman with the stitches wasn’t enough proof of Kenjaku being Yuji’s parent, chapter 160 more certainly confirms it.

While rescuing Sasaki (Yuji’s forgotten friend from chapter 1), Kenjaku thanks her for getting along with Itadori. Does he have “motherly” affection for Yuji now? Goes on to show that Yuji definitely was not a mistake.

Kenjaku acts as Yuji's parent

It seems that the Kenjaku ended up possessing a Yuji’s mother after quite a few years of possessing Noritoshi Kamo. Well, there still a period of almost 100 years where we don’t know whom Kenjaku possessed.

She (it?) also married into the Itadori family and had Yuji.

The identity of Yuji’s mother also means that Choso and Yuji are definitely related? Yuji’s mother is…Choso’s father/third parent (kinda). Can we call them step-brothers in a messed-up way?

In fact, Choso nearly identified the Brain’s involvement with Yuji. In chapter 139, Choso tells Yuji this:

Choso asks Yuji if his father had stitches too.
Choso asks Yuji if his father had stitches too.

While he was right about the stitches, he didn’t know that Yuji’s mother, not his father, had those stitches. Is it time for Yuji to call Choso onii-chan?

This revelation also causes us to raise another question. Did Gojo sense something “special” in Yuji from the start? It might be possible that he did not know exactly what it was, but had an inkling.

With his recent actions in the story of his “business” trip and involvement in Naobito’s will, it won’t be a far reach.

It also makes us think if Gojo had been hiding information from everyone until now. And that what else might he have known throughout the story.

Theories about Itadori’s mother

As mentioned before, the introduction of Yuji’s mother Kaori Itadori sent shock waves throughout the fandom. The Brain being Yuji’s mother has raised new questions and/or theories, so let’s dive into that!

The woman was a powerful shaman perhaps from the Zen’in clan

From the Brain’s past possessions of Noritoshi Kamo and Geto Suguru, it seems that it only aims for powerful or resourceful shamans. Bonus if the shaman is both, like in the case of Geto.

So, it is natural to think that the woman Kenjaku is possessing is a powerful shaman too. After all she that the anti-gravity cursed technique.

Thinking of ‘powerful shamans,’ one can’t help but think of the three powerful jujutsu families: Zen’in, Gojo, and Kamo. Did the woman belong to any of these families?

Kenjaku must know a lot about the Kamo family from the past, so we can’t help but wonder if she is a Kamo.

But then again it would be kind of out of character for Kenjaku to select someone from a family that already has a dirty blot on its name. However, the other possibilities are open.

In fact, people are also speculating that the woman might be a Zen’in. We already know the horrible treatment the Zen’in family gives to its women, no matter how good their abilities are.

And we also know that even people like Toji, who are excellent without jujutsu too, are fed up with the family. The only thing that matters to the Zen’ins is power amongst the members and in the jujutsu world – no matter what cost it comes at.

Speculation
Discussion under a tweet from @kylescouter

Thus, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Kaori Itadori was actually a Zen’in. Even after estrangement, the Zen’in family members retain some credibility due to their name, proving beneficial to Kenjaku.

Indeed, as the above discussion states, the features of Yuji’s mother are strikingly similar to Naoya and Toji. The sternness on her face and her face structure are an eerie likeness of a gender-bend Naoya.

And if the woman is neither a Kamo nor a Zen’in, it will be quite a surprise if she turns out to from the Gojo family.

That would mean not just Yuta, but Yuji is related to Gojo in a weird way too. It will also imply to the earlier question again, did Satoru knew all along?

But there is another possibility.

Grandpa Itadori knew something?

Grandpa Itadori was cut off by the Brain when he was warning Yuji’s father. And it chose the perfect (eye-rolls) time to cut into this conversation. It looks like Yuji’s grandfather was saying something important about Kaori and her death.

Kaori was Itadori Jin’s wife but apparently, they could not have a child together. She also died sometime before this scene in Yuji’s memory took place.

Itadori's grandfather was suspicious of the situation of Itadori's parents

Now the real question is, had it been a lot of time after Kaori’s death?

If yes, then why is Grandpadori bringing it up right now? And why did Jin, Itadori’s dad, not find it suspicious.

And how did Grandpadori know about it? If he does know it, is that why he was warning his son to stay away from her lest he wants to die?

But if the answer is no, there is another possibility. This theory states that Itadori Jin, in fact, did not know Kaori is actually dead. We know the Brain possessed a dead Geto, so did it pry on a dead Kaori too?

That would explain why Yuji’s grandfather was talking about Kaori’s death.

We already saw the powerful shaman theory, so if not that, what is the case?

As Noritoshi Kamo, the Brain did a lot of cruel experimentation on Choso’s mother. Those experimentations led to the creation of the Cursed Womb Death Paintings.

Choso’s mother had a unique genetic makeup that made it possible for her to bear mixed children.

Choso's mother

So, if Kaori was a simple woman but had a similar genetic makeup, it was a chance for the Brain to further and perfect its experiments. This possibility could also indicate that Kaori knew her genetic makeup was different and refused to have a child with Jin.

Another extension to this possibility can be that Kaori was a nobody, and the Brain was actually interested in the Itadori bloodline.

Did their bloodline have something special? Nonetheless, Kenjaku’s last words to Yuji before going away do indicate it has some intentions for him.

Was Itadori’s birth deliberate or incidental?

Kenjaku being Yuji’s mother raises questions about his birth as well. As stated earlier, did the Brain plan on using the Itadori bloodline? Even after not having a cursed technique of his own, Yuji is still a very extraordinary person.

There has always been an emphasis on his superhuman skills since the beginning, and he could see curses too (not until the Sukuna finger incident, but yeah, he could see them after that).

Additionally, he even learned about cursed energy very quickly, be it from Gojo or Todo. He is also a unique vessel for the King of Curses, Sukuna. It is probably super-rare for someone to not only retain that kind of cursed energy but also suppress Sukuna.

Is this what Kenjaku intended on creating when it was experimenting and created the Death Paintings? It makes more and more sense after the Annihilation Migration plan started by Kenjaku.

If Yuji’s creation was not its aim, why did it possess the woman? Did his possession have a strategic benefit? And to make things seem normal, Kenjaku decided to have a child with Yuji’s father.

So, what did Kenjaku want from being in the Itadori family? We have too many questions! The biggest question is if the unnatural situation of Itadori’s birth was the cause behind his superhuman strength. But at least we know about his father as well now.

Who is Itadori’s father?

Fathers get less credit, don’t they? Well, in chapter 143 too, Yuji’s mother took the spotlight and for the right reasons. But we also finally saw Yuji’s father in the story. The name of Yuji’s father was Itadori Jin.

Itadori's father Itadori Jin

Baby Yuji is so cute! And grown-up Yuji’s appearance is very similar to his father’s. Now for some real questions about Papa Itadori. It looks like he didn’t know the real identity of his wife.

He has full faith in Yuji’s mother and even disregards Grandpa Itadori’s concern.

But, it is also possible that things aren’t as they seem. Choso said that he and his brothers had three parents, and his mother had nine pregnancies. So that can surely indicate that Choso’s human father was involved in the process while Kamo just injected his blood.

Perhaps over a desire or a promise that Kenjaku made, he chose to accept it as his wife. Could he have actually known his wife was something quite inhumane?

He may have even killed Kaori or let Kenjaku possess her, as indicated in the aforementioned theory.

This possibility is quite dark and means an unprecedented trauma for Yuji. We really hope Yuji’s father was as innocent as he looks and as Yuji himself is. Yuji has already gone through a lot.

Are Itadori’s parents dead?

There is no confirmation yet, but circumstantial evidence suggests that Itadori’s parents are dead. For starters, we know that Kenjaku is in Geto’s body now.

And of course, he wouldn’t leave someone he possessed alive. So, there is no doubt that Itadori’s mother is dead.

When it comes to his father, we are not sure if and when he died. The very ominous forewarning by Yuji’s grandfather is quite convincing, though.

So, we believe that even Itadori Jin is dead. I think as the story progresses we will come to know how and when they died. And about the whole arrangement as well. Maybe Kenjaku would use this information as leverage.

We will update this section as more information is revealed! Talking about Kenjaku, here is another theory floating around on the internet:

Another theory about the Brain or Kenjaku?

There is another discrepancy about the Brain or Kenjaku’s actions, though. In the Jujutsu Kaisen fanbook, Akutami said that Kenjaku could use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the stitches of the body it possesses.

We see that Kenjaku was indeed healing the stitches Itadori’s mother had on her forehead. But, the stitches on Geto’s forehead are clearly visible. And it has been QUITE some time that the Brain possessed Geto after his death.

So, why are the stitches still there? Is Kenjaku planning on switching bodies soon? If that is the case, we have a bad feeling that it might be the Culling Game winner!

Or maybe we are thinking too much and Kenjaku just stopped caring about trying to look unsuspicious.

What did you think of this reveal of Itadori’s parents? And do you think it will affect him in the future? Let us know in the comments!

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