#avici

.

.

.

1: avici

let’s start with the title. the concept of buddhist hell, naraka, is known in japan as “jigoku.” this realm is further divided into numerous hells that have their own unique punishments, duration of stay, and reasons for ending up there. while there are said to be an extremely large number of hells, there are a handful that are often singled out. in japanese, there are a couple terms that refer to specific groupings of hells, including 16 “minor hells” and “eight great hells.” the names of these hells are generally self-explanatory, describing the torment that occurs there, such as the “inferno hell” or the “place of omnipresent darkness.” among these hells is avici (”mugen jigoku” in japanese, meaning “unending hell”), which is the lowest and most severe of all hells. torment here is varied and seemingly ceaseless. while punishment within jigoku will not last forever, the suffering one endures there, especially in avici, goes on for so long that it might as well be eternal from a human perspective. if one’s body is destroyed by these tortures, it regenerates to continue suffering.

a jigoku zoshi (“hell scroll”) illustration. these heian-kamakura period paintings depict scenes from several hells. this particular series, held at the nara national museum, shows a number of minor hells, such as the “inferno of bloody pus” shown here.

2: mugen

a theme i wanted to explore in avici was the concept of “mugen.” homophones are words that sound the same but mean different things, and in japanese, this also means they might be spelled using different kanji. mugen (無限) is the name of gojo’s technique where things slow infinitely before they touch him. in this sense, it means “infinity.” a different mugen (無間) is also part of the name for avici, mugen jigoku, and in this sense means “unending.” these concepts are similar but have a slight difference in nuance. i wanted to contrast the limitless yet unsatisfying power of gojo and the unending but painful existence of the reader.

3: youkai

a couple creatures from japanese folklore inspired the reader character. the first, influencing their “dormant” state, is the hinnagami. these are a type of shikigami, a familiar or conjured spirit, and this one in particular is housed in the form of a doll. hinnagami are enshrined within a household to grand wishes and bring good fortune and wealth. due to being born of greed and malicious desire, they are inherently twisted. after being enshrined, a hinnagami becomes fixated on its creator and can never be banished. it’s said that when the hinnagami’s creator dies, the doll will follow them into hell, haunting them for eternity.

there are two popular methods said to create a hinnagami. the first is to mix grave dirt and human blood, and mold it into the proper shape. there are various specifications about these ingredients, such as leaving the doll out to be trampled, and ultimately the hinnagami is created from a ritual of death and suffering. the other method requires the creation of 1,000 small dolls, which are then boiled in a pot together until only one doll remains. we’ve seen in jujutsu kaisen that there are some horrific ways for curses to be born. if someone like sukuna wanted to make a cursed spirit totally devoted to him, i figured his ingredients would be even more extreme.

the hinnagami was featured in an episode of ayakashi banashi. interestingly, this one seems to be actively malevolent, appearing of its own volition to someone in a desperate situation. this particular depiction with a bowl cut and traditional clothing is what i had in mind while writing avici.

the second inspiration for the reader were a pair of semi-related bird youkai. the first features in a story from the taiheki, in which a monster appeared over the kyoto imperial palace and was killed by minamoto no yorimasa. it was said to be a bird-like creature with a humanoid face and a serpent's tail. in the taiheki, it was simply an unnamed monster, but it was given the name "itsumade" by sekien toriyama in one of his illustrated youkai books. instead of a bird's cry, its call sounded like the word "itsumade" (lit. "until when?") what this meant is debated, though later texts seem to associate the itsumade with another bird-like youkai, the onmoraki.

onmoraki are youkai (traditionally depicted as similar to a crane) that manifest when the dead are not handled properly. if someone dies and is left unburied or without a proper service, it's said that they'll become an onmoraki and haunt nearby temples until someone comes and takes care of the dead. more recent youkai literature interprets the itsumade as a type of onmoraki, appearing at a time of great turmoil when there were countless corpses on the battlefield. "until when?" was interpreted as "how long will this corpse remain here, uncared for?" the reader could be seen as a type of tortured onmoraki or itsumade, a living corpse made up of many corpses who constantly asks "how long do i have to wait here?" but no matter who they haunt, no one can help them.

3: kigo

kigo ("seasonal words") are words with strong seasonal associations. they include natural elements such as plants and weather phenomenon, as well as cultural practices and the names of holidays. seasonal references are a significant component of some japanese poetry forms, such as haiku. using kigo not only provides a particular seasonal framing, but also evokes specific imagery using fewer words, which is especially useful in short forms that have a small number of allowed syllables. while japan has a varied climate from north to south, kigo associations were determined based on the seasons of kyoto, which was the seat of power for the heian imperial court and the driving force behind japanese poetry traditions.

while not playing a major narrative role or implemented with much subtelty, kigo were used frequently throughout  avici. the reader character spends months or even years sealed away and has little way of knowing how much time has passed. to give them any sense of time, they rely on kigo. any specific plants or birds mentioned are probably kigo, and can tell you what season it was in that scene if otherwise unspecified.

4: noh

noh is a type of classical japanese theater that uses poetic narration full of double meanings, minimal stage props, extravagent costumes and masks. one type of noh is mugen noh ("dream/fantasty noh"), stories that include supernatural creatures, dream sequences or illusions, and the intersection of the past and present. these plays generally feature a traveler (this role is called the "waki") meeting someone who is strangely knowledgeable about the place they're traveling through (this role is called the "shite"). the shite then tells the story of the place and finally reveals themselves to be a historical figure involved in the events of the distant past.

the most obvious influence was in the fourth chapter where gojo attempts a "noh exorcism." i thought it would be fun to have this style of theater double as a ritual for exorcism in the world of jujutsu kaisen. there are noh plays about various monsters from folklore that meet a traveler, and by telling their story, they are given an opportunity to seek forgiveness or peace, so i wanted to incorporate that as a method of exorcising powerful spirits who may have once been human. by confronting their past and remembering their humanity, perhaps they can be peacefully exorcised of cursed energy. of course, noh plays are extremely time consuming (a real set can last literally all day) so it's not something modern sorcerers would consider viable, or even an option for most basic curses.

there were several specific noh plays that inspired certain scenes. i won't get into every example but i want to highlight the one that had the most direct influence. izutsu ("the well cradle") tells the story of a heian-era noble named ariwara no narihira and his wife. though both have long since died, narihira's wife cannot pass on. she expresses her longing for him to a traveling monk who witnesses her makining offerings to a funerary mound. cherry blossoms are discussed at one point, and how they're "blamed as faithless" for how easily they lose their flowers to the wind. other inspirations include the plays nue (this is the name of a youkai) and saigyou-zakura ("saigyou and the cherry blossom").

matsuno sofu’s illustration of the character of narihira’s wife. here, you can see the single stage prop in use: the wooden frame used to represent the well. in this scene, she has dressed in his clothes and gazes into the well in order to see him again through the water’s reflection.

finally, i want to mention this paragraph from the beginning of the exorcism chapter:

"The temple bells of Gion sing a song of impermanence. Like the bold colors of the sāla tree, what once bloomed will wilt. The proud are as fleeting as a spring night’s dream, the fierce as dust before the wind. When the battle ends, there will be naught but summer grasses swaying in the gentle breeze, unknowing the names of the fallen."

the first few sentences are the opening lines from the tales of the heike, an epic about the genpei war. the final sentence is a reference to basho's "summer grasses" poem. both tales of the heike and "summer grasses" are about the fall of powerful warriors and share the theme of impermanence. gojo's goal in the exorcism was an impossibility: he wanted the reader to understand "impermanence." but they're just like him, defined by "mugen," and the concept of "an ending" is beyond them.

i think that might be everything lmao i hope this post was fun and informative! if you want to learn more about noh, there's a really incredible english-language resource at the-noh.com. they've got all the basics on just about everything, including free pdfs of the plays in english and japanese.

as a bonus for making it all this way lol here are two songs that didn't make it onto the playlist but that i still like a lot for avici.

->promised oni - absolute castaway: about a child who makes a deal with an oni that goes horribly wrong.