The Difference Between Curse Users and Sorcerers in JJK

Summary

• Jujutsu sorcerers protect non-sorcerers, while curse users intentionally harm others.
• Jujutsu sorcery started as a way to control cursed energy and kill curses in early human history.
• The jujutsu council can label sorcerers as curse users for criminal acts, leading to severe punishments.

Jujutsu Kaisen throws around the term “curse user” a lot. Oftentimes, the term is derogatory. But aren’t jujutsu sorcerers technically curse users? The short answer is no. In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, the difference between curse users and sorcerers comes down to intention.

Jujutsu sorcery is a vocation with thousands of years of history behind it. Its core principle is that those who can exorcise curses should protect those who cannot. When a person with cursed abilities uses their powers for murderous acts, the jujutsu authority labels them as “curse users” and sentences them to execution.

Jujutsu Sorcery Is a Vocation Practiced for Thousands of Years

Jujutsu Sorcerers Across Japan Organized During the Heian Period

Curses have existed as long as humanity. They are born from the negative emotions humans experience. Since normal humans cannot control their cursed energy, it seeps out of them, birthing cursed spirits.

In early human history, cursed spirits caused immense havoc and devastation. Those who could control cursed energy became responsible for killing curses. Eventually, these hunters systemized their knowledge of curses and techniques for killing them into the art of jujutsu. Adherents of jujutsu became known as “jujutsu sorcerers.”

Jujutsu sorcerers were not as organized as they are today. In the early periods of jujutsu sorcery, its practitioners worked within their communities, detached from a more extensive network. However, as cursed spirits generated exponentially, so did the onus on jujutsu sorcerers. Thus, Japan’s jujutsu sorcerers, spearheaded by The Big Three Families, forged a united front.

From that moment on, jujutsu sorcery became an institution. Sorcerers collaborated with the Japanese government to defend the public from curses and train new generations of sorcerers to do the same. For instance, Jujutsu High receives funding from the Tokyo government, allowing its students to attend tuition-free.

Most importantly, the core principle jujutsu sorcerers abide by is that jujutsu sorcerers must protect non-jujutsu sorcerers. When sorcerers intentionally break this pact, they get stripped of this title.

Curse Users Are Cold-Blooded Murderers

This Decree Comes Directly From Jujutsu Regulations

After breaking down the basics of jujutsu sorcery, the definition of “curse user” in JJK lore becomes clear. Furthermore, Gege Akutami provided a definition straight from the council’s regulations in the Jujutsu Kaisen Official Character Guide:

Curse users are criminals of the jujutsu world who use various motives to justify their actions. Some are opportunists who kill for money, like Jiro Awasaka. Others are driven by idealism, like Suguru Geto. Lastly, young people who’ve inherited cursed techniques are more susceptible to crime without the mentorship or training provided by jujutsu, such as Junpei Yoshino.

Speaking of Junpei Yoshino, Jujutsu High’s founding directly responded to the rising rate of the cursed technique youth-to-criminal underworld pipeline. Those born with cursed talents but no connections to the jujutsu world or its prominent families are most vulnerable to this radicalization, and Yoshino is a prime example.

Can the Jujutsu Council Weaponize the Term “Curse User”?

The Shibuya Incident Concludes With Weaponized Justice

WARNING: The following section contains spoilers from season 2, episode 47, “The Shibuya Incident – Gate Closed”The conclusion of the Shibuya Incident story arc reveals the dire consequences of the events that transpired on the evening of October 31, 2018. Psuedo-Geto unleashed millions of curses upon the world after using Mahito’s Idle Transfiguration technique to create more jujutsu sorcerers, setting the stage for widespread conflict.

The jujutsu council’s response to the Shibuya Incident is more chilling. Their first warrant calls for the death of Psuedo-Geto – an expected move. Unfortunately, the council also indicts Masamichi Yaga, Yuji Itadori, and Satoru Gojo as co-conspirators, sentencing the former two to death and the latter to permanent concealment inside the Prison Realm.

Akutami chronicled the ongoing feud between Satoru Gojo and the jujutsu elders. It’s clear Gojo became a teacher to build a faction of sorcerers to reform the jujutsu administration, pushing the elders out of power.

Still, one would assume that the jujutsu council would advocate for Gojo’s rescue if only to counteract Psuedo-Geto’s terrorism. Throwing Yaga under the bus despite his efforts to prevent Psuedo-Geto’s will is just as counter-intuitive. These declarations prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the jujutsu world’s upper brass is compromised.

More importantly, if the jujutsu council can strip sorcerers of their titles without evidence or probable cause, what’s to stop them from doing the same to any sorcerer who dissents? The state of the jujutsu world post-Shibuya makes the designation “curse user” much more ambiguous.