Masamichi Yaga's Cursed Corpse Technique In Jujutsu Kaisen Explained

Stern and often unforgiving, Masamichi Yaga, the principal of Tokyo Jujutsu High School, is the perfect person to introduce students to the harsh world of jujutsu sorcery. When Yuji Itadori, the protagonist of the popular anime "Jujutsu Kaisen," first comes to Tokyo Jujutsu High, Yaga outright denies him entry into the school. Evidently, Yuji's motivation is not a good enough reason to become a jujutsu sorcerer. However, Yaga provides the boy with one more test. He must endure a fight with one of Yaga's living, bouncy dolls until Yuji gives Yaga a suitable reason for joining the school. This is the first time we see Yaga's cursed corpse technique.

Now, a lot of this may sound confusing at first glance. First of all, it's unclear what exactly a cursed corpse is. The green, dog-faced ball-creature we see in Episode 2 of "Jujutsu Kaisen" is so unique that one couldn't possibly guess what it is. All we see is that it is bouncy and can deliver one heck of a beatdown. Thus, the odd creature demands some sort of explanation. After all, this isn't the last we see of Yaga's cursed corpse technique in "Jujutsu Kaisen." To make it easier for fans, here's an explanation of exactly what the cursed corpse technique is.

At its simplest, a cursed corpse is a doll imbued with a jujutsu sorcerer's cursed energy. This cursed energy, depending on how it is used and the sorcerer's intent, allows the doll to come to life for a limited amount of time. The most basic of these cursed corpses follow relatively simple commands. For instance, one of Yaga's other dolls, Tsukamoto, is a small bear with boxing gloves that constantly sleeps as long as it has a constant flow of cursed energy poured into it. Disrupt that flow, and the bear will wake up and beat the tar out of whoever is holding it. Yaga uses Tsukamoto to teach students the basics of jujutsu, but it cannot be used for anything else.

However, Yaga isn't just some run-of-the-mill puppeteer. He's the foremost expert in the world on cursed corpses, and has made the only known cursed corpse that is ostensibly its own person. This "Abrupt-Mutated Cursed Corpse" is named Panda, and is actually one of the students at Tokyo Jujutsu High. By inserting three, instead of the normal one, jujutsu-imbued cores into Panda, Yaga is able to attune them so that Panda becomes something more than a mere doll. He has free will and can actually generate his own cursed energy, something that most cursed corpses eventually expend before dying.