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Yes. The completed Jujutsu Kaisen manga establishes that Yuji Itadori awakens Shrine, the cursed technique associated with Ryomen Sukuna. The awakening occurs after Yuji lands Black Flash during the late-stage battle with Sukuna, and Chapter 257 explains the vessel and twin-soul circumstances that let Yuji access it.

Yuji’s Shrine is not simply Sukuna’s technique copied at full strength. His first uses have substantially lower output and appear as scissor-like cutting patterns, whereas Sukuna is shown using the direct slashing applications Cleave and Dismantle. “Malevolent Shrine” is Sukuna’s domain expansion, not the base name of Yuji’s cursed technique.

What the completed manga confirms

The reveal is made explicit around Chapter 257, during the continuing Sukuna confrontation. VIZ’s official Shonen Jump listing identifies Chapter 257 and dates that page April 28, 2024, with Chapters 256 and 258 immediately before and after it in the sequence. The chapter is the point at which Yuji’s latent technique is shown rather than merely hinted at.

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Shueisha’s official catalogue places the same development in the collected editions. The Volume 29 synopsis describes Yuji releasing latent potential through Black Flash while the battle with Sukuna continues. Volume 30 then describes Yuji deploying a domain and using the technique written as 解 against Sukuna. Those summaries establish that the initial awakening is only the beginning of Yuji’s development.

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A contemporaneous Chapter 257 explainer by Tulisha Srivastava, published by Dexerto on April 23, 2024, identifies the technique as “Shrine,” explains that it is engraved into Yuji as Sukuna’s vessel, and distinguishes Yuji’s early scissor-pattern cuts from Sukuna’s Cleave and Dismantle. The manga itself is the primary authority; the explainer is useful for clarifying the terminology and the visual distinction readers were seeing in the chapter.

Shrine and Malevolent Shrine are not the same thing

Shrine is the cursed technique

Shrine is the name to use for the underlying cursed technique. Both Sukuna’s slashing abilities and Yuji’s newly awakened cutting effect are treated as expressions of that technique. Calling Yuji’s ability “Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine” collapses two different levels of jujutsu terminology.

Malevolent Shrine is Sukuna’s domain expansion

Malevolent Shrine is the name of Sukuna’s domain expansion. A domain is an advanced application that creates a specialized space and imbues it with a sure-hit effect; it is not a replacement name for the technique from which the domain is built. Sukuna’s domain can therefore be discussed separately from Shrine itself.

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Why translations caused confusion

Different Chapter 257 translations rendered the technique name in inconsistent ways. The important distinction remains stable: use Shrine for the cursed technique and Malevolent Shrine for Sukuna’s domain expansion. When comparing editions or fan translations, the wording may vary, but the manga’s narrative function for the two terms does not change.

Why Yuji can use a technique associated with Sukuna

Chapter 257 connects Yuji’s access to Shrine to his status as Sukuna’s vessel. The chapter’s backstory says Sukuna consumed his twin in the womb, then connects that soul and its lineage to Yuji’s circumstances. Kenjaku’s preparation of Yuji as a vessel is also part of the explanation, including the reported sealing of a Sukuna finger inside Yuji.

This is a statement about the series’ supernatural soul-and-vessel metaphysics, not an ordinary biological inheritance claim. The chapter uses the twin-soul and vessel setup to explain why Sukuna’s technique can become available to Yuji. It does not establish that every relative of Sukuna would automatically possess Shrine, nor does it present Yuji as simply borrowing the technique temporarily from an external object.

The wording is deliberately tied to Yuji’s special construction as a vessel. Sukuna’s presence, the soul relationship described in the flashback, and Kenjaku’s preparation all form the narrative chain. Remove that chain and the manga provides no general rule that would let an unrelated sorcerer acquire Shrine merely by witnessing Sukuna use it.

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When Yuji awakens Shrine

The trigger is Black Flash

Yuji awakens Shrine after landing Black Flash during the Sukuna battle. Chapter 257 presents the awakening in the middle of the fight, after Yuji has pushed himself through repeated exchanges rather than during an earlier school or training scene.

Black Flash is therefore the immediate trigger identified by the chapter, while Yuji’s vessel status explains why Shrine was available to awaken in the first place. These are different parts of the explanation: the vessel condition supplies the latent potential, and the Black Flash sequence is when that potential becomes active.

Where the reveal sits in the story

The timing matters because Yuji is already an experienced close-range fighter by this point. The reveal is not a retcon that replaces all of his earlier combat skills; it adds a newly accessible cursed technique during the final Sukuna confrontation. VIZ’s Chapter 257 listing and the surrounding Chapter 256–258 sequence anchor the event in the late fight, while Shueisha’s Volume 29 summary confirms that Black Flash and latent-potential release are central to the collected-volume presentation.

How Yuji’s version of Shrine appears

Scissor-like cutting patterns

Yuji’s first demonstrated expression of Shrine forms scissor-like patterns over the object or body part he intends to cut. The visual language makes the target area legible: instead of presenting an immediately visible blade, the technique marks a cutting path and then applies the slash to that selected portion.

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This presentation is one of the clearest reasons not to describe Yuji’s ability as an exact copy of Sukuna’s. The underlying technique is shared, but the way it manifests through Yuji is visibly different from Sukuna’s established attacks.

Lower initial output

At the moment of awakening, Yuji’s output is described as significantly below Sukuna’s. That difference is expected from the story’s circumstances: Yuji has only just accessed Shrine, while Sukuna has refined his use over a far longer period and built a much more devastating combat system around it.

“Yuji has Shrine” therefore does not mean “Yuji can immediately reproduce every Sukuna feat.” Access, output, control, range, targeting and experience are separate questions. Chapter 257 confirms access and shows an early expression; it does not give Yuji Sukuna’s complete level of mastery.

Shared basis, different expression

The manga treats both versions as manifestations of Shrine while allowing individual users to express the technique differently. Yuji’s scissor patterns and Sukuna’s direct slashing attacks are not evidence of two unrelated techniques. They are evidence that the same cursed technique can take a different form in another sorcerer.

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Yuji and Sukuna compared

Comparison point Yuji Itadori Ryomen Sukuna
Technique name Shrine Shrine
Awakening or established use Awakens during the Chapter 257 Sukuna battle after Black Flash Already possesses and has extensively refined the technique before the late fight
Initial output described in the reveal Significantly lower than Sukuna’s at awakening Higher and more developed than Yuji’s newly awakened output
Visual expression Scissor-like patterns appear over the selected object or body part Direct slashing attacks associated with Cleave and Dismantle
Named applications shown in the comparison Early scissor-pattern cuts; the initial reveal does not present Yuji as using Sukuna’s Cleave and Dismantle presentation Cleave and Dismantle are the established direct-slash applications associated with Sukuna
Domain status Volume 30’s official synopsis later confirms that Yuji deploys a domain Malevolent Shrine is Sukuna’s domain expansion

The table separates what is shared from what is not. The shared entry is the base technique, Shrine. Output, visual form, named applications and domain development remain user-specific and time-dependent.

What Volume 30 establishes about Yuji’s later development

Yuji’s story does not stop at the first cut in Chapter 257. Shueisha’s official Volume 30 synopsis says that Yuji deploys a domain and uses 解 against Sukuna. This confirms substantial development after the initial awakening.

The synopsis does not, by itself, establish that Yuji’s domain is called Malevolent Shrine, that it has the same barrier structure as Sukuna’s domain, or that it reproduces every effect of Sukuna’s version. The safe conclusion is narrower and more useful: Yuji progresses from awakening Shrine to deploying a domain, and his technique continues to evolve during the final conflict.

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The character written as 解 should also be kept edition-aware. Translators may render the name or reading differently, so readers comparing Japanese material, official volumes and unofficial translations may encounter variant labels. The underlying event—Yuji using a developed technique within a domain—is the point confirmed by the official catalogue.

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What the manga does not establish

It does not make Yuji equal to Sukuna

Having the same base technique does not erase the difference in experience, output or refinement. Chapter 257 specifically presents Yuji’s initial output as lower. Any claim that Yuji immediately reaches Sukuna’s overall level goes beyond what the awakening establishes.

It does not rename Yuji’s technique Malevolent Shrine

Malevolent Shrine remains Sukuna’s domain name. Yuji’s technique is Shrine, even after the story later gives Yuji a domain of his own. A domain can be related to a cursed technique without replacing that technique’s name.

It does not provide a complete technical manual

The reveal shows the source of Yuji’s access, his early visual expression and his lower initial output. It does not provide a full catalogue of every possible cut, a definitive maximum range, a complete energy cost, or a statement that Yuji can use every Sukuna application in the same way. Those details should not be filled in from assumption.

It does not turn the twin explanation into ordinary genetics

The twin-soul account is presented through the series’ supernatural rules. It explains the connection in the story’s own terms; it is not evidence that a conventional bloodline test would predict Shrine or that Yuji inherited it through ordinary biology.

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A concise reading timeline

  1. Before Chapter 257: Yuji fights as a vessel with his established physical abilities and learned jujutsu skills, but the manga has not openly named Shrine as his usable cursed technique.
  2. Chapter 257: Backstory links Yuji and Sukuna through the twin-soul and vessel setup, and Yuji awakens Shrine after Black Flash during the Sukuna confrontation.
  3. Immediately after the awakening: Yuji’s cuts appear in scissor-like patterns and have lower output than Sukuna’s established use.
  4. Volume 29 presentation: Shueisha’s synopsis frames the moment as Yuji releasing latent potential through Black Flash.
  5. Volume 30 presentation: Shueisha’s synopsis confirms that Yuji later deploys a domain and uses 解 against Sukuna, demonstrating continued development.

How to read the terminology without spoilers-by-assumption

  • Use Shrine when referring to the cursed technique itself.
  • Use Malevolent Shrine only when referring to Sukuna’s domain expansion.
  • Describe Yuji’s first manifestation as scissor-pattern cutting rather than automatically calling it Cleave or Dismantle.
  • Keep Yuji’s lower initial output attached to the Chapter 257 awakening context; it describes that stage, not necessarily every later appearance.
  • When a translation gives a different rendering for the technique name or for 解, identify the edition or translation rather than treating every wording difference as a separate ability.

Where the official material fits

Readers checking the reveal should start with Chapter 257 in the official Shonen Jump sequence, then read the surrounding Chapters 256 and 258 for the fight’s immediate context. The collected-volume summaries provide a second official reference: Volume 29 covers the Black Flash and latent-potential awakening context, while Volume 30 covers Yuji’s later domain development.

The dates attached to these records matter when comparing online explanations. VIZ’s chapter page is dated April 28, 2024. The Dexerto explainer identifying Shrine was published April 23, 2024, during the chapter’s release discussion. Publication timing can make online wording differ from later collected-volume terminology, especially where translations use different names.

The answer in one sentence

Yuji does have access to Sukuna’s cursed technique, but the precise statement is that Yuji awakens his own manifestation of Shrine as Sukuna’s vessel after Black Flash; his early scissor-pattern cuts and lower output distinguish it from Sukuna’s more developed Cleave-and-Dismantle use, while Malevolent Shrine remains Sukuna’s domain expansion.

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