Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game Explained

Currently, the Jujutsu Kaisen manga is going through a battle royale arc where jujutsu sorcerers, cursed users, and cursed spirits are all fighting against each other throughout Japan.

This battle royale is a special ritual that Kenjaku started, the 1000-year-old sorcerer, who plans to transcend the human race!

Called the Culling Game, this battle royal has claimed many lives and will continue until it ends. In this article, we will dive into what the culling game is and its purpose.

Why Did Kenjaku Start The Culling Game?

To understand what the Culling game is, we first need to understand why is it happening and what it is attempting to accomplish. In short, its purpose.

Kenjaku believes that there must be more potential for cursed energy in the form of human beings than just Jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits.

To achieve this, he wants to optimize cursed energy. This will mean that cursed spirits and Jujutsu sorcerers will coexist, but not in harmony.

So how does he plan to achieve this? Through culling games.

Firstly, if everyone was converted into a sorcerer and all of them were to fight each other to death, then a certain number of standout people would be left.

Secondly, these sorcerers will be more elite and far better than the others. And, when this happens rapidly on a huge scale, it will lead to the evolution of the whole society.

But, how does the Culling game do it?

What Is The Culling Game?

As conveyed before, Culling is a sort of ritual for Kenjaku to achieve his goals. The battle royal utilizes 10 colonies to accumulate cursed energy to transcend Japan.

These colonies are connected via boundary-binding barriers. And stretch from the most western point of Japan to the boundary lines created by the colonies.

There are over 1,000 new sorcerers who have entered the culling game. As the new and old sorcerers fight, they release cursed energy.

This cursed energy is collected and flows from the western point colony and moves from colony to colony eastward, covering all of Japan.

The only location unaffected by this is Hokkaido, which is a holy land in Japan.

All the other parts of Japan are affected by the bigger barrier. These barriers will transcend Japan to “the other side”, and crossing this barrier signifies the evolution of humanity.

This other side is “Nirvana”, the state of being without a sense of self, which continues with the Buddhist themes.

Humans will transcend past their humanity and lose their sense of individuality, merging them all into one.

This means one negative thought will overcome everyone, making it a new state of the world.

Essentially, the culling game is just a massive ritual that uses the barriers to trap cursed energy and make all of humanity evolve and merge with Tengen.

Which will take away human individuality and thoughts. This increases the power of the negative energy emitted by people.

Now let’s talk about the rules of the Culling Game.

Culling Game Rules And Regulations:

When the Culling Game was initiated, eight rules came into existence with the aim of continuing the Culling Game until the ritual gets completed.

1. After awakening a cursed technique, players must declare their participants in the culling game at a barrier of their choice within 19 days. This rule applies to everyone who was granted an ability by Kenjaku with Human Transfiguration.
2. Any player who breaks the previous rule shall be subject to cursed technique removal. It is specified by Shoko that most likely this means death because the removal of a technique is forceful and would probably cause damage to the brain.
3. Non-players who enter a colony become players the moment they enter and will be considered declared players.
4. Players score points by killing other players.
5. Points are determined by the game master and indicate the value of a player’s life. As a general rule, sorcerers are worth 5 points, and non-sorcerers are worth 1 point.
6. Excluding the point value of a player’s own life, players must expend 100 points to negotiate with the game master to add one new rule to the culling game. This means that people who gain 100 points can add a rule to the game that helps them in the game, i.e., the added rule of revealing all player information like locations, names, and points value.
7. In accordance with the previous rule, the game master must accept any proposed new rule unless it has a marked and long-lasting effect on the Culling Game.
8. If a player’s score remains the same for 19 days, that player shall be subject to cursed technique removal.

A rule that was not stated prior to the cast starting the game is that each player that enters is transported to a random location within the colony.

Sorcerer Added Rules:

Later, using the sixth rule, many players added new rules to further their own goals. Up until now, a total of 14 new rules have been added to the game.

These rules are:

1. Players gain access to information on other players. This includes their name, amount of points, number of rules added, and their current colony. (Hajime Kashimo)
2. Players may transfer any number of points between one another. (Hiromi Higurama)
3. Players can leave the game by expending 100 points to invite a substitute into their colony. (Megumi Fushiguro)
4. Players can enter and exit across all colony borders. (Yorozu)
5. As of 9:09 p.m. on November 18, 2018, no new players can join the Culling Game. (Kenjaku)
6. The Culling Game will end upon the deaths of all players except Suguru Geto and Megumi Fushiguro. (Kenjaku)

Now that the Culling Game is reaching its climax with one of the most hyped battle. The battle of the strongest Gojo Saturo vs Ryomen Sukuna.

We also know that while these two are duking out, Kenjaku is working on his plan behind the scene. It will be interesting to see who will win the battle and what Kenjaku does next.