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stil-lindigo · 5 months

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on twitter, a viral thread started where people around the world shared their translations of “If I must die”, the last work of Dr Refaat Alareer also known as "the voice of Gaza". A beloved poet, teacher and life-long activist for Palestine, he was recently assassinated along with members of his extended family by a targeted Israeli air strike. His loss leaves a hole in the heart of palestinians all over the world.

Below the cut, I’ll be posting the translations of his poem, with links to the original posts. Unfortunately, tumblr limits posts to a maximum of 30 images. I will update when I can.

Arabic (Refaat’s mother tongue)

2. Spanish

3. Irish

4. Dutch

5. Greek

6. German

7. Vietnamese

8. Tagalog

9. Serbian

10. Japanese

and the traditional japanese calligraphy version

11. Nepali

12. Tamil

13. Bosnian

14. Indonesian

15. Romanian

16. Italian

17. Albanian

18. Urdu

19. Turkish

20. Polish

21. Norwegian

22. Galician

23. Swedish

24. Jawi

25. Bengali

26. Russian

#probably one of the most beautiful threads to ever grace twitter's rotten husk of a platform #i really earnestly almost cried #when people say the world stands with palestine #they mean they speak with palestine as well #israel murders palestinian poets to silence their voice. their culture. their lifeblood #in response the world amplifies his voice tenfold #but what a loss #what an unforgivable loss #i hope it is some consolation to those who loved refaat that his words are now immortalised in languages all over the world #that he has united so many people in their pursuit of palestinian freedom #please please please feel free to add your own translations onto the post in reblogs #i just havent seen anything about this thread on tumblr yet #im just the messenger #palestine will be free #the words of refaat alareer will be immortalised #and his students will carry on his legacy #ah but it is almost 5am and i havent slept #when i wake up i will add more #free palestine #israel #refaat alareer #rest in peace

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corvidcall · 2 years

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None Of You Know What Haiku Are

I'm going to preface this by saying that i am not an expert in ANY form of poetry, just an enthusiast. Also, this post is... really long. Too long? Definitely too long. Whoops! I love poetry.

If you ask most English-speaking people (or haiku-bot) what a haiku is, they would probably say that it's a form of poetry that has 3 lines, with 5, and then 7, and then 5 syllables in them. That's certainly what I was taught in school when we did our scant poetry unit, but since... idk elementary school when I learned that, I've learned that that's actually a pretty inaccurate definition of haiku. And I think that inaccurate definition is a big part of why most people (myself included until relatively recently!) think that haiku are kind of... dumb? unimpressive? simple and boring? I mean, if you can just put any words with the right number of syllables into 3 lines, what makes it special?

Well, let me get into why the 5-7-5 understanding of haiku is wrong, and also what makes haiku so special (with examples)!

First of all, Japanese doesn't have syllables! There's a few different names for what phonetic units actually make up the language- In Japanese, they're called "On" (音), which translates to "sound", although English-language linguists often call it a "mora" (μ), which (quoting from Wikipedia here) "is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable." (x) "Oh" is one syllable, and also one mora, whereas "Oi" has one syllable, but two moras. "Ba" has one mora, "Baa" has two moras, etc. In English, we would say that a haiku is made up of three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables in them, 17 syllables total. In Japanese, that would be 17 sounds.

For an example of the difference, the word "haiku", in English, has 2 syllables (hai-ku), but in Japanese, はいく has 3 sounds (ha-i-ku). "Christmas" has 2 syllables, but in Japanese, "クリスマス" (ku-ri-su-ma-su) is 5 sounds! that's a while line on its own! Sometimes the syllables are the same as the sounds ("sushi" is two syllables, and すし is two sounds), but sometimes they're very different.

In addition, words in Japanese are frequently longer than their English equivalents. For example, the word "cuckoo" in Japanese is "ほととぎす" (hototogisu).

Now, I'm sure you're all very impressed at how I can use an English to Japanese dictionary (thank you, my mother is proud), but what does any of this matter? So two languages are different. How does that impact our understanding of haiku?

Well, if you think about the fact that Japanese words are frequently longer than English words, AND that Japanese counts sounds and not syllables, you can see how, "based purely on a 17-syllable counting method, a poet writing in English could easily slip in enough words for two haiku in Japanese” (quote from Grit, Grace, and Gold: Haiku Celebrating the Sports of Summer by Kit Pancoast Nagamura). If you're writing a poem using 17 English syllables, you are writing significantly more content than is in an authentic Japanese haiku.

(Also not all Japanese haiku are 17 sounds at all. It's really more of a guideline.)

Focusing on the 5-7-5 form leads to ignoring other strategies/common conventions of haiku, which personally, I think are more interesting! Two of the big ones are kigo, a season word, and kireji, a cutting word.

Kigo are words/phrases/images associated with a particular season, like snow for winter, or cherry blossoms for spring. In Japan, they actually publish reference books of kigo called saijiki, which is basically like a dictionary or almanac of kigo, describing the meaning, providing a list of related words, and some haiku that use that kigo. Using a a particular kigo both grounds the haiku in a particular time, but also alludes to other haiku that have used the same one.

Kireji is a thing that doesn't easily translate to English, but it's almost like a spoken piece of punctuation, separating the haiku into two parts/images that resonate with and add depth to each other. Some examples of kireji would be "ya", "keri", and "kana." Here's kireji in action in one of the most famous haiku:

古池や　蛙飛び込む　水の音 (Furu ike ya　kawazu tobikomu　mizu no oto) (The old pond — A frog jumps in The sound of the water.)

You can see the kireji at the end of the first line- 古池や literally translates to "old pond ya". The "ya" doesn't have linguistic meaning, but it denotes the separation between the two focuses of the haiku. First, we are picturing a pond. It's old, mature. The water is still. And then there's a frog! It's spring and he's fresh and new to the world! He jumps into the pond and goes "splash"! Wowie! When I say "cutting word", instead of say, a knife cutting, I like to imagine a film cut. The camera shows the pond, and then it cuts to the frog who jumps in.

English doesn't really have a version of this, at least not one that's spoken, but in English language haiku, people will frequently use a dash or an ellipses to fill the same role.

Format aside, there are also some conventions of the actual content, too. They frequently focus on nature, and are generally use direct language without metaphor. They use concrete images without judgement or analysis, inviting the reader to step into their shoes and imagine how they'd feel in the situation. It's not about describing how you feel, so much as it's about describing what made you feel.

Now, let's put it all together, looking at a haiku written Yosa Buson around 1760 (translated by Harold G. Henderson)

The piercing chill I feel: my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom, under my heel

We've got our kigo with "the piercing chill." We read that, and we imagine it's probably winter. It's cold, and the kind of cold wind that cuts through you. There's our kireji- this translation uses a colon to differentiate our two images: the piercing chill, and the poet stepping on his dead wife's comb. There's no descriptions of what the poet is feeling, but you can imagine stepping into his shoes. You can imagine the pain he's experiencing in that moment on your own.

"But tumblr user corvidcall!" I hear you say, "All the examples you've used so far are Japanese haiku that have been translated! Are you implying that it's impossible for a good haiku to be written in English?" NO!!!!! I love English haiku! Here's a good example, which won first place in the 2000 Henderson haiku contest, sponsored by the Haiku Society of America:

meteor shower . . . a gentle wave wets our sandals

When you read this one, can you imagine being in the poet's place? Do you feel the surprise as the tide comes in? Do you feel the summer-ness of the moment? Haiku are about describing things with the senses, and how you take in the world around you. In a way, it's like the poet is only setting a scene, which you inhabit and fill with meaning based on your own experiences. You and I are imagining different beaches, different waves, different people that make up the "our" it mentioned.

"Do I HAVE to include all these things when I write haiku? If I include all these things, does that mean my haiku will be good?" I mean, I don't know. What colors make up a good painting? What scenes make up a good play? It's a creative medium, and nobody can really tell you you can't experiment with form. Certainly not me! But I think it's important to know what the conventions of the form are, so you can appreciate good examples of it, and so you can know what you're actually experimenting with. And I mean... I'm not the poetry cops. But if you're not interested in engaging with the actual conventions and limitations of the form, then why are you even using that form?

I'll leave you with one more English language haiku, which is probably my favorite haiku ever. It was written by Tom Bierovic, and won first place at the 2021 Haiku Society of America Haiku Awards

a year at most . . . we pretend to watch the hummingbirds

Sources: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Further reading:

Forms in English Haiku by Keiko Imaoka Haiku: A Whole Lot More Than 5-7-5 by Jack How to Write a Bad Haiku by KrisL Haiku Are Not a Joke: A Plea from a Poet Who Has Had It Up to Here by Sandra Simpson Haiku Checklist by Katherine Raine

#poetry #haiku #writing #literature #anime life #long post #i want to apologize but i had to get something off my chest #and the thing was. i love haiku #and when i see posts on here about haiku. i get so angy.#well ok i really get more disappointed bc nobody is really engaging with the form on its own terms #anyway i hope you enjoy some of my favorite haiku because theyre in there!!!!!#i didnt really get into the history of haiku. and i also did not get into why i got really into it #but i will say that i was really inspired by Jacob Geller's video A Thousand Ways of Seeing a Forest #which is a lot about translation #(which i mean. as an interpreter AND a poetry-enjoyer. really appealed to me lol)

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unproduciblesmackdown · 1 year

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Lackadaisy Enrichment

#in our enclosures!!#video linked as source; which i'm glad to see already has a million views and is trending. That's Right #lackadaisy #WHICH i have been reading since at least '07 when i was thirteen my god b/c this animation is based on the ongoing webcomic #like does its influence show up Directly in some Discrete way i can point to in my art? not very easily probably. And Yet.#the inspiration....i wasn't able to be Regularly Only for at least another year / art done Nonprofessionally Online was novel to me #like wow ppl can make & post fanart of w/e they love huh....didn't know webcomics were a thing & i never really read that many since but.#good god the quality of Lackadaisy at its onset is like this is superb?? this person putting in all their talent and effort???#and Then you get years & years more art and i don't even know what superlatives to throw out abt its quality as it evolves. obsessed w/it..#if i see a new lackadaisy comic page i Will be acting out. obviously this animation is a delight & also stunning. and fascinating to also #juxtapose as a Translation / Interpretation of the comic in a different medium & standalone snippet of Story #and that we're not even quite there in the comic timeline; Taking Notes abt character info we get distilledly here....genuinely love like #take it back to '07 i'm like oh boy can't wait for the dream team to assemble. then a decade later when it did? Oh Boy. that is payoff lol #namely hooray for stitches and mudbug at the field office for every passing gangster. killing one marigold associate but not the other #which seems like a promising start to shootouts w/the other dream team triumvirate. i adore that in canon so far mordecai freckle & rocky #have met but only over a nice brunch. re: all intentions anyways. anyways i'm like Gifs Must Be Made while i'm also so riled afresh abt the #comic that i've been sooo hype for for over fifteen yrs now babeyyy Deservedly. i've done a couple of rereads & ought to do another....#For Interest it'd probably take a few sittings to catch up from the start but there is much to be engaged over....this ongoing story that's #historical fiction prohibition bootlegging cats with plenty of focus on characters & several Mysteries. which i'm better at parsing now lol #like one of the more recent rereads like Oh Of Course x (probably) accidentally killed his y & z took the fall & that's a binding secret...#Not [oh of course] abt the circumstances surrounding a's death & how b & c were involved. nor the ''what's marigold's damage'' mystery #which is great. love to not know things. love that we can readily follow all the emergent drama everyone's wading in nowadays. hell yeah #anyways admire my organized approach to gifs here. four shots each Expressions Atmosphere Action Groupshots #sure might've muddled through gifmaking for this anyways but fr being a huge lackadaisy comic enjoyer for now most of my life helps #and its very Overall Inspiration like. just really getting the [you can really just draw stuff out here] going. fr the art's detail & skill #and that enrichment like i'm gonna have a great time following this. And I Have #you don't expect a crowdfunded indie animation in the mix back then but hell yeah fellas #SIGH ok removing a 4th gif that's broken / not displayed despite reuploading then entirely remaking it. if it's a bug i'll try again later

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nattikay · 22 days

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Neteyam and Kiri all cozy in their little baby basket, lined with soft yerik hide and mama's blanket

#avatar #avatar 2 #sully family #neteyam #kiri #my art #i had another version of this done in my more typical style with the colored lines and stuff #but i was just. really unsatisfied with the outcome #one of those cases where i really liked the sketch but something got lost in translation while trying to finish the piece #so i noodled around to make this version to hopefully bring what i liked about the sketch back out #ehhh i still don't *love* it tbh but w/e #at this point it just is what it is and i wanna move on to other stuff

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zakuramochi · 2 months

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Hetalia World Stars ★ Gangsta (Chapter 4) English Translation! A longer chapter this time! It seems the first round is concluded and the next match begins next week. This was such a cool chapter!

#hetalia scanlations #hetalia #hetalia world stars #hetalia gangsta #hetalia official manga #hws italy #hws germany #hws france #hws japan #hws america #hws england #hws russia #hws china #hetalia translations #FRANCE WAS SO COOL I ALMOST FAINTED...#But really the ones I'm most afraid of is America and Italy #they seem to be the ones who actually have something up their sleeve #I LOVE THIS NEW SMART ITALY SO MUCH!!

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scribefindegil · 7 months

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As much as I adore conlangs, I really like how the Imperial Radch books handle language. The book is entirely in English but you're constantly aware that you're reading a "translation," both of the Radchaai language Breq speaks as default, and also the various other languages she encounters. We don't hear the words but we hear her fretting about terms of address (the beloathed gendering on Nilt) and concepts that do or don't translate (Awn switching out of Radchaai when she needs a language where "citizen," "civilized," and "Radchaai person" aren't all the same word) and noting people's registers and accents. The snatches of lyrics we hear don't scan or rhyme--even, and this is what sells it to me, the real-world songs with English lyrics, which get the same "literal translation" style as everything else--because we aren't hearing the actual words, we're hearing Breq's understanding of what they mean. I think it's a cool way to acknowledge linguistic complexity and some of the difficulties of multilingual/multicultural communication, which of course becomes a larger theme when we get to the plot with the Presgar Translators.

#imperial radch #also a great example of the 'you don't have to be Tolkien' phenomenon #if you want to think about linguistic differences by building all the languages in your setting #and being able to explain what those differences are through actual texts in the language in question #that's AWESOME #but it's not the only way to do it #it's also interesting because of course this style only works in book form #everyone's speaking different languages but in a written account they're all 'translated' for you #but of course if it was a TV series they would all have to be speaking a language the audience understands #(or you *would* have to go wild with conlangs)#and i think that's really cool as well--#how for a series where song is so central we don't actually hear any of the actual in-universe words or any of the music #it's all been filtered #and again you know this is happening but seeing the examples of how real songs--the shape hymns and 'L'homme Arme'--are presented #makes you a lot more viscerally aware of how limited your perspective is #it's good #ann leckie i love you

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 4 months

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he's in my home he's in my Heart

#translation: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #hello hello hello hellOOOOOOOOO #hes so cute!!!! and the material is So Soft!!!#the urge to fling him as hard as i can at a wall is There!#i wont though. i wouldnt dare #but ohhhh its him <3 the chew toy <3<3 in the. uh. fabric #i didnt expect him to be so firmly stuffed its a Delightful surprise #his little outfit his stupid fuckin cinnamon bun hair AGH i love him #thirty bucks well spent!!!#i cant wait to crochet him a little sweater <3 #and a little Home to keep him company <3 #oh man oh man Where am i gonna put him...#in the basket??? on my bed?? on a shelf - no! i dont have the room!#maybe he'll bounce around from spot to spot!#photos from the bog #welcome home #gotta say i really do love how it kinda looks like his ascot is strangling him #i looked to see if i could loosen it lmao is he breathing alright!!!!#cant wait to have extensive staring contests with him <3 #finally... someone who wont look away or find eye contact Uncomfortable...#i will admit im already obsessed with holding his tiny soft hand #AGH he's so <3<3<3 he's soooooo <3<3<3<3 #thank you makeship for the opportunity to have him physically in my life #thank you clown for creating him & letting makeship turn him into a marketable plushie he's Everything. 100000/10 absolutely phenomenal #MAN i cant believe he's here!!!!#it feels kinda unreal! like! Wally Darling! in my house! My House!! holy shit!!!#hearts on his soles and everything!#oh and as a bonus he arrived in a wonderful little canvas Bag #i do love me a bag... extra thank you to makeship for the bag. new bag <3 i'll put things in it <3

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ghouljams · 7 months

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I need more ghost ghost

Like their dynamic and how it evolves. Do they eventually reach an understand does ghost ever move on and let go😭 does he get jealous if she has friends over

Please I'm feral for the spooky idea even crumbs would satisfy me

Any day now, he'll get bored.

You keep telling yourself that, but it hasn't happened yet. Your ghost just seems to be settling in to his roll as household haunting. If anything you're getting too used to him. You're used to the cold watched feeling when you lay in bed at night. You're used to the handprints in fogged glass after your shower. You're used to putting things down and having them disappear. Hell you're even used to the rasping whispers that sometimes fill the air when you're not listening.

You're really not that interesting. If you were a ghost you would've moved on by now. You certainly wouldn't be haunting some barely liveable house or bothering the only person stupid enough to try restoring it.

You set a mug of tea on your ghost's little corner altar and drag a chair to sit down in front of it. He likes black tea, English breakfast or Earl Grey, splash of milk and a dash of sugar. You know the order well enough by now, all the ingredients he'd previously tipped over to make a mess of your kitchen. "I'm thinking of tackling the bathroom today, got the tile in so-" you reach down to tug a square of green tile out of the bag at your feet, "-I gotta start ripping up the old stuff." The tea on Ghost's altar bubbles in annoyance. "Don't get fussy you helped pick the new tile, remember?"

A single bubble pops on the tea's surface. A dismissive yes. Good enough for you.

"Be a lot easier if you didn't go scaring off the contractors," you grumble. The air is still for a long moment as you sip your morning tea. You feel a little silly staring at a mug of tea and waiting for it to talk to you. One bubble for yes, two for no, not a perfect system but working well enough so far.

You reach to tap the rim of the mug, see if the metaphorical mic is still on, and notice its been drained. Then all the hair on the back of your neck stands on end, the air around you dropping degrees by the breath.

"Can't trust them," his voice, so low and rumbling, fills the space beside your ear. Your stomach drops, and you have to stop yourself from reaching back to brush the sensation away. Fuck he's gotten chatty recently.

"You just don't like them," you keep your eyes on his altar, "you just gotta get to know them, I mean, you didn't like me when I first moved in!"

"Still," there's a long breath, a rasping wheeze that sounds painful, sometimes you wonder if it has to do with how your ghost died, "don't."

You gasp, standing from your chair and feeling whatever ghostly hold was talking to you dissipate. "See if I make you any more tea," you tell him. You will, obviously, but you try to make the threat sound sincere. He doesn't need to know that you don't mean it. After all what's a dead man going to do to you?

#cod x reader #x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x reader #ghost mw2 #simon ghost x reader #simon riley #simon riley x reader #ghost call of duty #ghost cod #ghost!au #ghost!ghost #sarcasm doesnt really translate well through the death intercom #u ever fall in love with a ghost?#any of you ever seen a ghost? i have

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weepynymph · 6 days

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Oh Boy have I made a discovery

#I am very excited about this #HAD to include the virgin mary distillers tshirt too!#soooooo much to work with here #also LOVE the 'manly man' translation 😂#they said 'he's rory but a boy actually'#apologies for the poor gifs I really threw these together #gilmore girls #literati #jess mariano #rory gilmore #rory x jess #jess x rory #gilmore girls meta #my gifs

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swordsonnet · 1 year

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Hallo mein Name ist Ebenholz Dunkel'heit Demenz Raben Weg und ich habe langes ebenholz-schwarzes Haar (so habe ich meinen Namen gekriegt) mit lila Strähnen und roten Spitzen das bis zur Mitte meines Rückens geht und eisblaue Augen wie durchsichtige Tränen und viele Leute sagen mir, dass ich wie Alma Unterwindseite aussehe (A. d. A.: wenn du nich weist wer sie ist dann verpiss dich von hier!). Ich bin nicht mit Gerhard Weg verwandt, aber ich wünschte ich wäre es, weil er ein verdammt heißer Feger ist. Ich bin ein Vampir, aber meine Zähne sind gerade und weiß. Ich habe blasse weiße Haut. Ich bin auch eine Hexe, und ich gehe auf eine Zauberschule namens Schweinwarzen in England, wo ich in der siebten Jahrgangsstufe bin (ich bin siebzehn). Ich bin ein Grufti (falls das euch nicht klar war) und ich trage vor allem schwarz. Ich liebe Heißes Thema und kaufe dort alle meine Klamotten. Heute zum Beispiel trug ich ein schwarzes Korsett mit passender Spitze drum herum und einen schwarzen Leder-Minirock, rosa Netzstrümpfe und schwarze Springerstiefel. Ich trug schwarzen Lippenstift, weiße Grundierung, schwarzen Augenkonturenstift und roten Lidschatten. Ich ging aus Schweinwarzen raus. Es schneite und regnete, also war keine Sonne da, worüber ich sehr glücklich war. Viele Popper starrten mich an. Ich zeigte ihnen den Stinkefinger.

#my only contribution to #speak your language day #enjoy #spyld #german #german stuff #deutsch #deutsches zeug #scheißpfosten #my immortal #...mein unsterbliches???#i deliberately went for the most german words i could find. like i'm the german academie française #ive never heard anyone say 'augenkonturenstift' for eyeliner before but i found it on google and its annoyingly german soooo #translating 'preps' was surprisingly difficult so i had to do some digging. the popper subculture is from the 80s so not quite the right #time period but in terms of fashion and general attitude they were actually really similar to american preps #love how i'm annotating this like it's an academic translation and not a silly shitpost

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zuzu-draws · 4 days

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So after the spoilers for Chap 257 dropped, I saw some tweets clarifying the meaning of the Kanji Sukuna used in the chapter when referring to his mother, and the overall reveals in the chapter got me thinking.

I’m making this post as a way of gathering my thoughts, personal speculations and where I think all of this connects to Sukuna’s character and the information Gege has given us over the years. Nothing I say is by any means new information, but like I said, I’m just collecting my thoughts here. By the way, just a warning, this post contains SPOILERS for the JJK Manga! If you don’t like that, please don’t read this!

Something I’ve noticed is that the theme of “Hunger” and symbolism of “Cooking/Food” is heavily referenced with Sukuna throughout the Manga. Gege in a previous Fanbook has disclosed Sukuna’s favorite Hobby to be “Eating”.

This theme is again very much ingrained within Sukuna’s cursed techniques and even his Domain Expansion, the “Malevolent Shrine”. With his two main techniques being “Dismantle” and “Cleave” are cutting-type attacks. He is also able to use a Flame-Arrow, and Fire is essential for making Food. The Shrine in his Domain Expansion literally has mouths on all sides, looking eager to chew down anything in-front of them!

This symbolism also heavily influences Sukuna’s own manner of speech, and the way he speaks to other characters in the series as well. With his post-fight chat with Jogo before his death, Sukuna mentions Jogo lacking the “Hunger” to take control of his desires, preventing him from reaching the heights of Gojo Satoru. Before the Start of their fight in Shinjuku, Sukuna called Gojo a “Nameless Fish on top of his cutting board”, and that he was going to start by “Peeling off the scales”(refering to Gojo’s infinity). There’s also further symbolism that supports this by analyzing the Kanji and meaning of Sukuna’s “Malevolent Shrine” but I’m not very educated on that so I won’t be opening that point here.

What all of this points to is that Eating and Food……is extremely important to Sukuna, to the point that it literally affects him in manners innumerable.

Eating is an instinct, a necessity for the survival of every single living being.

And In the face of extreme Hunger and starvation, even those with the strongest will could lose their Humanity and revert to the basic animalistic side of their existence. (The Heian Period also had a Famine, although I believe the timing to be a bit off, but do with this info as you see fit)

In JJK Chapter 257, it is revealed to us that Sukuna and his Twin were most likely starving in the womb of their starving mother.

On the brink of starvation, Sukuna had to consume his “other self”(his twin), so that he could survive.

Btw, this tweet and this thread gives additional characterisation to Sukuna:

Link to the original thread: Link.

More context (and reactions :P):

Link to original thread: Here

This reveals to us that indeed, Sukuna was born a twin. And as we all know, “Twins” are seen with extreme scrutiny in Jujutsu Society, they’re not well liked. This too in a period where Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcery was at its peak, it is not far-fetched to assume that his Mother may not have been treated very well by the people in her surroundings, especially as she bore twins.

When Kashimo asks if Sukuna was born the Strongest or if he made himself the Strongest, this is the response Sukuna gave to him:

When you think about it, how do you think the people around them would have reacted when the woman: who was supposed to birth two twins, gave birth to a single child instead? and that child had consumed his other twin in the womb itself?

No doubt people would’ve been horrified, disgusted and even revulsed. With the woman and her newborn child.

This would’ve led to their further ostracisation in the already very close-minded society. Unable to fend for herself and her newborn child, it must’ve been difficult for Sukuna’s mother to survive. I feel like somewhere along the line, Sukuna was left alone to fend for himself at an extremely young age. To protect himself from both Curses and Society alike.

This is why I believe Sukuna knows what true starvation, weakness and hunger feels like. Both in the emotional and literal sense. He was left without another person caring about him or his well-being, in a cut-throat period where it was “Fight or be killed”.

Powerful curses roamed all across Japan, nowhere was safe. Simply be strong, or you'll die. There's no room for weakness. And initially, a kid!Sukuna was weak, as anyone would be in the beginning when they're just starting out in this world. (and maybe, he didn't have much to eat, leading to long periods of starvation? :') )

I believe it is this debilitating hunger, and feeling of weakness that eventually led to Sukuna’s current Hedonistic mindset.

He’s essentially traumatised by it, and believes that it was his own weakness that led him to experience this sheer starvation. That he deserved to feel this way because he was weak then. Perhaps, the people around him were right, that as long as they have the power and strength to overcome anything, they’re free to do as they please; And there is nothing anyone else could do about it.

I feel like the irony here is that Sukuna himself, must’ve been a “weakling” before eventually rising the ranks to become History’s Strongest Sorcerer. This is also why he values Strength so much.

Ultimately, Sukuna has decided that there was nothing more important than being strong enough to fulfill your own desires. And “eating” is one of his most important desires. It’s his favourite thing to do, the one he derives the most pleasure out of. And like an animal, whose main focus is to consume, consume and consume. He too, simply consumes.

Most morals likely have no meaning to him. He doesn’t care who he hurts, what he does, as long as he’s able to get what he wants. And this isn’t limited to eating.

This is why people referring to Sukuna as a “Natural Disaster” is so befitting of him. Because Natural Disasters also don’t care about what or who they’re destroying, they just come and go, wreaking havoc appropriate for their nature and magnitude.

I believe Sukuna himself has said lines similar in nature, when talking to Kashimo:

Now I’m not sure how Sukuna perceives or even experiences this “Love”, because I think he has a rather very warped idea of it. I do think that this definition of love is similar to the one that Gojo also understands, but I don’t think he knows what “love” truly is. I’m not sure how I could comment on this, but I do think that Sukuna’s emotionally starved, whether he realises that or not.

Because, like Kashimo himself asked Sukuna “What is the point of dividing your soul into 20 different parts and then traversing across time if you’re satisfied with this?” we do not know the answer to that yet.

But many people have speculated that “Black Box” panels in JJK manga represent a curse (either self-inflicted or put by someone) on the speaker. Like, take a look over here where Sukuna reiterates the same dialogue, except it looks like he’s trying to reassure himself:

This once again shows that Sukuna has only ever strived for himself, in the same hedonistic fashion, to a very very extreme degree. It is possible that he's been lacking something, and he himself does not realise that he’s lacking it. Maybe it was this subconscious feeling, that led to Sukuna agreeing to Kenjaku’s plan of dividing his soul into 20 different parts, and to traverse across time as a Cursed Object.

Sukuna’s an incredibly complex character, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Gege has put extra care in the way he characterizes and depicts Sukuna, and again, I’m really sad that a lot of that characterization gets lost in translation. Still, I’m going to try my best to understand and get the most accurate feel of his character as I possibly can.

If you made it this far, Thank you for reading! And if you would like, please do leave a comment in the tags or replies because I would love to read what other people think of this and just Sukuna in general. I do not see a lot of people doing critical analysis of him, and a lot of his actions are seemingly swept under the rug. I don’t like that, so hopefully this contributes to people focusing more on Sukuna and his character. (/^v^)/ <3