Megumi’s Ten Shadows: All 10 Shikigami & Hand Signs

Quick answer

The Ten Shadows Technique is a Zenin clan technique that summons ten shikigami from shadows. A user starts with only the Divine Dogs and must defeat each other shikigami in an exorcism ritual to tame it.
The ten are Divine Dogs, Nue, Great Serpent, Toad, Max Elephant, Rabbit Escape, Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral and Mahoraga. Each is summoned with an animal-shaped shadow-puppet hand sign, except Mahoraga, which needs a chant.
Megumi tamed six of them. Sukuna tamed Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral and Mahoraga after taking over Megumi’s body, and he is the only user ever to tame Mahoraga.
A destroyed shikigami can’t come back, but its power passes on: the white dog’s death created Divine Dog: Totality (Ch. 47). Megumi is still using it in the final chapter (Ch. 271).

Megumi Fushiguro’s Ten Shadows Technique lets him summon ten different shikigami out of shadows. He starts with only the Divine Dogs; every other shikigami has to be beaten in an exorcism ritual before he can use it. By the end of the manga, Megumi himself had tamed six of the ten. Sukuna tamed the other four, including Mahoraga, after taking over Megumi’s body.

This guide lists all ten shikigami in the order they appear, with their hand signs, what they do, and what happened to each. Chapter numbers refer to the manga; anime episodes use overall numbering (S1 = 1–24, S2 = 25–47, S3 = 48–59). Spoilers up to the final chapter (Ch. 271).

How the Ten Shadows Technique works

The Ten Shadows Technique (十種影法術, Tokusa no Kage Bōjutsu) is an inherited technique of the Zenin clan. It uses shadows as the medium for summoning shikigami (Ch. 43, Episode 18).

The core rules:

You start with two. A new user only receives the Divine Dogs, a white and a black wolf (Ch. 117, Episode 41).
The rest must be tamed. To add a shikigami, the user summons it in an exorcism ritual and has to defeat it. Other people can be pulled into the ritual, but if anyone helps, the result doesn’t count and the user can’t command that shikigami (Ch. 117).
Hand signs summon them. Each tamed shikigami is called with a shadow-puppet hand sign shaped like the animal.
Destroyed means gone, but not wasted. A shikigami that is completely destroyed can never be summoned again. Its power passes on to the others instead (Ch. 47, Episode 19). Megumi dismisses shikigami before they’re destroyed whenever he can.
Shadows are storage. A user can hide weapons, or even their own body, inside shadows, including other people’s (Ch. 154, Episode 53). The catch is that the user bears the weight of anything stored (Ch. 171).

All 10 Ten Shadows shikigami (in order)

Names follow the VIZ translation. “Tamed by” shows who actually made the shikigami submit.

#	Shikigami (VIZ)	Japanese	Hand sign	What it does	First appears	Tamed by	Status at the end
1	Divine Dogs	玉犬 Gyokuken	Both hands clasped into a dog’s head	Twin wolves that track curses and tear them apart	Ch. 1 (Episode 1)	Inherited	White dog destroyed (Ch. 6); its power went to the black dog → Divine Dog: Totality
2	Nue	鵺 Nue	Hands put together in the shape of wings	Flying owl-like bird with electrified wings; carries Megumi short distances	Named Ch. 1; first shown Ch. 7 (Episode 4)	Megumi	Survived
3	Great Serpent	大蛇 Orochi	Fingers shaped into a snake’s head	Giant snake that bursts from the shadows and holds targets in its jaws	Ch. 7 (Episode 4)	Megumi	Destroyed by Sukuna (Ch. 9, Episode 5); its power later went into Merged Beast Agito
4	Toad	蝦蟇 Gama	Hands and fingers shaped into a toad	Support shikigami that grabs people with its long tongue	Ch. 7 (Episode 4)	Megumi	Survived
5	Max Elephant	満象 Banshō	One hand laid on the other to form an elephant’s head	Floods an area with water from its trunk and crushes targets with its weight; costs a lot of cursed energy	Ch. 44 (Episode 18)	Megumi (just before the Goodwill Event)	Survived
6	Rabbit Escape	脱兎 Datto	Hands shaped into a rabbit’s head	A swarm of harmless rabbits used as cover and distraction	Ch. 96 (Episode 35)	Megumi	Survived
7	Round Deer	円鹿 Madoka	Hands shaped into a deer’s head	Outputs positive energy: heals, and cancels cursed energy in attacks	Ch. 218	Sukuna	Power merged into Merged Beast Agito
8	Piercing Ox	貫牛 Kangyū	Hands shaped into an ox’s head	Charges in a straight line; the longer the run-up, the harder it hits	Ch. 218	Sukuna	Used vs. Yorozu (Ch. 218); later fate not stated
9	Tiger Funeral	虎葬 Kosō	Never shown	Unknown: never summoned on its own	Named Ch. 234	Sukuna	Power merged into Merged Beast Agito
10	Mahoraga	八握剣異戒神将魔虚羅 Yatsuka-no-Tsurugi Ikaishinshō Makora	No shadow puppet: both arms thrust forward with closed fists, plus the chant “Furube yura yura”	Adapts to any phenomenon; carries the Sword of Extermination	Hinted Ch. 9 (Episode 5); summoned Ch. 117 (Episode 41)	Sukuna (the only user ever)	Destroyed by Gojo’s Hollow Purple (Ch. 235)

A few things this table makes clear:

Megumi tamed six: Divine Dogs, Nue, Great Serpent, Toad, Max Elephant and Rabbit Escape. The manga never shows him with Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral or a tamed Mahoraga. When and how Sukuna tamed those four is never shown.
The “order” is the order they appear, not a confirmed taming order. Megumi already had Nue, Great Serpent and Toad within the first seven chapters. The only acquisition timing the manga gives is Max Elephant, which he got just before the Goodwill Event (Ch. 44).
Rabbit Escape is hard to kill off. More rabbits keep appearing however many are destroyed (Ch. 170, Episode 57). One rabbit carries a symbol, though, and if that one dies the whole swarm goes with it (Vol. 24).

Combined forms: Divine Dog: Totality, Agito and more

Some of Megumi’s strongest moves aren’t separate shikigami. They are upgrades or fusions of the ten.

Form	Japanese	What it is	First appears
Divine Dog: Totality	玉犬「渾」	The black Divine Dog after inheriting its dead twin’s power. A werewolf-like form whose claws can hurt special-grade curses	Ch. 47 (Episode 19)
The Well’s Unknown Abyss	不知井底	An extension technique fusing Nue and Toad into winged toads. They can be destroyed without losing the parent shikigami, but it only works while both Nue and Toad survive	Ch. 17 (Episode 8)
Nue: Totality – Merged Beast Agito	鵺「渾」嵌合獣顎吐	Sukuna’s fusion of Nue with Great Serpent, Round Deer and Tiger Funeral. Uses electricity and heals itself with Round Deer’s reverse cursed technique	Ch. 233 (explained Ch. 234)

Divine Dog: Totality is Megumi’s main attacker for most of the story. It lands the finishing blow on the Yasohachi Bridge curse, on the special-grade finger bearer, and on Reggie Star (Ch. 172–173, Episode 58). It’s also the shikigami he uses in the final chapter (Ch. 271).

Mahoraga: the shikigami no one could tame

Mahoraga is the strongest of the ten. According to Megumi, no Ten Shadows user in history had ever tamed it (Ch. 117, Episode 41). Its trademark is the eight-handled wheel above its head. The wheel turns each time Mahoraga analyzes an attack, and after that it counters or ignores the attack (Ch. 118, Episode 41).

Why Megumi summoned it anyway. A user can start the taming ritual any time, even without any hope of winning. Megumi treats that as a suicide move: he summons Mahoraga, drags his enemy into the ritual with him, and lets it kill both of them. He almost does this against Sukuna at the detention center (Ch. 9, Episode 5) and against the Yasohachi Bridge finger bearer (Ch. 58, Episode 23).

Shibuya (Ch. 117–118, Episode 41). Badly injured by the curse user Haruta Shigemo, Megumi finally chants the incantation and pulls Shigemo into the ritual. Mahoraga nearly kills Megumi with one backhand. Sukuna then takes over Yuji’s body, keeps Megumi alive, and destroys Mahoraga with Malevolent Shrine and his fire technique. Because Sukuna, an outsider, defeated it, the ritual doesn’t count and Megumi gains nothing. Sukuna’s interest in Megumi’s body grows from here.

Sukuna’s Mahoraga. After taking over Megumi (Ch. 212), Sukuna becomes the only Ten Shadows user ever to tame Mahoraga. He discovers that a user can wear the wheel and take on the adaptation process themselves, then summon Mahoraga already adapted:

Against Yorozu, Mahoraga shows up pre-adapted to her Construction technique and breaks her True Sphere (Ch. 219).
Against Gojo, Sukuna has Megumi’s soul absorb Unlimited Void so Mahoraga can adapt to it (Ch. 229–230). Mahoraga later adapts to Infinity and slices off Gojo’s arm (Ch. 234).
Gojo finally wipes out Mahoraga, wheel and all, with Hollow Purple (Ch. 235).

Chimera Shadow Garden: Megumi’s domain

Chimera Shadow Garden (嵌合暗翳庭, Kangō An’eitei) is Megumi’s Domain Expansion. It is incomplete: it has no sure-hit effect and, in its first use, no closed barrier. Instead it floods the area with liquid shadow. Megumi can then summon several shikigami at once, create shadow copies of himself, and dive into shadows at will (Ch. 58, Episode 23).

He uses it three times:

Against the Yasohachi Bridge finger bearer (Ch. 58, Episode 23).
In Shibuya, to break into Dagon’s domain and help the sorcerers trapped inside (Ch. 108–109, Episode 38).
Against Reggie Star in the Culling Game. He uses a gymnasium to close the barrier, and the domain boosts his technique to 120% (Ch. 170–172, Episodes 57–58).

For how it compares with other domains, see our list of every Domain Expansion in JJK.

What happened to Ten Shadows after Sukuna took Megumi’s body?

In Chapter 212, Megumi tries to summon Mahoraga to stop Sukuna, but Sukuna is faster than his hand signs. He forces Megumi to eat one of his fingers and incarnates in Megumi’s body.

Sukuna then uses Ten Shadows far better than Megumi ever did:

A Nue the size of a building (Ch. 213).
Divine Dogs summoned as loose, fluid shadows to extend their range (Ch. 217–218).
The first appearances of Round Deer and Piercing Ox, with Max Elephant and Rabbit Escape, against Yorozu (Ch. 218).
Max Elephant’s water fired as a beam without summoning the elephant at all, copying Piercing Blood (Ch. 233).

Once Gojo destroyed Mahoraga, Sukuna could no longer use the Ten Shadows Technique at all (Ch. 245). So when shadows burst under Sukuna’s foot during the final fight, it was Megumi’s own soul fighting back from inside and helping Yuji (Ch. 266). Yuji separates Megumi from Sukuna in Chapter 268, and Sukuna disintegrates.

In the final chapter, Megumi is back on missions with Yuji and Nobara and catches a curse user with Divine Dog: Totality (Ch. 271). The manga doesn’t say whether Megumi now commands the four shikigami Sukuna tamed. Their status is left unexplained.

The symbols on the shikigami

The technique’s name comes from the Tokusa no Kandakara, the Ten Sacred Treasures of Shinto myth. Most of the shikigami carry a mark based on one of the treasures:

Shikigami	Symbol based on
White Divine Dog	Jewel of Turning Back on the Road (Chikaeshi-no-tama)
Black Divine Dog	Jewel of Plenty (Taru-tama); Totality combines both dogs’ marks
Toad	Mirror of the Deep (Okitsu-kagami)
Great Serpent	Jewel of Life (Iku-tama)
Max Elephant	Mirror of the Shore (Hetsu-kagami)
Rabbit Escape (one rabbit)	Cloth of Various Things (Kusagusa-no-mono-no-hire)
Round Deer	Jewel of Resuscitation (Makarukaeshi-no-tama)
Piercing Ox	Cloth of the Bees (Hachi-no-hire)
Mahoraga’s wheel	Sword Eight-Hands Long (Yatsuka-no-tsurugi)

Nue’s and Tiger Funeral’s marks are never shown. Mahoraga’s chant, “Furube yura yura,” comes from the same myth. Sukuna says the chant and the wheel stand for a perfect cycle (Ch. 118, Episode 41).

The technique also has history with the Gojo clan. Gojo tells Megumi that in the Keichō era, the Zenin clan’s Ten Shadows user and the Gojo clan’s Six Eyes and Limitless user killed each other in a duel (Ch. 117, Episode 41). Megumi guesses that his ancestor did it by dragging Gojo’s ancestor into a Mahoraga ritual (Ch. 58, Episode 23), but this is only his theory. More on that rivalry in our Six Eyes guide.

FAQ

How many shikigami did Megumi actually tame?

Six: Divine Dogs (inherited), Nue, Great Serpent, Toad, Max Elephant and Rabbit Escape. Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral and Mahoraga were tamed by Sukuna while he controlled Megumi’s body.

What are all 10 Ten Shadows shikigami?

Divine Dogs, Nue, Great Serpent, Toad, Max Elephant, Rabbit Escape, Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral, and Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga.

Did Megumi ever tame Mahoraga?

No. He only summoned it as a suicide move in Shibuya (Chapter 117, Episode 41), and Sukuna destroyed it. Sukuna later became the only user ever to tame Mahoraga, and Gojo destroyed it with Hollow Purple in Chapter 235.

What happens when a Ten Shadows shikigami is destroyed?

It can never be summoned again, but its power passes on to other shikigami. The white Divine Dog’s death let the black dog become Divine Dog: Totality (Chapter 47, Episode 19).

What is Tiger Funeral’s ability?

Unknown. Tiger Funeral is only named as one of the shikigami Sukuna fused into Merged Beast Agito (Chapter 234). It is never summoned on its own.

More Jujutsu Kaisen guides

This guide is the English edition of a BuzzBeaver article originally written in Japanese: 日本語版を読む. Facts are checked against the official manga and anime; fan theories are labeled as such.