Yuanli

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Yuanli (原理)
Alias(es)	Lili 20
Gender	Female
Age	Eight years old in the opening chapters; retains memories of numerous previous lives 2 9 23
Family	Daughter of Toji Zenin and Yuanyin; biological older sister of Megumi 2 15 16
Occupation/Role	Family caretaker and provider; experienced in assassination and criminal work from previous lives 2 3 23 45
Status	Alive; survives a suicide attempt after Megumi intervenes 26 49
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “A letter to her” 1

Background / History

Previous lives

Yuanli remembers repeated reincarnations alongside Yuanyin, remaining her daughter across successive lives. By their later encounters, she has spent centuries seeking reassurance that this enduring connection means Yuanyin loves her 23 49.

During her fourth reincarnation, they lived through the Sengoku Period’s conflict between humans and demons. Yuanyin befriended the powerful dog demon Princess Tsukuyomi after a three-day battle. At ten years old, Yuanli was entrusted with looking after the children because neither woman knew how to do so; Yuanyin called her the most reliable adult in her world 9.

Their survival frequently depended on violence and criminal work. Yuanli recalls initially fearing firearms and killing, then imitating her mother’s behavior until their expressions and ruthlessness became alike. Her later experience includes years in the Mafia, where killing threats without hesitation became an ingrained response 23 45.

Childhood with Toji and Yuanyin

In her current life, Yuanli is Toji and Yuanyin’s daughter and Megumi’s older sister. Yuanyin’s instruction to stop crying and grow up became central to Yuanli’s belief that she had to be mature and useful to avoid abandonment 15 18.

Despite remembering earlier affection, Yuanli experienced increasing exclusion from her mother’s family life. Yuanyin stopped taking photographs with her after she turned four and refused to see her during her final hospitalization, even when Yuanli brought pansies after a ten-hour round trip 3 7. Toji later acknowledges that he neither challenged this treatment nor offered Yuanli the comfort she needed 7 12.

Appearance

Yuanli is a small, thin child whose frail appearance contrasts with her physical strength and adult-like composure 2 3.

• Hair: Medium-length black hair 16.
• Eyes: Emerald green, matching Toji’s 16 32.
• Build: Not particularly tall and described as looking slightly malnourished at eight years old; barely over a meter tall 2 3.
• Family resemblance: Shares Toji’s hair and eye colors 32.

Personality

Yuanli is practical, observant, and accustomed to assuming responsibility. She manages journeys, household needs, childcare, and funeral arrangements without waiting for Toji to act. Her composure leads him to mistake her for someone who cannot break, concealing the severity of her grief 2 3 12.

Her apparent self-sufficiency is rooted partly in a profound fear of abandonment. She tries to become more mature, reliable, and perfect so others will not leave her. After the confrontation with Tomomi, this pressure erupts into panic, repeated apologies, and promises to do better 18 38. She also admits difficulty recognizing friendship, romantic love, and familial love, despite desperately wanting connection 25.

Yuanli does not follow conventional morality and describes herself as having defined her own justice. She can use coercion, torture, assassination, and political manipulation, yet her attachments impose limits: she avoids exploiting a criminal leader’s family, promises Megumi not to kill, and spares people she could finish off 23 27 33 41.

With Megumi, she emphasizes consent and personal choice. She respects his reluctance to be touched, asks permission before embracing him, and refuses affection performed merely to fulfill Yuanyin’s wishes 16 20.

Abilities & Skills

Heavenly Restriction

Yuanli explicitly attributes her exceptional eyesight to Heavenly Restriction. Zenin clan members also identify her as a bearer of it 30 36.

• Reads Tomomi’s name tag from a distance during the racecourse encounter 36.
• Catches a cursed-tool whip, pulls it from its wielder, and tears it apart with her bare hands 30.
• Can pull Toji toward a train seat with force he cannot refuse 2.
• Her strength does not make her invulnerable: she suffers a broken arm, burns, and a lower-back injury 4 8 27.

Divine Palanquin / Void

Her storage ability is called a cursed technique in Jujutsu Society’s terminology and an origin technique in Princess Tsukuyomi’s terminology. Its true name is Divine Palanquin, but Yuanli calls it the Void because she does not believe in gods 35.

• Stores weapons, tools, and prepared drugs in its vast, empty space 35.
• Retrieves handcuffs from the shadows to stop Toji from leaving 32.
• Removes the weapons and books from the Zenin Forbidden Vault before the estate is sealed 40.
• Produces emergency medication directly from storage when Megumi begins coughing blood 40.

Firearms and Combat

Yuanli has extensive experience with guns and lethal violence from previous lives 23 45.

• Uses Quasar to intimidate Yoshida and shoots Shiu Kong during interrogation 7 27.
• Employs stun weapons against Zenin clan members, including Naoya 31 33.
• Conducts rooftop surveillance and prepares a long-range attack on Geto using Ice Explosion 44 45.
• Adapts her usual lethal methods when constrained by her promise to Megumi 33.

Investigation and Political Manipulation

Yuanli combines observation, interrogation, document research, and staged opportunities to control events.

• Investigates a criminal organization’s records and takes its leader’s seals during the family’s financial crisis 23.
• Identifies politician Miura Yasukimi from a limited clue about his parliamentary position, narrowing candidates by faction and region 35.
• Exploits the Zenin Clan’s political connections and uses Ryu Zenin as an intermediary in the scheme that leads to the estate’s confiscation 33 35.
• Questions Yusaku Kudo so effectively that he abandons his initial reluctance to explain Toji’s injury 43.

Caregiving and Trauma Support

Yuanli’s care is both practical and attentive to the recipient’s boundaries.

• Feeds Megumi, manages shopping and travel, and tends injuries 2 3 8 18.
• Helps Megumi distinguish traumatic memories from the present through repeated questions about the time, warm milk, and a promise to remain beside him 17.
• Separates Megumi’s fifteen-year-old memories from his two-year-old body’s right to a childhood 18.
• Helps Toji recount his abuse without treating his survival choices as evidence of guilt 32.
• Recognizes that she cannot solve Megumi’s troubles by treating him only as a child, and begins approaching him as an equal partner 40 41.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Quasar — Firearm used for intimidation and interrogation 7 27.
• SPT32 Ice Explosion — Yuanyin’s kinetic sniper rifle, retrieved from the Void for Yuanli’s attempted assassination of Geto. Yuanyin praised its ability to make cover ineffective 45.
• Stun baton and stun gun — Used to interrogate Toji’s former tormentors and incapacitate Naoya 31 33.
• Prepared drugs — Supplied by Miss Adams and stored in the Void; include interrogation drugs and a memory-blurring drug given to Naoya 35.
• Emergency medication — Includes a specially formulated inhaled medicine used during Megumi’s cursed-energy dysregulation 40.
• Zenin Forbidden Vault collection — Weapons and books taken before the clan estate is sealed; Yuanli reads the books for information about cursed energy 40.
• Photographs of Yuanyin — Treasured reminders she tries to rescue and reconstruct after Toji burns family belongings 7 8 10.

Relationships

• Yuanyin — Mother and companion across reincarnations. Yuanli’s devotion coexists with unresolved doubts about whether she was wanted; even after gaining other loving relationships, she remains caught in the pain of being Yuanyin’s daughter 1 18 49.
• Toji Zenin — Father. Their initially distant relationship becomes reciprocal through forgiveness, care, and Yuanli’s defense of him against the Zenin Clan 7 19 32 35.
• Megumi Fushiguro / Megumi Zenin — Biological younger brother. Their cautious relationship develops into openly acknowledged family and a mutual promise to protect one another as partners 16 25 26 41.
• Suguru Geto — Both a target and a source of kindness. Yuanli struggles to reconcile his compassion with the future threat she associates with him; he eventually offers her the possibility of becoming a jujutsu sorcerer 44 49.
• Satoru Gojo — Megumi’s trusted teacher and Geto’s protector. Yuanli considers supporting him to help avert Megumi’s future, but he also detects and interrupts her attack on Geto 41 44.
• Shiu Kong — Coerced information broker whom Yuanli brings under her control to monitor Toji’s connections and investigate the Zenin Clan’s political backing 27 33 35.
• Naoya Zenin — Target of her retaliation for Toji’s abuse. His subsequent fixation on her prompts her to administer a memory-blurring drug; she nevertheless spares him 33 35.
• Hiromitsu Morofushi — Police officer who helps get feverish Megumi to the hospital. His kindness challenges Yuanli’s longstanding hostility toward police 19.
• Princess Tsukuyomi — Powerful demon associated with Yuanli and Yuanyin’s fourth reincarnation; provides the terminology “origin technique” for Yuanli’s ability 9 35.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Yuanyin’s Death and the Funeral

• Yuanli writes a letter answering Yuanyin’s deathbed question about regret. Unable to obtain reassurance about her mother’s feelings, she faces the prospect of losing their connection permanently 1.
• With Toji incapacitated by grief, she handles travel, death arrangements, and the paperwork required to see her mother’s body 2 3.
• After collecting the ashes, she forgives Toji and places the urn in his arms, allowing him to begin confronting the loss 3.

Cemetery Injury and Reconciliation

• Yuanli visits the remote cemetery alone, tends the grave, and burns a private letter. During her descent, she falls and injures her left arm before police find her 4.
• In the police car, she cries in Toji’s arms. He sincerely apologizes for his neglect and for leaving her to carry adult responsibilities 7.
• Their tentative connection is damaged when Toji burns Yuanyin’s belongings. Yuanli burns her hands trying to save a photograph, but later reciprocates his care by tending his injuries 8.
• Discovery of her dangerous backpack forces Toji to recognize that her calm exterior has hidden suicidal distress 12.

Becoming Megumi’s Sister

• Yuanli recognizes that Megumi’s unusual behavior may reflect memories of another life. After learning that his soul is fifteen, she adjusts her care to respect both his independence and his young body 15 16 18.
• She supports him through nightmares without demanding disclosure, allowing him choices rather than imposing closeness 17.
• When recovered memories of Yuanyin prompt him to call her “Lili” and embrace her, Yuanli asks for his genuine feelings instead of obedience to their mother’s wishes 20.

Financial Crisis and Family Fracture

• With household funds nearly exhausted, Yuanli secretly returns to criminal methods to provide for Toji and Megumi. Toji discovers bloodied clothing and realizes she has been injured 23.
• After Toji disappears, Yuanli interprets Megumi’s affection as kindness rather than acceptance of her as family. She leaves two billion for him and Toji to divide, then departs for the cemetery 24 25.
• Megumi realizes he does regard her as family and pursues her. He interrupts her suicide attempt, after which Yuanli recognizes that what she wants is lasting companionship rather than rescue alone 25 26.

Search for Toji and the Zenin Clan’s Fall

• Yuanli’s interrogation of Shiu reveals that she was the target of a two-billion-yen assassination contract. Toji reacted furiously when he learned the target had been injured, but Shiu cannot explain his continued absence 27.
• At the Zenin estate, Yuanli rejects the clan’s misogyny and uncovers the abuse Toji suffered as a child. She stops him from withdrawing in shame and insists that Heavenly Restriction carries no guilt 30 31 32.
• Working around her promise not to kill anyone, she shifts from direct retaliation to an indirect political scheme involving Ryu, drugs, and the clan’s backer. Government forces confiscate the estate 33 35.
• Yuanli accompanies Toji through the emptied compound and embraces him as he breaks down, welcoming him home as her father 35.

Tomomi and the Hawaii Trip

• At the racecourse, Yuanli notices Megumi’s fear of Fushiguro Tomomi, confronts the woman, and helps expose her threatening behavior 36.
• Yuanli later recognizes that her assumptions about Toji helped distort the confrontation. Fear that he will abandon her triggers a severe emotional breakdown 38.
• In Hawaii, Toji’s bomb injury and Megumi’s dangerous overexertion show her that a change of surroundings cannot resolve their underlying problems 40.
• She and Megumi disclose their pasts. Taking his wish to change the Shibuya Incident seriously, Yuanli accepts his offer to be her shield and promises to protect him in return 41.

Conflict with Geto

• Yuanli attempts to eliminate Geto as a threat to her family, but his kindness complicates her resolve. She sends him soup as repayment for candy he once gave her before preparing another attack; Gojo intervenes 44 45.
• Geto prepares to kill the enemy he associates with Ming Bai’s death, but cannot strike when he sees a little girl. He instead comforts Yuanli, believing an evil presence is controlling her 48 49.
• Yuanli initially hopes to provoke him into killing her. Their conversation about identity redirects her toward the possibility of becoming someone other than the suffering “Yuanli,” and Geto offers jujutsu sorcery as one possible future 49.

Notable Quotes

“You can choose for yourself whether it's the battlefield or the house. Whatever you choose, I'll stay beside you until the memory ends.” 17

“Toji, survival is an instinct. There's no guilt or wrongdoing in it. The ones who were wrong, the guilty ones, were the people who threatened you, those shallow, ignorant people. You did wonderfully.” 32

“I'm someone who doesn't follow conventional morality. Like every villain, I've defined my own ‘justice.’” 41