Masamichi Yaga

Biodata

Appearance

• Build: Tall and imposing, with large, thick hands 28 29.
• Hair: Crew cut 12.
• Accessories: Sunglasses, which he adjusts or removes when surprised or distressed 12 29 46.

Personality

Yaga is a demanding teacher who treats sorcery as dangerous work rather than an opportunity for prestige. During Li Shunchen’s entrance interview, he rejects shallow enthusiasm for power and half-hearted justice, testing the applicant’s motives under an immediate physical threat. He nevertheless appreciates initiative: Li’s attempt to steal control of his Cursed Corpse earns his approval rather than punishment 12.

His teaching is practical and responsive to individual limitations. Although he initially urges Li to prioritize the higher potential of Limitless and Cursed Spirit Manipulation, he changes his recommendation after learning that Phantom Parade can sustain only one reproduced technique at a time 29.

Beneath his severity, Yaga is protective and sentimental. His autonomous Cursed Corpse research is intended to offer comfort to people separated by death, not merely to produce stronger weapons. He is also visibly humiliated by the higher-ups’ treatment of injured students and intervenes when Gojo handles the hospitalized Li too roughly 31 46 50.

Abilities & Skills

Puppet Manipulation

Yaga uses Puppet Manipulation to control Cursed Corpses through cursed energy connections and internal control nodes 12.

• Commands a pink kappa Cursed Corpse to attack Li during his entrance test 12.
• Immediately reclaims the doll after Li briefly usurps it, overwhelming Li’s control with his own cursed energy 12.
• Teaches that effective control requires precise cursed energy distribution and the ability to divide attention between multiple bodies 29.

Cursed Corpse Construction

Yaga constructs and repairs Cursed Corpses, teaching both their physical construction and the techniques needed to operate them 12 16.

• Provides Li with private instruction beyond the regular class curriculum 16.
• Teaches core crafting and cursed energy circuit construction through workshop study and written notes 30 31.
• Explains that ordinary Cursed Corpses—including Li’s Wukong—depend on energy supplied by a sorcerer and stop functioning when it is exhausted 31.

Fully Independent Cursed Corpse Research

Yaga researches self-aware Cursed Corpses capable of generating their own cursed energy rather than requiring repeated external charging 31.

• Proposed method: Copy information from the souls of the dead into a core 31.
• Design requirements: Complex cursed energy circuits, three-core resonance, soul-information replication, and the soul’s observation of itself 30 31.
• Intended purpose: Create a new being that carries memories of the deceased, offering the living a form of reunion without claiming to resurrect the original person 31.
• Documented limitation: Six months of joint research with Li leaves full independence blocked by “mutual incompatibility” 31.

Instruction and Tactical Assessment

• Organizes demonstrations of students’ innate techniques, emphasizing that technique information can decide life or death 14 27.
• Recognizes the strategic importance of Li’s ability to heal other people with Reverse Cursed Technique 28.
• In a simulation, adds Li to the Star Plasma Vessel escort because his combat ability and healing make him suitable support for Gojo and Geto 19.

Equipment / Items

• Pink kappa Cursed Corpse — A doll Yaga repairs by hand and uses for Li’s entrance examination 12.
• Practice Cursed Corpses — Three unfinished metal skeletons used to test Li’s ability to control multiple bodies 29.
• Needle, thread, and doll-making materials — Tools used in his workshop 12 29.
• Three-core prototype and preliminary blueprints — Research materials for fully independent Cursed Corpses, shared with Li during a simulation 30 31.

History

Recruiting Li Shunchen

A Window captain contacts Yaga after finding Li alive following the defeat of a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. Intrigued by the report of an independently awakened fifteen-year-old who apparently reproduced a dead sorcerer’s technique, Yaga orders that Li be brought to Tokyo Jujutsu High for an interview 11.

Yaga tests Li with a Cursed Corpse while questioning why he wants to become a sorcerer. Li briefly redirects the doll’s punch toward him, combining copied Puppet Manipulation with a verbal distraction. Yaga recognizes the maneuver, accepts him, and assigns him to the first-year class 12 13.

After Li demonstrates Blue and heals a deliberately inflicted wound on Yaga’s palm, Yaga reassesses him as an exceptional talent. Li’s subsequent demonstration of precise, simultaneous Cursed Corpse control earns Yaga’s recognition, which grants Li an additional simulation opportunity through the system’s causal-bond mechanics 27 28 29 30.

Mentorship in the Simulations

In an early simulation, Yaga recommends Puppet Manipulation as a practical answer to Li’s difficulties contributing alongside Gojo and Geto. He also teaches Cursed Corpse creation, but ends a lesson abruptly when Li questions the deeper purpose of his research 15 16.

In a later simulation, Li’s rapid construction of Wukong convinces Yaga to share more. He reveals his ambition to create autonomous life and explains the emotional purpose behind copying soul information. Their subsequent research fails to achieve full independence, though Li applies its findings to improve Wukong 30 31.

Star Plasma Vessel Mission

During a simulation, Yaga interrupts an escalating argument between Gojo and Geto and assigns them the Star Plasma Vessel escort. He explains Tengen’s impending evolution, identifies Q and the Time Vessel Association as threats, and orders the students to deliver the girl for assimilation in two days 18 19.

Privately, Yaga admits that Tengen did not request Li’s participation: he added Li because he would feel safer with someone dependable watching over the other two. When Riko Amanai later insists on attending school, Yaga relays Tengen’s order to honor her wishes despite the danger 19 23.

After Riko’s death in a later simulation, Yaga conveys the higher-ups’ rejection of Li’s request to attend her funeral. His explanation indicates that no funeral was planned; he also has no information about Misato Kuroi’s future arrangements 42.

Injured Students and Geto’s Defection

Yaga seeks an explanation from the higher-ups after Nanami and Haibara are severely injured on a misclassified mission. He returns with only the original Grade 2 payment, repackaged as relief money because the target remained undefeated. Exhausted and humiliated, he acknowledges that the leadership has become unusually blatant in shifting blame onto field personnel 45 46.

Following Geto’s village massacre, Yaga tells Gojo that Geto killed 112 villagers, gravely injured Li, and apparently murdered his own parents. When Li awakens and blames himself, Yaga restrains Gojo for grabbing and shouting at the injured student, then punches him on the head after releasing him 50.

Relationships

• Li Shunchen — Student and private apprentice. Yaga recognizes his talent, adapts his instruction to Phantom Parade’s limitations, and shares his autonomous Cursed Corpse research with him in a simulation 12 16 29 31.
• Satoru Gojo — Student whose irreverence repeatedly requires discipline. Despite their friction, Gojo reacts immediately when Li appears to attack Yaga 14 19 28.
• Suguru Geto — Student entrusted with major missions alongside Gojo. His massacre and suspected killing of his parents leave Yaga anguished and unable to understand his actions 19 50.
• Shoko Ieiri — Student whom Yaga asks to help Li settle into the dormitories. He considers her insufficiently combat-capable for the Star Plasma Vessel mission 13 19.
• Jujutsu Society’s higher-ups — Authorities whose decisions Yaga must relay but cannot always change. His attempt to secure accountability for Nanami and Haibara yields only nominal compensation 42 46.

Notable Quotes

“Very greedy, and very arrogant. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, you pass.” 12

“Do you think fighting is the only thing Cursed Corpses can be used for?” 16

“Perhaps this false reunion could at least offer some small measure of comfort.” 31