Tsukuyomi is a Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu and one of the most powerful genjutsu in existence.[2] Said to represent the "Spiritual World and Darkness" (精神界と闇, Seishinkai to Yami), it is the antipode to Amaterasu.[1]
Overview[]
After making eye contact with a target, Itachi Uchiha traps them in an illusion of his design. Through his unprecedented ability to alter targets' perception of time,[3] he uses Tsukuyomi to subject victims to days' worth of torture in a matter of seconds; examples include continual stabbing or reliving traumatic events over and over.[4][5] Tsukuyomi's illusions are usually represented as an inverted grey scale; in the anime, there is usually also a red moon in a red sky. Because of the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan and the speed with which Tsukuyomi works, normal methods of countering genjutsu are ineffective against it.[6]
Using Tsukuyomi requires a great deal of chakra, making it inadvisable for Itachi to continue fighting after using it.[6] Like all Mangekyō Sharingan abilities, Tsukuyomi also places strain on Itachi's eyes when performed, blurring his vision.[7] However, victims of Tsukuyomi have it far worse, as they are ordinarily rendered comatose as soon as Tsukuyomi's illusion is completed. Sharingan users can briefly resist unconsciousness,[4] but only particularly skilled Sharingan users can actually break free of Tsukuyomi's influence.[7] Tsunade is the only person known to be capable of healing the psychological damage caused by Tsukuyomi.[8] In Akatsuki Hiden, Itachi theorises that love can be used to revive victims, his reasoning being that, since Tsukuyomi destroys the spirit, feelings that reconnect the spirit can undo Tsukuyomi; Kodaka does indeed do this in order to resuscitate his younger brother, Kiiro.
According to Itachi Shinden: Book of Dark Night, "the time that passed within this genjutsu was one one-hundredth of one one-thousandth of one one-millionth of that of the real world."[9] In the novel, Itachi uses Tsukuyomi on Izumi Uchiha, causing her to live through decades of a happy life in the span of a few moments. When she dies of old age within the illusion, her actual body dies as well.
Influence[]
Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (月読命, lit. "Moon-Reading Lord") is the kami of the moon in ancient Japanese myth and the Shintō religion. He is one of the "three noble children" (alongside the sun goddess Amaterasu and the sea and storm god Susanoo) born when Izanagi cleansed himself of defilement after escaping from the underworld, with Tsukuyomi born when Izanagi washed out his right eye. According to the Nihon Shoki, Amaterasu's wrath over Tsukuyomi's killing of the goddess of food led to the sun goddess refusing to ever look at Tsukuyomi's face again, forever moving to another part of the sky while Tsukuyomi's fear of his sister's wrath makes him hide during the day (hence explaining why day and night are separate).
According to some modern interpretations, Tsukuyomi is thought of as a god of time, or at least of the calendar; the basis for this is the interpretation of "moon reading" as reading the movements of the moon, an act paired with reading the calender(=day), and the verb read (読み, yomi) being used in the Man'yōshū and other books to refer to counting the days of the month. This connection may be referenced by Itachi's ability to manipulate a victim's sense of time within Tsukuyomi's dreamscape.
Trivia[]
- During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Itachi states his intention to use Tsukuyomi on Kabuto Yakushi in order to find out how to stop the Impure World Reincarnation.[10] It's unclear if the genjutsu he ends up using is in fact Tsukuyomi,[11] as such a form of information-gathering is usually done with Genjutsu: Sharingan.
- In Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Itachi uses Tsukuyomi by having the red moon crush the opponent while the image of the moon warps into a copy of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tō no Sho, pages 252-253
- ↑ Naruto chapter 389, page 1
- ↑ Naruto chapter 478, page 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Naruto chapter 142, pages 15-18
- ↑ Naruto chapter 147, page 15
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Naruto chapter 257, pages 7-8
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Naruto chapter 388, pages 13-15
- ↑ Naruto chapter 172, page 15
- ↑ Taken literally, this means one second of time within Tsukuyomi's illusion is equivalent to 1 x 10-11 seconds of real time.
- ↑ Naruto chapter 578
- ↑ Naruto chapter 588
