Nobara Kugisaki

Lore & Background

Nobara's innate Cursed Technique, the Straw Doll Technique, has two primary abilities: Resonance, which allows her to use a straw doll in conjunction with a piece of her opponent to inflict long-range damage by striking a nail into the effigy with a Curse Energy-imbued hammer, transferring and amplifying the impact to the actual target's body; and Hairpin, which detonates embedded nails remotely using Cursed Energy to directly kill her opponent. Her abilities are based on the ushi no toki mairi, a traditional method of inflicting curses.

Nobara is also highly adept at using her hammer to fire nails at opponents, causing both physical and Cursed Energy damage to her target. In addition to her standard abilities, she has demonstrated the use of Cursed Energy Manipulation—Black Flash, which creates a spatial distortion when Cursed Energy is applied within 0.000001 seconds of a physical hit. It is later revealed that Nobara's grandmother is a sorcerer possessing the same abilities and raised Nobara due to a strained relationship with her mother.

In the second official Jujutsu Kaisen light novel, Nobara is shown to be capable of improvising her technique when deprived of her standard tools. In one instance, she uses her heel as a substitute nail and creates a makeshift doll from rope to successfully perform the Straw Doll Technique and defeat an opponent.

Reader's Guide

Nobara is depicted as a logical, creative, authentic, and versatile but judgmental, unempathetic, and irritable fighter. When she meets people, she tends to criticize them because she assumes the worst. She remains calm in stressful situations and can compartmentalize her emotions. Despite her impolite and antagonistic demeanor, she is skilled and cunning, and she cares for her allies. Her combat style relies on the Straw Doll Technique, which requires a straw doll and a piece of her opponent to activate Resonance, or embedded nails for Hairpin. She also uses her hammer to fire nails at opponents for physical and Cursed Energy damage. Key moments include her victory against the Death Painting brothers and her battle with Mahito during the Shibuya Incident, where she demonstrates technical mastery and emotional resilience.

Did You Know?

• Nobara's name was meant by creator Gege Akutami to be 'thorny', with the kanji characters for no (野) and bara (薔薇) meaning 'wild' and 'rose', respectively, while kugi (釘) means 'nail' or 'peg'.
• Akutami found Nobara's dialogue to be the easiest to write of the three main characters, but struggled with her composure in action scenes.
• According to Akutami, Nobara is best described by the songs 'Seishun Kyosokyoku' by Sunny Day Service and 'Ano Depaato' by Natsuko Nisshoku.
• Japanese voice actress Asami Seto struggled to voice Nobara, as her personality contrasts heavily with Nobara's brashness, and had to consult and rehearse many times with the producers.