Gojo Satoru’s name meaning in Japanese

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Kanji and meanings of Gojo’s name

Kanji and meanings of Gojo’s name

Does the name Gojo Satoru has some special meaning or origin in Japanese?

Junko

Akutami Gege, the author of Jujutsu Kaisen told that he named Gojo because he liked the number five written in kanji symbol. GO is five in Japanese. Satoru is a very common name for boys in Japan.

Gojo is the family name that really exists in Japan and has a long history. I’ll explain its origin and fun facts about Gojo Satoru’s ancestor.

The family name GOJO

The Japanese family name “Gojo” is derived from “Gojo Dori”, the Gojo street in Kyoto.

GO means five and JO means branch, that makes Gojo Dori the fifth street. Of course there are other streets with numbers like the first street “Ichijo” and the second street “Nijo”.

Kyoto city has been a central place of Japanese politics and culture. So it’s often the case that family names with JO are noble lines. Actually, the Gojo family in Jujutsu Kaisen is described as one of the highest-ranked Jujutsu sorcerer families.

The first name SATORU

The word SATORU means enlightenment and to realize the truth. It’s originally a Buddhism word.

This is a kanji character with clever and intellectual impressions and commonly used for boy names.

Junko

As for the fact that teacher Gojo is clever, he es described as a descendent of Sugawara Michizane.

Sugawara Michizane? Is he a historical person who really existed?

Junko

Yes. He is now enshrined and respected as the god of learning. For us Japanese, Sugawara Michizane is a man that symbolizes a clever person. At the same time, he is well known for putting people under his curse.

Who is Sugawara Michizane, his ancestor?

Sugawara Michizane is a Japanese scholar and politician who existed in the Heian period in Japan (792 -1192). He was a superior politician and got a rapid promotion, but ended up being relegated and died a remorseful death because of other noble members’ jealousy.

After his death, he turned into an evil spirit and gave countless disasters to Kyoto city. The imperial court decided to build a new shrine and enshrined Michizane as a god in order to calm his anger. This is the Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto and Michizane is respected as the god of learning.

I can say Sugawara Michizane was one of the best-known and the most powerful curse in Japanese history. It perfectly suits the setting of Jujutsu Kaisen and teacher Gojo.

Here’s some pictures of Kitano Tenmangu!

photo of kitano tenmangu in kyoto, japan

For your information, Okkotsu Yuta is also a descendant of Sugawara Michizane as well and he is a distant relative of Gojo Satoru. Here’s the post about Okkotsu Yuta!