The Visual Symbolism of the Sharingan

Naruto is a manga rich in esoteric symbolism; it meshes both Eastern and Western esotericism, myth and religion to create a unique visual and thematic identity. The only equivalent I can think of is Berserk.

Despite Naruto's popularity, however, none have delved deep into the details and hidden meanings of the story. In this post, I will talk about the occult symbols that have informed the designs of the Sharingan (and what they mean to the story, more generally).

But before talking about the Sharingan, first I must talk about Orochimaru, Naruto's first major antagonist.

Orochimaru is a character whose background is Faustian, and whose role in the narrative is Mephistophelian. His goal is to make Sasuke fall victim to temptation, intensifying the darkness Sasuke harbors within himself. Of course, on one hand, there is the objective of taking over Sasuke’s body, and that is part of the deal; but on the other hand, the human part of Orochimaru sees in Sasuke a mirrored image of himself, and thus, his envy drives him to want to dominate him.

Orochimaru became obsessed with immortal life after his parents died in war; life disillusioned him. However, instead of walking the path of the Christian, realizing the divine rests within oneself, within one's soul, he turned to darkness, and wished to create a material Philosopher's Stone, so to speak. He also had the intention of learning every single jutsu in existence to become nigh-omniscient, god-like (a reference to the Forbidden Fruit and the Serpent of Genesis). He experimented on humans on a secret, underground, hellish-looking laboratory to achieve his objectives.

The serpent, beyond being a symbol that represents immortality, greed, coldness, and renewal - which is literally the case with Orochimaru - also represents Luciferian temptation, which closely aligns with his narrative role.

From this brief description of Orochimaru, his complexity becomes apparent. As explained before, he's analogous to the Serpent of Genesis, and, like a parasite - many of whom look like serpents, especially like Orochimaru's white serpent appearance - he seeks to possess a main character to inherit his soul, his unique strength and life energy. (There is a deep Gnostic rabbit hole that ties the Demiurge, whose lower half is, symbolically, a serpent, with parasitic worms.)

The Curse Mark Orochimaru injects into Sasuke from a bite (turning into a Rokukorubi as his neck is extended), as if it were poison, to more or less unleash demonic, evil energy (chakra) within him, serves both as a reference to Eastern mythology, as it visually contains three tomoe, and to Western culture and religion - in this case, acting as an allusion to the Mark of the Beast, with the tomoe also symbolizing 666.

And this is no accident; the curse mark represents the Faustian bargain, and under its influence, Sasuke becomes progressively more demonic, until, at the end of part 1, he fully transforms into a demon as he partakes in a profane ritual of death and rebirth.

The Sharingan uses this same symbolism, with the Mangekyo representing power obtained primarily through another satanic bargain. An Uchiha is supposedly required to kill a loved one to acquire this power; and its use renders the user blind, bringing darkness to their light.

Itachi's, Obito's and Madara's Mangekyo are quite plainly designed after the 666.

Even Sasuke’s Mangekyo, which on the surface seems to deviate from the norm, actually depicts 666, albeit subtly: there is a hexagon at the center, six triangles, and six points on the atomic structure. It’s worth noting that the most important atom that defines earthly life - the carbon atom - has 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 6 neutrons. Esoterically, this number represents material reality, which in the case of Naruto, relates to the curse of the shinobi world - something Sasuke embodies as a microcosm.

To further develop this thesis, the origin of the Curse Mark lies in Jugo’s Kekkei Genkai - a technique that absorbs natural energy and transforms it into power for the user, possessing them with malice in the process. Natural energy (senjutsu in this context) is allegorically equivalent to the Dragon, which represents Satan in this context, according to alchemical and esoteric tradition. And in Naruto, the Dragon is manifested, in its most primordial state, as the Juubi (Ten-Tails); and the Juubi is described as an incarnation of natural energy (tying everything together). It is also worth mentioning that Jugo’s clan obtained their power at Ryuchi Cave, where the Great Serpent resides (yet again a reference to Genesis and so on).

The only exception to this rule is Shisui’s Mangekyo, which has a four-sided pattern; he is the purest embodiment of the Will of Fire among the Uchiha who developed the Mangekyo, and therefore his dojutsu makes no allusion to the Mark of the Beast. Shisui is directly compared to Naruto (the archetypal Christ), and his descendant, Kagami, also proved different from the norm, being a follower of the Will of Fire admired even by the Second Hokage, Tobirama, who considered the Uchiha a threat to the Village.

And this is the end of this post. Thank you for your continued support! I've said before I want to make a long video about Naruto in the future, but at the moment, I'm too busy with other projects (the Dark Souls 3 series, a soon-to-be-released video refuting bad Dark Souls 2 critiques which also features plenty of additional lore observations, and more, so I can't say when I'll get to it. The script for it is mostly ready, but it will take a long time to record and edit, and my channel is first and foremost about From Software.)