Highlights
- Irazu Sando is a hidden dimension testing potential Soul King candidates.
- Ichigo’s unique hybrid background makes him a potential replacement for the Soul King.
- Ichibe Hyosube subjects Ichigo to the Irazu Sando as a contingency plan against Yhwach’s goal to kill the Soul King.
Among the many new additions and changes implemented in the Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War anime, the various scenes of Ichigo walking through a shrine passage left fans confused and intrigued. The mystery of the Soul King only became deeper thanks to the addition of this subplot. Ichigo is progressively more exhausted as if walking through this shrine takes extreme effort from him. And then his eyes resembled those like the Soul King’s.
What exactly is the Irazu Sando ritual? Why did Ichibe Hyosube put Ichigo through this? Here’s everything you need to know about this new subplot in Bleach, as explained by Tite Kubo in his Klub Outside.
Ichigo’s Closeness to the Soul King
The Soul King is the ultimate being in the world of Bleach. He was a man of otherworldly power who created the three realms, tying him to the Soul Reapers, humans, and Hollows. The Soul King serves as a lynchpin, holding the three realms together. But what if the Soul King dies?
Because of the Soul King’s role and special existence, his death would forcefully clash the three realms together, essentially throwing the souls out of balance and destroying the realms as they exist now, reverting them into the limbo-like place that existed before.
If the Soul King dies, the universe would need a replacement, someone with a similar spiritual physiology that could function the same as the Soul King. The only creature with such characteristics is someone with ties to the three realms, someone that was a union of humans, Soul Reaper, and Hollow. Ichigo Kurosaki is a human born out of a Soul Reaper, Isshin Shiba, and a Quincy with Hollow reiatsu, Masaki Kurosaki. Ichigo is a perfect hybrid of all the major races. Combined with his extraordinary power, Ichigo could potentially become a new Soul King.
What Is Irazu Sando?
In Cour 2 of Thousand Year Blood War, Ichibe Hyosube puts Ichigo into a shrine passage, where he must walk until its end while holding a wooden sword. Ichigo gets progressively more exhausted the more he walks, until his eyes start to reassemble the Soul King’s, and a black fleshy formation fills his body, causing him extreme pain. Once Ichigo survives this, he arrives at Senjumaru Shutara’s chambers, and Ichibe smiles, showing the ritual was successful.
The Irazu Sando is a hidden dimension designed to test potential Soul King candidates. The more the candidate walks along the path, they begin to feel the weight of supporting all existence like the Soul King does. Eventually, they begin to see visions of the Soul King’s past and the Soul Society’s ultimate sin, signifying the candidate is linked with the Soul King. Ichigo sees the Soul King’s creation of the three realms, Soul Society, Human World, and Hueco Mundo, and then having his limbs amputated by the noble families and becoming the lynchpin of the universe. He then sees visions of the captains of the Gotei 13 and is surrounded by different types of reiatsu, representing the major races of the Bleach world. Until he channels this extreme energy into the wooden sword, successfully sustaining the Soul King’s reiatsu, proving himself to be a suitable replacement for him in the case of his passing.
Why does Ichibe do this to Ichigo?
Yhwach’s goal is to kill the Soul King and revert the universe to its original state as the Chaos Void. Ichibe knows this, and like the pragmatic, cruel being he is, he starts working on a contingency plan, in the case Yhwach succeeds in his goal. Ichigo and Yhwach are the only beings capable of becoming the Soul King’s replacement, but Ichibe must first test Ichigo to see if he’s a suitable candidate. This is why he puts Ichigo in the Irazu Sando. In the case of the Soul King’s death, Ichigo could be the new lynchpin, holding the realms together, against his will.
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