Bleach: Shunsui Kyoraku’s Zanpakuto Katen Kyokotsu Explained

Bleach is packed with unique zanpakuto in the series, and one of the most unique is that of Shunsui Kyoraku’s zanpakuto.

His bankai is so dangerous that he can never use his bankai in front of his allies. So let’s learn about Shunsui’s zanpakuto!

Shunsui Kyoraku’s Zanpakuto: Katen Kyokotsu

Shunsui wields a unique Zanpakuto that exists as a saisho sword pair consisting of a tachi and a wakizashi.

The swords’ cross gaurds are rectangular with corners cut off and are decorated by cherry petal and line patterns.

Each of them has a dark-blue handle. He usually keeps them sheathed through his waist tie on his left side.

Shikai

Shunsui’s shikai has one of the longest unseal commands of any Shikai.

The command is “The Flowery Winds Become Disturbed, The God of Flowers Sings, The Heavenly Winds Become Disturbed, The Devil of Heaven Sneers.”

Shunsui holds his blades against each other, forming a cross, and utters the poem-like command to release his shikai.

In its shikai form, Katen Kyokotsu becomes a pair of huge, black, extremely curved Chinese scimitars with silver edges. Meanwhile, its hild and tsuba remain unchanged, but with long red tassels dangling from the end.

Katen Kyokotsu’s ability is to make children’s games into reality with the understanding that “You win, you live. You lose, you die.”

His Zanpakuto makes the rules. And anyone who steps within the boundaries of its spiritual pressure is forced to follow the rules.

The games we have seen in the series that Shunsui’s Zanapkuto has used are:

Bushogoma: In this, Shusui rotates at high speed with his blades facing in the opposite direction. This creates large wind blades that he fires toward his opponents.

These wind blades then combine to create a spinning circle of winds that, on contact, envelope the enemy with tornado-like intensity.

This technique is strong enough to neutralize a powerful Cero Blast.

Takaoni: In this, the power of the person is increased when they take a higher geographical position than the others.

Kageoni: In this game, whoever gets their shadow stepped on by another loses the game. The game allows users to manipulate their shadows to their advantage.

Kyotaku demonstrated the ability to hide himself in shadows when using this technique and also control the shadows to attack his opponent.

Irooni: It is a color-based game where one says the name of the color they want to cut, and you cannot cut anything else.

When you call out the color, the damage is proportional to the amount of color on your body.

If you call out a color that is not on your body, the damage is minimal, even if the attack is fatal.

Daruma-san ga Koronda: This game is basically green-light red-light. Once Shunsui or his opponent is marked as “it”.

Then the other must travel towards them on a trail of Reiatsu left by their attack in order to catch them by surprise.

However, if the one marked “it” sees the other moving, they lose, and losing means death.

Kageokuri: By taring hard enough at their shadow, Shunsui and his opponent can project their afterimage in a different location. The higher the opponent’s Reikaku, the more realistic the afterimage appears to be.

Katen Kyokotsu switches to any of these games anytime, seemingly without any warning or alert.

Bankai: Katen Kyokotsu: Karamatsu Shinju

Shuisui Kyoraku’s bankai release is immensely dangerous and traps anyone within its range; thus, he does not use it unless he knows that his allies are at a safe enough distance.

Kyoraku holds both of his blades in front of him, facing downward. Then, shadows start emerging from his body, while Katen Kyokotsu’s spirit embraces Shunsui.

The shadows distort the environment and transform it into a dark space. Shunsui refers to this space as a dark, gloomy, and hopeless space.

Anyone caught in this space is subjected to a 4-act play alongside Katen Kyokotsu’s Zanpauto spirit.

This play follows the story of a man and his partner, where Shunsui acts as the narrator, his opponent as the man, and Katen Kyokotsu as the man’s partner.

These acts are as follows:

Ichidanme: Tameraikizu no Wakachiai: The wounds Shunsui or his opponent inflict on others will also appear on their bodies.

This compares to the story of a man who suffers from the same wounds as his partner but cannot die from them.

Nidanme: Zanki no Shitone: This act compares to the next part of the story, where the man feels ashamed after inflicting wounds on his partner.

The man collapses in shame and becomes incurably ill.

Shunsui’s opponet gets covered in black spots, causing them to profusely bleed.

Sandanme: Dangyo no Fuchi: A massive amount of water rushes in and englufs Shunsui and his opponent. The water slowly sucks out the Reiatsu and drowns them.

Shunsui compares this to the next part of the story, where the two characters both hurl themselves into the gushing waters.

Shime no Dan: Itokiribasami Chizome no Nodobue: This compares to the final act of the story, when the partners tighten a thread around the man’s neck and kill him.

As Shunsui sheaths his swords, a white thread winds around his opponent’s neck multiple times before pulling it and leaving a deep cut in their throat that expands before blowing up the head.