Summary
TheCan’t Fear Your Own Worldnovelsby Ryohgo Narita add a lot of interesting lore toBLEACH, including revealing the identity of one of the original five Great Noble Families, as well as adding context to the cosmology of the series with regard to the truth behind the Soul King.
The introduction of the antagonist of the novel trilogy, Tokinada Tsunayashiro, and his mysterious aide, Hikone Ubuginu, revealed a lot about theBLEACHuniverse that hadn’t been fully explored in the manga, including some specks of information about an earlier time. Who is Hikone Ubuginu, and what’s their significance to theBLEACHstory?
An Unlikely Existence
A Complete Hybrid
Tokinada Tsunayashiro, a member of a branch of the Tsunayashiro Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Families of Soul Society, orchestrated a series of assassinations in order to become head of the family and thus have control over the Visuals and Surveillance Department. This also gave him access to the records detailing the darkest secrets of Soul Society,including the original sin of the Shinigami.
Having learned about the warped sense of justice the Shinigami put their lives on the line to protect, Tokinada came to the conclusion that being conniving, sadistic and violent was the right way to be a Shinigami. Tokinada’s influence is understated but significant – he is the Shinigami that former 9th Squad Captain Kaname Tо̄sen recalls murdering his best friend, a woman named Kakyо̄, who was struck down by her husband, who was let go because he was a member of one of the Four Great Noble Families.
Anyway, this man is the reason why the former Xcution leader Ginjо̄ Kugo was accused of murdering innocent Shinigami – Tokinada learned that Fullbringers weren’t those whose mothers were attacked by Hollows while pregnant, exposing their unborn to Hollow reiatsu in vitro, but rather, those whose souls contained fragments, or “Nails” of the Soul King himself.
Tokinada enlisted the abilities of 4th Squad 3rd Seat Hanatarо̄ Yamada’s older brother Seinosuke; the former lieutenant of the 4th Squad who is leaps and bounds more proficient in Kidō, and a woman named Aura Michibane, a Fullbringer who leads a religious cult borne from the ashes of Xcution, to create an artificial hybrid soul from the souls of thousands of Shinigami, Hollows, Quincies and Fullbringers. The artificial soul was unstable until theThousand-Year Blood War, where Tokinada was able to get access to the brain of the Sternritter V – The Visionary, Gremmy Thoumeaux, giving rise to an androgynous, upbeat personality known as Hikone Ubuginu, the retainer of the Tsunayashiro Clan and an entity ofsimilar composition to series protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki.
Soul King Candidate
Tokinada Created Hikone to Usurp the Soul King
The reason for the amalgamation of souls of various races in Hikone’s composition lies in Tokinada’s ambition to overthrow the current order and make them into the new Soul King. The inclusion of countless Fullbringers, many of whom were Ginjo’s comrades, in Hikone’s creation means that several fragments of the Soul King find themselves reunited within their body, making Hikone’s expression different from that of Ichigo.
This is because of the strange quality of fragments of the Soul King to have reality-warping powers akin to the Hogyoku, making them a hybrid with a different trajectory entirely. Hikone’s Zanpakutо̄, Ikomikidomoe, is a once-sealed weaponcreated from an ancient Hollow that Ichibē Hyōsube renamedwith the power of his Zanpakutо̄, Ichimonji, because it was far too powerful and made up of far too many souls to purify the usual way.
Hikone’s unique composition is the only reason why they can wield Ikomikidomoe, which is itself a hybrid existence and not the standard Asauchi-turned-Zanpakutо̄, but the ravenous nature of the Hollow eventually means it robs Hikone of a huge chunk of their reiatsu by consuming the Soul King fragments within them in pursuit of the crazy ambition that got it taken down to begin with: long ago, the Hollow that became Ikomikidomoe wanted to eat the Soul King. Thus, Tokinada gifted his retainer; whom he created with the desire to usurp the Soul King, with a Zanpakutо̄ that resulted from a certain Hollow’s greed, bringing together two hybrid forces tied to the Soul King in some way.
Hikone Ubuginu’s Plethora of Abilities
Breaking Down the Limitations
When Hikone activated their Resurrección, their appearance would be increasingly Hollow-like, and the Zanpakuto would reveal different abilities based on the activation phrase that was used. In addition to Hollow abilities like Sonido, Hierro, Gran Rey Cero and rapid regeneration, Hikone also has access to the plethora of Quincy and Fullbringer techniques, including Blut Vene, the ability to summon a Heilig Bogen, reishi manipulation and use of the Bringer Light. There is also a beautiful mastery over these opposing abilities, withh Hikone capable of combining abilities to devastating effect, like when they combine the arrow flurry from their Heilig Bogen with the Cero, or Blut Vene with Hierro.
In addition to immeasurable reiatsu resulting from their composition, Hikone has incredible battle instincts, and an enjoyment for challenging strong foes coming from Gremmy’s brain. Over the course of theCan’t Fear Your Own world story, Hikone engages and overwhelms several powerful opponents, including Kenpachi Zaraki (who has achieved his Bankai at this point), Neliel Tu Odelshwanck, Candice Catnipp, Luppi Antenor, Tier Harribel, Grimjoww and several others. Their Resurrección, Ikomikidomoe Hō’ōraku Hakkei is a brilliant piece of writing. It is translated to Ikomikidomoe, Eight Views of the Fall of the Phoenix, or Ikomikidomoe: Eight Picturesque Sights of theFenghuang’sFall, representing the full name of the Zanpakuto. The name “Ikomikidomoe”, written, 已己巳己巴 comes from the combination of ayojijukugo;a Japanese idiom made up of four characters, and “-tomoe”, a word that refers to the Japanese comma.
The Ultimate Resurrección
The Sun-Swallower
“Ikomiki” is “things that resemble each other”, while the 巴 character giving us the final part of the name is also understood in Chinese to refer to a “ba”, a giant snake that forms part of the idiom “bā shé tūn xiàng” – the snake swallows the elephant; a description of insatiable greed. As a Hollow, this idiom reflects Ikomikidomoe’s ancient attempt to eat the Soul King. The true name, Ikomikidomoe Hō’ōraku Hakkei, written 鳳落八景, invokes the Fenghuang(known in Japanese as a Hō’ō), a phoenix in Chinese mythology that is an immortal bird whose rare appearance is said to be an omen foretelling harmony at the ascent to the throne of a new emperor or era.
It is the representation of a syzygy; the harmonious combination of the male and female aspects (hence the genderless hybrid soul, Hikone). The full name of Ikomikidomoe is something akin to “That Which Consumes Those Like Itself”, but the eight views part comes from the auspiciousness of the number eight in Buddhism, which can refer to the Noble Eightfold Path; the practices that can guide one to liberation from the cycle of reincarnation; or the Ashtamangala; the eight auspicious symbols, of Buddhism and various other Eastern religions that are related to enlightenment.
“Eight Views” is also an East Asian concept related to the eight most beautiful views in an area, again reflective of the fortune associated with the number 8. “Ikomikidomoe Hō’ōraku Hakkei” can hence be understood as “That Which Consumes Those Like Itself, Eight Picturesque Sights of the Fenghuang’s Fall”, with the Fenghuang in question being the genderless Soul King, and the expression of eight picturesque sights of its all refers to Ikomikidomoe’s desire to see itself consume the Soul King; but also represents how such an event leads to not just its own destruction, but a return to chaos. This gives Ikomikidomoe a role akin to Apep in Egyptian myth: the serpent that swallows the sun, a complete destruction of the force that gives life and thus, an abandonment of any chance of achieving enlightenment due to its gluttony; gluttony that ultimately led to its inability to be purified by normal means and meant that the millions of souls that it consumed have beencut off from the cycle of reincarnation.
