TYBW Part 3 — Yoruichi’s Raijin Shunko, Explained

While Yoruichi has been an important part of the Shinigami’s defense against Yhwach’s invasion, she has mostly served in an auxiliary role, helping in the ultimately failed defense of the Soul King Adnyeus and in the setup that enabled the Shinigami and their allies to return to the Soul King’s Palace after Yhwach transformed it into Welt. In the finale of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict, Yoruichi finally joins the fight as she fends off Sternritter D – The Deathdealing, Askin Nakk Le Vaar, who managed to defeat not only Ichigo, but incapacitated both Chad and Orihime too.

During her fight against Nakk Le Vaar, Yoruichi revealed a new aspect to the Shunkō technique she and Soi-Fon used in their battle during the Soul Society arc, the Shunkō: Raijin Senkei. What is it, and how does it work?

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Quick Recap: What Is the Shunkō Technique?

A Powerful Kidō-Based Strength-Augmentation

Shinigami combat has four pillars:

• Hakuda – hand-to-hand combat
• Zanjutsu – swordsmanship
• Kidō – literally “Demon Arts”, the various offensive and support spells employed by the Shinigami
• Hōhō – footwork, referring to the fast defensive movements of which Shunpo (“Flash Step”) is an important aspect

Shunkō 瞬閧 (literally “Flash War Cry”) is a technique invented by Yoruichi Shihōin that combines Hakuda with Kidō, giving rise to a dramatic increase in all physical abilities. The user drives kidō into their arms and legs, ripping apart the fabric of the standard Shinigami Shihakushō at the shoulders, which is why the Onmitsukidō’s uniform, called the Keisen Shōzoku, is sleeveless. Soi-Fon initially thought herself to be the pioneer of this ability, but during their fight, Yoruichi revealed that she had long invented and named the technique. Shunkō is not only a technique used to augment one’s physical abilities, but it can also be used offensively, with the kidō being harnessed also making for a powerful projectile combat option, as well as defensively, if the user concentrates their Reiatsu to a particular area of their body.

When mastered, the kidō driven into the user’s extremities assumes a particular elemental form, and in Yoruichi’s case, the Reishi that surrounds her as she performs the technique becomes like lightning. When Soi-Fon revealed her mastered Shunkō in her battle against BG9 during the events of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2 – The Separation, her Reiatsu assumed the form of intensely swirling winds which form a vortex that whirls around her indefinitely. Soi-Fon dubbed this powerful, endlessly swirling Shunkō the Mukyū Shunkō 無窮 瞬閧 (“Infinite Shunkō”). Yoruichi’s lightning-based Shunkō is a technique she refers to as Shunkō: Raijin Senkei 瞬閧 雷神戦形. (“God of Thunder Battle Form”).

Raiden’s Battle Form

The Flash Goddess is The God of Thunder

In Shinto mythology, Kaminari-sama, also known as Raijin, Raiden, Raikō or Narukami is the god of lightning, thunder and storms (hence that Elder God in the Mortal Kombat franchise), typically depicted with fierce facial expressions standing atop a cloud with a ring of den-den daiko drums with tomoe symbols written on them floating behind him. Yoruichi is known throughout Soul Society as the “Flash Goddess” for her Shunpo mastery, and her talent is incredible, she is actually the one who taught Byakuya Kuchiki how to perform the technique. When preparing the Raijin Senkei, Yoruichi manifests a prismatic network of lightning bolts as she harnesses her Reiatsu to imbue her limbs with kidō, creating a ring of electricity behind her with various nodes that look like the drums seen in most depictions of the Shinto god upon which the form and its abilities are based.

Yoruichi unleashes a column of electrical energy that engulfs the opponent. It would have killed Askin Nakk Le Vaar were it not for his Schrift’s ability to change the lethal dosage of the substances he ingests, which eventually made him immune to Yoruichi’s attacks because he developed immunity to her very Reiatsu. While Yoruichi’s ability sounds like it is immensely powerful, it actually isn’t the final step in the development of the Shunkō technique, and there’s a final “ace-in-the-hole” that many fans who have read the manga are looking forward to seeing in the final cours, BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 4 – The Calamity, which will most likely air sometime in late 2025.

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