Yoruichi Shihōin

Yoruichi Shihouin (四楓院 夜一, Shihōin Yoruichi) is a character in the anime and manga series Bleach.

Character outline

Yoruichi Shihouin is a dark-skinned woman who can transform into a black cat for long periods of time. She is intelligent and witty, and is intimately knowledgeable of Soul Society and its workings, as she was the former leader of the special forces.

Although of noble birth, she acts differently from other nobles. For instance, she instructed Soifon to refer to her without using honorific suffixes. She also showed her playful side when she transformed into her human form before Ichigo, teasing him about his reaction to seeing her naked body.

Yoruichi tends to avoid battles, preferring to help after a fight is over, but she will step in if she thinks her side cannot win. She was responsible for training Chad and Orihime Inoue prior to their entrance into Soul Society. She also trained Ichigo in achieving his final release (bankai), using the methods developed by Kisuke Urahara.

History

Yoruichi Shihouin is the former head of the special forces. She was also the first female and the 22nd generational head of the Shihouin family (天賜兵装番 tenshisōban), one of the four noble families, earning much respect in Soul Society while she was there. While her age has not been revealed, she refers to Byakuya Kuchiki as "Little Byakuya," implying that she is much older than he, perhaps even on par with Utitake, who was Byakua's Senpai. About 100 years prior to the Bleach storyline, she helped Kisuke Urahara in his escape from Soul Society and was thus relieved of her high status. Yoruichi and Urahara are close friends, although many incorrectly believe them to be family due to an error in some scanlations.

While Yoruichi was the special forces commander, she took in Soifon as a guard and became her mentor. She taught Soifon most of the techniques she knew. As a result, Soifon succeeded her as head of the special forces, after Yoruichi's escape from Soul Society.

Since the 100 years, it has been stated that she "has kept her distance from battle since then". According to the manga, Yoruichi disappeared over 100 years before the storyline, but did not fight for 100 years. Her segregation from fighting seems to be the main reason for Yoruichi's struggle during her fight with the captain of the second division, Soifon.

Abilities and items

As a member of a noble family and head of the special forces, Yoruichi acquired a lot of powerful abilities and artifacts.

File:Yoruichi Cat.jpg

Yoruichi Shihouin in the form of a cat from the Bleach anime.

One of her most important and unique abilities is that she can transform into a black cat at will. It is unknown if this ability possesses any time limit, but it is unlikely considering she used it for so long that she has become unused to her human form and dislikes wearing clothing (much to Ichigo's chagrin). As a cat, Yoruichi is still able to use many of her abilities. Her transformation allows her a complete disguise in multiple ways; in addition to not appearing in a human form, her voice as a cat is deep enough for most to assume that she is male.

A less unique but equally important ability is the flash step (瞬歩 shunpo), which lets her move incredibly fast for short distances with each 'step'. Although many high-ranking shinigami have this ability, Yoruichi holds the title Goddess of Flash (瞬神 shunshin), because she has mastered this ability to such a level that she can appear to be in several places at once, and wipe out entire special forces squadrons in moments. It's unclear how many steps she can take before collapsing, but we know that she has managed to take 200 + steps before feeling out of breath. This was done even while she was carrying an unconscious Ichigo and despite being out of practice for a hundred years. Even so, she considered this not up to her standards.

Yoruichi is a master of hand to hand combat (hakuda) and demon arts (kidō) and has learned one of the ultimate techniques that combines these combat arts. The technique is called shunkō (瞬閧, flash cry) and allows the user to concentrate high amounts of energy in different parts of their body and blast it at opponents.

Yoruichi also has two items that allow her to fly (also used by Ichigo). One is a wand with a skull atop it that produces a tentacle that acts as a harness, and a single, bat-shaped wing that acts as a hang glider. Flight is triggered using the word tobe (fly!). No skill or previous experience is required to fly using this artifact.

The other is the tentōken (天踏絢 heavenly dancing figure), a brown cloak with a large draw string closure at the collar, with a large brooch displaying the Shihouin family crest. Like the wand, the tentōken seems to require no skill or previous experience to use. It also seems to be superior to the wand, since it allows one to hover in mid air, and leaves ones hands free. So far, only Ichigo has been shown using this artifact.

Notable battles

• Soifon - Soifon challenges Yoruichi in an effort to prove that she has improved; Soifon does this due to conflicting emotions regarding what Soifon perceives as Yoruichi's abandonment of her. Soifon belittles Yoruichi for the abandonment of her title as commander of the special forces and (what Soifon believes is) her betrayal of Soul Society. As the new commander, Soifon orders the special forces to kill her. Yoruichi replies that she still keeps her title as Goddess of Flash (a reference to Yoruichi's mastery of the flash steps technique). Ultimately, Soifon attempts to use an as-of-yet unnamed high-level technique that she believed to have invented. However, Yoruichi already knows the technique, although she hasn't completely mastered it. Its name is shunko (lit. Flash Cry). Yoruichi and Soifon both perform it, but Yoruichi is shown to be superior. This prompts Soifon to soften up and to finally break her glacial pernicious demeanor, and ask Yoruichi in tears, "Why...didn't you take me with you?" in reference to Yoruichi's leaving Soul Society.

Zanpakutō

File:Yorzan2.JPG

Yoruichi with her zanpakutō, prior to her departure from Soul Society

The name and true appearance of Yoruichi's zanpakutō is unknown. In the manga, it was seen in a few panels, and resembled a kodachi or wakizashi short sword.

It was also seen for a few brief seconds in the OVA "the Sealed Sword Frenzy" when she used it against a hollow.

Trivia

• Tite Kubo, the author of Bleach has said about Yoruichi:

"Yoruichi-san doesn't drink much sake. What she likes best is milk. At times when she's tired and such, she always goes for the milk. She's in high spirits if there's milk."

Notes

Yoruichi's last name is Shihōin (四 Shi, 楓 hō, 院 in), the u is pronounced clearly (Shi-ho-u-in).