Bleach: Gin Ichimaru’s Zanpakuto Explained!

Gin Ichimaru is one of the most iconic characters in the series.

He chose to betray the Seireitei just to have a chance to defeat Aizen and retrieve what was stolen from Rangiku.

Furthermore, Gin hid the true power of his Bankai all his life, just for a single chance to kill Aizen. Which means that he became a captain even without using his true abilities.

What was this ability he was hiding from Aizen? In this article, we will answer this question and discuss Gin’s Zanapkuto, Shinso.

Gin Ichimaru’s Zanpakuto: Shinso

In its unreleased form, Gin’s Zanpakuto looks like an ordinary Wakizashi, and its name is Shinso.

Shinso has a light-blue hilt and a tsuba with two metal swirls looping around the blade, resembling “S.”.

Shikai

When Gin utters the command “shoot to kill”, the Shikai is revealed. The blade glows with a white light and extends forward with incredible speed.

As the blade extends, it carries so much force that it pushes both Ichigo and Jidanbo away. Despite Jidanbou being under extreme pressure from the Seireitei, he got blown away.

Shinso can also maintain the extension while swinging the blade in wide arcs. While retracting, the Shinso can also bend, as shown in Chapter 177.

Gin can extend his zanpakuto for about 100 times its original length, thus, Gin also called his zanpakuto Hyapponzashi, meaning hundred swords.

Bankai: Kamishini no Yari

Gin’s Bankai, Kamishini no Yari, translates to God-Killing Spear, and its power justifies this name.

Unlike many other Zanpakuto, the appearance of Gin’s Bankai does not change as it retains its small wakizashi form.

However, it’s force, cutting power, length, and speed drastically increase. It can now extend itself up to a distance of 13 km at 500 times the speed of sound.

With such speed, it reaches its maximum length in just 0.08 seconds, making it not just the longest but also the fastest zanpakuto.

Although Gin usually downplays its speed when he talks about his bankai, it is strong enough to swiftly cut a town in half with a single slash.

In the series, we have seen Gin use the following three techniques with his Bankai:

Korose, Kamishini no Yari: This technique utilizes the true power of Kamishini no Yari along with the deadly speed of the blade.

The true strength of the Bankai is the deadly poison inside the blade. As the blade expands and pierces the opponent, it leaves a sliver of his Zanpakuto inside the victim and contracts back to its original size.

Gin can then detonate the poison at any time by touching his opponent and calling the technique’s name.

Upon detonation, the poison dissolves and breaks down cells at a cellular level from the inside out.

Buto: Gin firmly grips Kamishini no Yari with both hands and places the hilt in the center of his chest.

With this stance, Gin is able to utilize the monstrous extension and contraction capabilities to an even more terrifying extent.

This results in the piercing move of the blades with extension and contraction happening at such speed that it becomes almost unseen to even the most trained eyes.

Buto: Renjin: This is an extension of the previously discussed Buto technique. Essentially, in this, Buto is repeated multiple times in rapid succession.

The entire process is completed in mere moments. This makes it nearly impossible to distinguish from the former, creating an apparent mass of blades that leave very little opportunity for the opponent to evade.