Bleach: Jinka Technique Explained!

Sajin Komamura is one of the Bleach characters that we have not talked about much so far, but since he has once again been in the spotlight of the anime series, we have decided to dedicate yet another article to one of the Gotei 13’s best Captains. Komamura is a legendary character in the Bleach canon and a character that stood out among the rest in more than one way. And while he was known for being one of the strongest Captains in Bleach, he unlocked an even stronger special power during the Quincy War, and in this article, we are going to tell you everything about it. The power is known as the Jinka Technique, and this article will tell you everything you need to know about it.

The Jinka Technique is also known as the Humanization Technique and is a special technique of the Wolfman Clan to which Sajin Komamura belongs to. It allows a werewolf soul to temporarily transform into a human by ripping out their own heart. The resulting transformation is basically an empty shell that appears to be a human but is actually just an “armor,” as it cannot feel pain or anything else. After the time limit has passed, the soul turns into a regular wolf, losing the ability to speak and all other anthropomorphic traits, but it does retain the memories and consciousness.

Due to its specific evolution and all the changes that Komamura went through during the Thousand-Year Blood War, we have decided to write an article explaining all of these changes to you, which are actually the gist of the Jinka Techniques. Komamura’s abilities have proven to be truly amazing, and we must explain all that properly to you. There will be spoilers, so you must carefully approach certain parts of the article.

The Jinka Technique allows Komamura to become a human, but at a great cost

It is a known fact that after Yamamoto’s death and the end of the first Quincy invasion, the Captains of the Gotei 13 went out of their way to train and prepare for an impending second invasion, especially the four who lost their Bankai to the Sternritter, and among them was Sajin Komamura, Captain of the 7th Division. Komamura had enough physical power and endurance to face the Sternritter again, but that was not enough.

Due to his debt to Yamamoto, he had to give even more, and that is why he visited his Elder, actually his great-grandfather, and asked him to teach him the hidden technique of their clan.

And while the Elder was initially hostile to him because he considered him to be a traitor, the old werewolf challenged Komamura to a fight, promising to reveal the technique if Komamura defeated him in the fight. Of course, Sajin Komamura managed to defeat the Elder, and the old werewolf kept his promise and decided to reveal the secret technique to Sajin. The technique is called the Jinka Technique and is actually the Humanization Technique of the werewolf clan.

The Humanization Technique is a secret technique known only to the werewolf clan, whose history – unfortunately – Kubo never explored in detail in the manga (the anime provided us with some additional details, but not too many). We don’t actually know what the members of the Clan looked like and how they created and used this technique, mainly because it was said that they were turned into animals because of their crimes, so we don’t actually know all of the historical details; we had hoped that the anime could expand on this, but sadly – it did not.

As we have said, some details were revealed, but that wasn’t what we hoped for. But, be that as it may, Komamura defeated the Grand Elder and learned the Humanization Technique, one of the most powerful techniques known to Soul Society. So, now that we have explained all of this, we can explain the Jinka Technique in more detail.

Komamura, as a member of the werewolf clan, was a wolf (or dog, or fox, but you get the gist). He walked on two feet and had some anthropomorphic elements to his appearance, but he was ultimately a wolf. This is why the secret technique is called the Humanization Technique, as it enabled Komamura, as a wolf, to turn into a human. But that was only a trick. Namely, Komamura could transform into a human by ripping out his physical heart. But that was not a real human, despite looking like one.

The human was actually a mere shell. It was never an actual body, although it behaved like a normal, living being. The shell itself was immortal and invulnerable, as all and any damage done to it would heal instantly. It could also use all of Komamura’s abilities, including the Bankai, which were also completely immune to any harm.

This is why this technique was so strong, as it made Komamura basically invincible. But, there was a weakness, of course, and a very grave one – namely, the transformation came at a high price.

Due to having to sacrifice his heart, Komamura was actually “dead” in a sense, and the Humanization technique was only temporary; it was limited in terms of time, which is why Komamura would, at one point, lose the shell. The details of this have not been explained, so we don’t know whether it depends on the level of Spiritual Pressure or time itself, but since Komamura’s level of Spiritual Pressure was truly amazing, we think that it is related to the passing of time.

Since – had it been the Spiritual Pressure, Komamura could certainly have prolonged the effects if only a bit. Based on what the anime showed us, it seemed that it was somehow tied to the heart that had been ripped out because Komamura started to lose his posture once the blood from the heart filled the bowl in which the heart was, so this could be a hint of sorts when talking about this, but we don’t have confirmation for this, so it’s just a hypothesis.

Be that as it may, once the shell disappears, Komamura turns back into a regular wolf, losing all of his former Shinigami powers and becoming a regular animal. This is why this is an extremely powerful technique, but it comes at a great cost. He loses the ability to speak, but from what has been implied, the wolf, while retaining absolutely no anthropomorphic features, retained Komamura’s memories and consciousness, so he could, actually, on a conscious level, perceive everything like before, and he survived, but he couldn’t do any of the things that he had been able to do before.

We know that Komamura survived and he was succeeded by Iba, who kept Komamura in the 7th Division’s Barracks, with the wolf still remaining part of the 7th Division, but in a different capacity now.