Reiatsu or Spiritual Pressure is the physical force/pressure that a person’s Reiryoku (or Spiritual Power) creates upon released. Most Shinigami, Arrancar, Quincy, and Bounts can manipulate the release of their Reiatsu and can demonstrate their power by the Reiatsu released. And while there is no official scale ranking the Reiatsu of the Bleach characters, we have decided to list the 10 characters that have the most powerful Reiatsu in the series based on the accounts given by other characters. The characters are not going to be ranked because we cannot really determine the exact levels of their Reiatsu and compare them, which is why we are going to simply list them in random order.
1. Soul King
Most of the powers and abilities that the Soul King actually had before being sealed are unknown, but, in the words of Ichibē Hyōsube, his powers were so enormous that they brought him closer to omniscience and omnipotence, him being a being that transcends everything known. The Soul King has an incomparably immense amount of Spirit Power.
When Yhwach, who possesses large amounts of Reiryoku himself, absorbs the Soul King, the Quincy ruler collapses from sheer stress, needing time for her body to fully get used to it. During this period, the Soul King’s Reiatsu gushes out of Yhwach to such an extent that it manifests as countless “shadow creatures” that threaten to destroy the Seireitei. After Yhwach completes the absorption, he proclaims that he now knows what it feels like to be overwhelmed with power.
2. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto’s extensive experience, incomparable on any scale to the rest of the Bleach characters, make him one of the most powerful characters in the series, if not the most. Sōsuke Aizen himself has recognized the superiority of Yamamoto, a Shinigami capable of facing two high-level captains at the same time and putting them on the ropes without even suffering a scratch, or of facing bare-knuckle an enemy like Wonderweiss, who had previously defeated Kensei Muguruma, despite the fact that he had released his Bankai.
The immense spiritual power that Yamamoto possesses is capable of taking her breath away and almost drowning a Lieutenant, just by looking into her eyes. The moment he deploys her energy, it can be felt at great distances as a fiery aura, charged with menace and aggressiveness, whose very presence makes experienced Shinigami such as Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake shudder.
As he could not be otherwise, Yamamoto excels in the four disciplines that Aizen distinguishes as the basic ones in the training of any Shinigami. The General Commander of the Gotei 13 is a master of the Shunpo, with which he can move at incredible speeds, as he demonstrated in the Soul Society Saga by surpassing Kyōraku and Ukitake, arriving even before them at the place where they were going to fight, and afford to sit and wait for them.
3. Jūshirō Ukitake
Ukitake stands out among the Captains of the Gotei 13 because of his immense Reiatsu, which was not weakened even through his illness. Ukitake, like all shinigami, has the power to purify the Hollows if he injures them with a deep cut in the mask and to transport the bonuses to Soul Society through the Soul Funeral.
As one of the oldest captains, Ukitake possesses tremendous spiritual power and it is said that he and his best friend Shunsui are possessors of Reiatsu unmatched within Soul Society. Ukitake showed great mastery when using Shumpo as seen when he was able to try to distance himself when he was chased by Yamamamoto during the events of the Soul Society Saga.
4. Sōsuke Aizen
Sōsuke is an extremely powerful opponent, well above the average level of a Captain. Although the full scope of his strength is still unclear, because he has been defeated and sealed away, we can assume, from his own words, that he has reached the limit of the four combat disciplines of a Shinigami (sword fighting, hand-to-hand, use of instant steps, and the spells summoned by means of the demonic arts).
The little that he has been seen fighting seems to demonstrate this idea, as he is able to stop Renji and Sajin Komamura’s attacks with his hands, and Ichigo’s bankai with a single finger. One more example of his enormous spiritual power is the fact that he can activate the Hōgyoku, despite the fact that in his current state he needs to temporarily fuse with reiatsu about twice that of a Shinigami Captain.
The spiritual pressure he can deploy is so great that, without any effort, he is able to bring even the Sixth Sword, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, to his knees. He was also able to dodge all of Ichigo’s attacks with his mask easily and defeat 3 captains and his former captain (Toshiro Hitsugaya, Suì-Fēng, Shunsui Kyōraku, and Shinji Hirako).
All these samples, together with the terrible use he makes of his Zanpakutō, make Aizen the most powerful enemy of the entire series, practically impossible to defeat (and even more so, his weak point being unknown) even before having shown his Bankai. After being released from the Muken, Aizen displays the ability to use his Reiatsu as a shield that can vaporize not-so-powerful beings that get too close to him, (similar to his previous forms when fused with the Hōgyoku) and allows him to remain conscious and unmoved under the effects of NaNaNa Najahkoop’s The Underbelly.
5. Yhwach
According to Quilge Opie, he has strength superior to that of any Espada, something that is confirmed by defeating the Third Espada, Tier Harribel without much difficulty. In Yhwach’s own words, even the Primera Espada “couldn’t do a thing against him”. He was also able to defeat and kill Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryūsai without any difficulty, so having defeated one of the strongest characters in the Gotei 13, he is one of the toughest opponents in the entire series.
Yhwach is able to use the Reishi around him and manipulate it at will, as he can create a throne to sit on and easily modify it, transforming it into rungs to ascend to higher levels. It has also been seen that his Reishi handling is so large and fast as to kill Lüdaas Friegen and Asguiaro Ebern in just moments, using the Reishi from the environment to destroy their bodies in just the blink of an eye. As shown in his fight with Yamamoto, his power is great enough to manage to steal his Bankai through his Medallion without any difficulty.
6. Ichibē Hyōsube
As a member of the Royal Guard, Ichibē possesses powers and abilities that surpass an ordinary captain of the Gotei 13, both in Hakuda, Hohō, Kidō, and Zanjutsu. Furthermore, Ichibē has been shown to be the strongest among the five members of the Royal Guard not only because of his abilities, but also by being able to “manipulate names”, the metaphysical manifestations of all things.
Ichibē is a Shunpo expert, as has been shown in the series, and he was able to position himself at Yhwach’s side in a matter of seconds right after Yhwach flew away after taking a direct hit from Ichibē’s Senri Tsūten Shō. Furthermore, Ichibē was also able to dodge almost all of Yhwach’s Heilig Pfeil fired from his Sankt Bogen.
7. Kenpachi Zaraki
Zaraki, like all Shinigami, has the power to destroy and purify Hollows if he defeats them with a deep cut through the mask with his Zanpakutō. It is unknown if he knows how to perform the cleansing ritual. Kenpachi possesses such an enormous amount of reiatsu that it constantly flows nonstop from his body unconsciously, for which she has to hold back if he wants to enjoy fighting.
His spiritual power is so great that it has made him capable of withstanding direct blows to his skin, similar to the Espada’s Ferro. This is first shown when she confronted Ichigo. At the start of the fight, Kenpachi allows Ichigo to punch him, but despite being completely unprotected and not resisting, not only did Ichigo not cut him, but Ichigo’s hands began to bleed from the recoil.
Although he originally did not possess any known abilities in the field of Hohō, after his training with Retsu Unohana he developed it to a certain extent. A notable example is him recovering from the wounds inflicted by Pernida Parnkgjas; Kenpachi managed to instantly appear in another part of Wahrwelt City and attack Gerard Valkyrie before the Sternritter could fight back, with his officers surprised that Kenpachi arrived before them.
8. Retsu Unohana
If there is something in which Unohana stands out among all the Shinigami, it is, without a doubt, in her mastery of healing, in the mastery of the healing Kidō, and in the Bakudo. She is not only considered the best healer in all of Soul Society for her extensive knowledge of the Kidō, but also for her use of more conventional techniques and natural remedies.
Her knowledge is so extensive that despite being under the influence of Aizen’s Total Hypnosis, she came to suspect that her corpse was fake. As the captain of the 4th Division, Retsu is highly proficient in Kaidō, having taught the technique to members of her division.
9. Shunsui Kyōraku
Shunsui, like all Shinigami, has the power to purify the Hollow if he hurts them with a deep cut in the mask and to transport the bonuses to Soul Society. As a Captain, he has one of the 13 greatest spiritual forces in Soul Society, he is also able to locate them with efficiency (he found Yasutora Sado and noticed Yoruichi Shihōin’s arrival before anyone else).
He moves at high speeds with the instant step or shunpo, so much so that he is complimented by Commander Yamamoto himself. The congratulations are not due to the speed of the shunpo, but rather to the great distance covered in a single instantaneous step.He has not been seen to use kido arts although it is not ruled out that he can use them.
His great strength was shown by defeating Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada. Shunsui does not enjoy fighting nor does he want to fight without reason, he is always reluctant to fight and takes combat and fighting as a last resort, however, once that point is reached, he fights fiercely, without hesitation and, if the situation warrants it , delivering attacks from behind when the enemy is more powerful in terms of forces.
10. Ichigo Kurosaki
Ichigo has been noted on several occasions as having vast levels of spiritual energy, far beyond most other Shinigami. His spiritual power feels heavy, which surprised Renji Abarai. Ichigo constantly releases Reiatsu at the level of a captain. Even when he is in battle, he can continue to fight effectively while still using Getsuga Tenshō or unleashing and holding his Bankai.
Even at less than half-strength, his spiritual energy is comparable to a captain-level fighter. His energy is strong enough to contain the Sōkyoku, a halberd with the destructive force equivalent to a million Zanpakutō combined, using only his Zanpakutō. His reiatsu is light blue. After training him in Soul King Palace, Ichigo was able to overwhelm four Sternritter simultaneously and then calmly fight on par with a Sternritter using Quincy: Vollständig using only his Shikai and eventually overpowering his enemy.
Ichigo has a lot of problems with controlling his spiritual pressure, as he has no formal training in controlling it, and upon his Hollowfication, his reiatsu started fluctuating wildly, being extremely weak at its lowest point and practically immeasurable at its peak. Due to this, and the fact that he actually possesses more spiritual energy than his body can consciously tolerate, he keeps leaking out constantly, which prevents him from hiding his Reiatsu and makes stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually conscious beings.
He has learned to harden his spiritual energy and increase the power of his attacks, or even use that energy as a barrier to diminish the impact of attacks launched against him, if he is not able to negate them altogether. He possesses some skill in channeling his spiritual power, as he was able to destroy the Sōkyoku Stand, a seemingly impossible feat that surprised the Gotei 13, by channeling his spiritual power through the sword into the stand of execution. After his training in the Soul King Palace, Ichigo seems to have gained control over his fluctuating reiatsu, as pointed out by Kirio Hikifune.
We’ve come to the end of the list of characters that have the most powerful Reiatsu in the series. The article was made possible with the help of Bleach Wiki, Heroes Wiki, and Bleach Fan Fiction Wiki.
