General Lore

I. The Nature of Existence

“All worlds are one sky reflected in different waters.” — Old Shinigami proverb

The Bleach universe is a tripartite cosmology: three great realms—the World of the Living, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo—bound together by the eternal flow of souls (tamashii).
This flow forms the Cycle of Reincarnation, the system through which life and death remain balanced across existence.

Every soul, once departed from the Human World, must pass through this cycle—guided by Shinigami through Konsō (Soul Burial). Those who do not find peace, consumed by grief or regret, fall into corruption and transform into Hollows, wandering spirits who feed upon others.

The World Balance depends on equal distribution:
if too many souls remain in one realm, the equilibrium collapses, threatening the destruction of all three worlds.

II. The Three Great Realms

1. World of the Living (現世 – Gense)

The material plane where humans dwell, governed by the laws of time, physics, and life.
Spiritual beings are normally invisible here, but humans with heightened spiritual sensitivity can perceive them.
It is the most temporal of all realms—life, death, and decay occur in constant flow.
Major locations include:

  • Karakura Town — a spiritually dense nexus where the story begins.

  • Tokyo, Naruki, Osaka, etc. — lesser spiritual hubs.

Balance Role: Supplies new souls into the reincarnation cycle.

2. Soul Society (尸魂界 – Seireitei and Rukongai)

A vast spiritual realm functioning as both afterlife and bureaucratic empire.
Governed by the Gotei 13, Central 46, and the Noble Clans, Soul Society’s duty is to maintain spiritual balance and protect the Human World from Hollows.

  • Seireitei (Court of Pure Souls):
    The central citadel, home to the Gotei 13 Divisions and noble families.

  • Rukongai:
    The massive civilian district surrounding Seireitei, divided into 320 numbered sectors.

Balance Role: Purifies and recycles souls, sending them back into the World of the Living.

3. Hueco Mundo (虚圏 – Hollow Sphere)

The desolate, eternal desert lying between the Human World and Soul Society.
It is the natural domain of Hollows—corrupted spirits devoured by their own emptiness.
Its sky is dominated by a fixed, pale moon, and its sands are made of solidified reishi.

  • Las Noches: fortress of the Arrancars.

  • Gillian Forest: a twilight underworld where lesser Hollows roam.

Balance Role: Consumes corrupted souls and stabilizes spiritual excess through predation.

III. The Interdimensional Realms

Dangai (断界 – The Precipice World)

A dimensional corridor connecting the Human World and Soul Society.
Time flows differently here—days outside may pass as seconds within.
It is patrolled by the Kōtotsu (Cleaner), an enormous temporal entity that devours anything that lingers too long.

Hell (地獄 – Jigoku)

A forbidden realm sealed by the Soul Society.
Souls who committed grave sins in life or as Hollows are sent here, forever bound by the Chains of Hell (罪鎖 – Zaigo).
Very little is known about its true structure.

IV. The Cycle of Souls (魂魄循環 – Konpaku Junkan)

The metaphysical system linking all realms.
When a human dies:

  1. Their Plus Soul is sent to Soul Society by a Shinigami’s Konsō.

  2. After living there, the soul reincarnates into the Human World.

  3. If a Plus Soul is corrupted, it becomes a Hollow and is purified upon defeat by a Shinigami, restarting the cycle.

This mechanism is maintained by Reiryoku Equilibrium, a cosmic law first codified by the Soul King himself.

V. The Soul King (霊王 – Reiō)

The Soul King is the metaphysical keystone of reality — the divine being whose body anchors the balance of worlds.
He is no ruler but a sacrificial stabilizer: a being dismembered and sealed by the ancestors of the Noble Clans to maintain cosmic order.
The Soul Palace (霊王宮 – Reiōkyū) floats above Soul Society, guarded by the Royal Guard (Zero Division).

“He does not rule the worlds. He is the price they pay to exist.”

VI. Where the Story Begins

The story begins in Karakura Town, a seemingly ordinary Japanese city with unusually dense spiritual activity.
It is here that Rukia Kuchiki, a Shinigami from the 13th Division, descends to the Human World to track a Hollow — and crosses paths with Ichigo Kurosaki, a human with extraordinary spiritual awareness.

That encounter breaks centuries of quiet balance, setting into motion a chain of events known to historians of Soul Society as:

The Substitute Shinigami Incident —
“The First Ripple of the New Age.”