User blog comment:Njalm2/The Beauty of Zanjutsu/@comment-18812574-20150410193452

Interesting guide, and as always the most helpful thing about is the fact that it makes people think.

I'm not sure if I agree with you on the thing with shikai/bankai. I never thought of them as "techniques," to me, they are stages of release of a person's Zanpakuto. Each stage of release brings the shinigami in closer contact with the soul of their zanpakuto, and as they grow closer they begin to meld until they have at last reached the pinnacle of self-expression.

What I mean by that, is that while a Shinigami and their Zanpakuto are essentially the same soul, for whatever reason they split and became separate entities, with their own thoughts, wills, desires, emotions, etc. A true master, in my mind, and in the state of perfect enlightment you mentioned, would be able to rectify that split and once again become "whole." As for the shikai/bankai thing, perhaps those are natural inhibitiions put in place to keep the soul stabalized? What I mean is that, if the soul were to somehow tap into the spirit of their Zanpakuto enough to where they reach a bankai level, well, if that soul was not mature enough for that? Results in the collapse and utter destruction of the soul, I imagine. Like you said, as a wielder hones their blade, so too does the blade hone them. Bringing them into a state of compatability. A shikai or a bankai would sort of be like, checks in reaching that stage, I suppose. A way to stabalize one's soul through superficial imposition, or something. Obviously, like you said, when one achieves true mastery these "stages" are no longer needed. Perfect synchronization is possible without damaging either soul = Final Getsugatensho but without the "final."

What I would like to know is, how do you explain the splitting of the soul between the Zanpakuto and the Shinigami? Because I know you are trying to get around "weapon" here but, if the Zanpakuto is the extension of the shinigami's will, and that will is to fight, the most natural way to achieve that is with a weapon yes? So that is where the split happens? Just a bit confused on that part.

The thing with the enlightenment though: yeah, now this is cool. I sort of had a similar theory myself where like, the ultimate mastery of one's soul means that they are able to see truth, that truth being reflected in their blade. If the ultimate truth is contained in the heart, then that means the blade of truth will cut to that heart, stripping away all that is not reality in the process in order to pierce the soul. Thus "Zanpakuto," I suppose.

In order to avoid re-hashing everything you already said in your blog there, I am going to disagree with you on one last point, that being Mihawk. I didn't find him all that impressive, to be honest. Just looked like a generic energy blade attack to me. In my mind, the perfect extension of the swordsman's will, the ability to cut to the heart without hindrance, would not be visible. It would just... happen. At least that's my opinion.