Ashihara no Nakatsukuni

Ashihara no Nakatsukuni (葦原中国, "Middle Country of Reed Beds") is the original land from which, , , and were born. When the goddess Izanami had first brought forth death into the world with her own untimely demise, it birthed a chaos that ravaged the land and threatened to bring destruction upon this world that separated the lands of darkness and the land of the gods. It is said that the descendant of Lady Amaterasu, he who would be known as, was sent to pacify the world, and in doing so, the Soul King split apart Ashihara no Nakatsukuni into the various worlds that are all interconnected by the traffic of souls that move between them. The King of Souls himself serves as the lynchpin which keeps these worlds together, and in the event of his demise, all of the worlds born from Ashihara no Nakatsukuni would crumble away and return to their chaotic singular state.

Behind the Scenes
In Japanese mythology, Ashihara no Nakatsukuni is often considered the material world that exists between Yomi and Takamagahara. By applying this concept to the established setting of Bleach, the author hopes to carve out a plausible origin story for how the world came to be.