Kidō (Gravity Force)

Kidō (鬼道, "demon way", or "spirit way" sometimes translated as Demon Arts) is one of the four basic Shinigami combat forms, at least according to Sōsuke Aizen. Kidō is the technique that Shinigami use to focus their Spiritual Energy into magic spells of various powers. These spells serve a wide variety of uses such as healing, defense, or combat. The Kidō Corps is a branch of Soul Society's military which excels in the mastery of Kidō.

Kido Mechanics
Each spell is graded on a scale from 1 to 99, the latter being the most powerful and the most difficult to perform. The scale is a measure of difficulty, as there can be multiple spells which share the same level. To use Kidō, a Shinigami must recite the specific incantation for the spell, which is often long and requires a few seconds to speak.

This weakness can be negated by Shinigami capable of using Eishōhaki (詠唱破棄, lit. "Incantation Abandonment"), a technique that releases Kidō without a spirit chant. While it decreases the time needed to release the Kidō, it drastically weakens the spell.[2] While anyone well versed in Kidō can use this technique, it is most effective when done by a skilled practitioner, otherwise the spell could utterly fail. The most skilled experts are capable of using this technique to amazing effect.

Another method of circumventing the necessity, of uttering an incantation for a Kidō, is something called Kōjutsu Eishō (後述詠唱, lit. "Later Mention Incantation"), where the incantation is recited after initiating the spell to power it up. So far, only Hachigen Ushōda has been seen using this technique, in order to reinforce the nature of his Ryūbi no Jōmon during his fight against Baraggan Luisenbarn.[3]

The power of a spell relies on the power of the user, as even a low-level spell can be utterly devastating when utilized by a high-class Shinigami.

Kidō can also be used for practical purposes as well. Renji Abarai has demonstrated that a kidō spell can be used to light a dark hallway if the spell is tweaked in the right way.[4]

Kido Types
There are three main types of Kidō: binding spells, destruction spells, and healing spells.
 * Bakudō (Binding spells): are a broad category of defensive spells which block or repel attacks or freezes enemies in place.
 * Hadō (Destructive spells): refer to offensive spells which harm an enemy or cause damage.
 * Healing spells: do not have known names, numbers, or incantations to cast, and simply heal the target. As the user holds his hands above the patients wounds, his/her palms glow with green spiritual energy to facilitate healing. For the mechanics of healing, the patient's Reiatsu is replenished first. Then the body's Reiatsu works with the healer's Reiatsu to heal the patient's body.

Kido Combat
Though Kidō is commonly used by Shinigami in combat, it has several weaknesses that make it difficult to use for that purpose. All of the spells have fairly long incantations and require concentration; because of this, the person using the Kidō leaves themselves open to attack during the duration of the incantation.

In addition, if an opponent is familiar with Kidō, there is the possibility of them identifying the spell by its incantation before it can even be used. However, highly skilled Kidō users can use various techniques to counter these weaknesses, such as Eishōhaki, Kōjutsu Eishō and Nijū Eishō (二重詠唱, lit. "Double Incantation"), which involves mixing the incantations of two or more Kidō spells together to save time and confuse ones' opponent.

A rarer use of Kidō is mixing various spells (such as Bakudō and Hadō together) for unique effects, which is the mark of a skilled user.

Kidō is commonly seen used in instances of surprise attacks, rather then all-out assaults, being most effective when one's opponent doesn't see it coming. Kidō is also usable with just the spell name and no incantation or spell number.[6]

True/Demonic Kido
There are Kido which cannot be used by ordinary shinigamis, this Kido are the ones created by demons themselves, it is known that Demonic Kido are much more powerful than Kido made by Shinigamis whom only tried to copy its usage from the original creators. Demonic Kido are the demons' ways of controlling a part of reality which can cause several effects, same as Shinigami kido but in a higher extent. Noone knows the number of Demonic Kido existing but is it said that thousands of it are created and thousands are yet to be created. A demon with vast knowledge of Demonic Kido may be able to negate the effects of ordinary kido and render it useless but this is yet to shown.

Trivia

 * Inu No Denkou is based on Lightning Hound from Naruto.
 * Kokusenna is gotten from Darknesslover5000 at his Kido page.