So, I've mentioned before how Urahara's zanpakutou has a distinctive BDSM theme across various aspects of its design. But I feel like I never really got into the implications of that, or of Urahara's relationship with Benihime.
(This one's gonna be stupid long. You've been warned.)
Let's start by revisiting the basics:
Benihime[紅姫] reads as "Crimson Princess" or "DeepRed Princess" and with moves like, Nake[啼け]: "Yelp"/"Whimper," Kamisori[剃刀]: "Razorblade," and the much more overt, Chikasumi no Tate[血霞の盾]: “Shield of Blood Mist.” it's clear that the name refers to that "deep red" not just generally but as the "color of blood."
Chikasumi no Tate[血霞の盾] also specifically causes Benihime to bleed when used (at least the first time we see it)
Tsuppane[突ッ撥] (as in Tsuppane[突っ撥ねる]) meaning "to reject," "to spurn," "to turn down," or "to refuse."
Shibari[縛り]: "Restrain"/"Tie up" but with obvious visual reference to Shibari Play[縛りプレイ], as in rope bondage sex play.
Hiasobi[火遊]: "Fire Play," is just the literal name of fire and heat based sex play. It can be as literal as using oils to light the surface of skin on fire, but also includes branding, fire cupping, and i believe technically also encompasses wax play.
Juzutsunagi[数珠繋]: written literally as "Tying in a row"/"linking together" but it's what you call a string of Buddhist prayer beads, often erroneously translated into English as "Rosary." But in the context of all the other sex play names points pretty clearly to anal beads.
Other than just having a kinky theme, what's so curious about this is how the whole zanpakutou⨉shinigami dynamic works; typically as a reflection of the user's inner self, this would suggest that there is something innately masochistic about Urahara himself. But Benihime is also one of the earliest swords we were introduced to, and one that the earliest details of which came about in the middle of Ichgio's original inner world training. It actually hadn't yet been established that the sword spirits were explicitly reflections of their users --just that the swords had names, and Ichigo spoke to his in the form of the old man-- and what was more on display was the relationship and interaction between them.
Which brings into focus the idea of how Urahara treats his zanpakutou. Benihime's release command is okiro[起きろ] which Viz called "awaken" but it reads more casually like "get up" as the literal physical act, not just for waking, or "stay awake" as opposed to "wake(from sleeping)." This phrasing suggests Benihime in a state of collapse or exhaustion being forced to either pick herself back up, or to remain conscious while continuing ongoing torture. Supported by the fact that he makes her "yelp/whimper" and bleed to perform attacks.
And working off of this dynamic, when they revisit Urahara's moves later, all the added techniques feel like they describe, not actions that Benihime herself take against the enemy, but acts taken on her.
But by comparison what do we know about functions or even dysfunction relationships with shinigami and their zanpakutou?
We know from characters like Ichigo and Renji and (sort of) Zaraki that zanpakutou need to be in agreement with their shinigami to function at their best. And without that understanding their power is hampered.
We know from characters like Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rangiku that zanpakutou mirror the personalities of their shinigami. And that the rejection of that personality's flaws is part of what limits a zanpakutou's power, or at least ability to achieve bankai.
And then as a special weird outlier... Mayuri has modified his bankai, and the omake established (albeit as a joke) that he can affect the spirit itself (offering a sexchange for zabimaru). And he can even maintain a disciplinarian role over his sword and spirit(he can "punish" his sword by breaking it) while still having the kind of relationship that can achieve bankai...
So, to this end we know that the 3 day method Ichigo used to obtain Bankai was originally invented and used by Urahara: a method of pulling the sword spirit directly out into the external world to interact with and foster that agreement required for bankai...
Except part of the fundamental issue with Ichigo's relationship with Zangetsu that consistently comes up is that, while normal shinigami take time to meditate and come to terms and peace with their inner spirits over many years, Ichigo never really understands Zangetsu or himself throughout the series. And implicitly this is because their relationship was rushed. Which wasn't entirely Ichigo's fault, as we know the method has a 3 day limit, and can't be maintained for any longer without serious risk.
So, while Urahara presumably has had time following his own shortcut to bankai, to communicate with Benihime, the strongest implication is that he started in a position like Ichigo, not communicating with or understanding Benihime; rushing and brute forcing his way through their relationship to achieve his bankai.
And given the way Zangetsu's bankai training worked, paired with the themes of Benihime's abilities all being expressed thru a BDSM theme is that --rather than Ichgio's underdog routine where the unorthodox training was just kind of dropped onto him unsuspectingly-- Urahara designed this method knowing exactly how it would play out, meaning he dragged Benihime out into the world with every intention to fight her into submission.
And this suggests an extremely fraught mental state for Urahara himself... Because either his inner expression of self was already extremely submissive by nature when he communed with it, or if it wasn't that way naturally, he made it that way. And I'm a little more inclined to believe the latter over the former.
(those are btw, a pretty standard katana; a ninjato known for their straight edge(rather than the katana's iconic curve) and most similar to Benihime's shape, but also not an actual historically accurate sword; an actual antique Japanese canesword; and then the broken sword from the movie I mention below)
Potentially related to this is the actual state of Benihime's shikai... Originally, it was hard to judge because there weren't really enough zanpakutou for frame of reference, but there are a few odd details about Benihime's design right off the bat.
Most notable, at least to me, being the broken blade. Any traditionally forged sword will have a tapered point in any of a variety of shapes, be they single or double edged, or straight edge or curved tip, and the angle where the blunt end tapers into the blade specifically follows that bend in the blade. But Urahara's blade runs right into the straight edge terminus, which suggests the tip of the sword was snapped off. (The example that most readily come to mind for me is the sword of the character Cán jiàn[残剑], in the 2002 Jet Li movie, Hero. Tony Leung plays the disaffected assassin, named, literally, "Broken Sword.")
(sorry for the shitty compositing but it felt neater than having to have a clip of a panel with no blade and then one or more panels that were just the blade)
Additionally the overall sword is a strange shape not really resembling any conventional sword designs; which by itself isn't actually all that suspect for a fantasy sword. But what really jumps out to me is the way the butt end of the hilt is designed. There is the strange angled bend and what looks like multiple duplicate kashira(pommels) stacked on top of eachother. It doesn't look like the way anyone would design a sword for any practical purposes. Really, between the duplicate features and the odd angle of it, it looks almost like a glitch you might find in a videogame, or what would amount to a mutation if it were something more organic.
It's only much later through Mayuri that we're introduced to the idea that zanpakutou can be modified from a natural base state into a kind of Frankenstein sword like Ashisougijizo. And as the series goes on we of course learn of other similarities and shared roles and history between Urahara and Mayuri. All of this being context to suggest that Urahara did something to Benihime...
This in turn suggests that Benihime, as she is, may not actually be a direct reflection of Urahara, or if she still is then she is so in a kind of ironic way; Even if Urahara's not overtly a masochist himself, he engages with sadistic practices with Benihime, which works as a metaphysical/symbolic act of repression or self-persecution, which of course would make him something of a masochist.
So, either his and Benihime's nature is to be suppressed, and this is just the way of things... or if it's not then he has suppressed his true nature, which in itself an expression of Benihime's true form being subdued by him.
(I can't keep using the same singular panel of the banki for these...)
So then what about the bankai, Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame[観音開紅姫改メ]? Well there are a few things going on that both do and don't feed into the established themes... Again, quick refresher:
Kannonbiraki[観音開] refers to "double doors" but also a "butterfly cut(like with food or dissection)" which is a similar "two flaps/doors opening from a center incision" shape.
But the Kannon[観音] in Kannonbiraki is the name of the Buddhist goddess of infinite mercy
Benihime[紅姫]: no puns(like some shikai to bankai changes do) still just means "(Blood) Red Princess."
Aratame[改メ]: "Altered," "Reformed," "Mended," "Improved," etc... (Viz chose to call this, "Neo" as in "new")
So there is this seemingly direct indication thru the use of Aratame, that this bankai is not actually Benihime's natural bankai, but something that was actively modified by Urahara. And the opening doors imagery evoked seems to refer to both the obvious religious themes, but also the specific surgical like opening of himself and his opponent that the bankai can perform. In the context of those modifications to others and Benihime's own modified state, it suggests that she herself has been opened up. And given the "double doors"/"butterfly cut" imagery, it is implied like a body on an operating table.
This in turn plays off the evoked Kannon reference, as a goddess of mercy it implies that she likely submitted herself to this invasive process, or in the very least forgave Urahara for it after the fact. And certainly her subjecting herself to torture(or even just giving herself up in charity but to the point of unreasonable self sacrifice... The Giving Tree style actually...) is a more sensible reading of these themes than to assume a goddess of mercy would be the dom in these actions, ya? Because even in a modified or "altered' form she's not overtly corrupted or counter to her nature the way, say, Ashisougi-Jizo is...
In any case, this kind of implicit martyrdom in turn circles back around to Urahara's masochism; he's willing to subject himself to anything to serve the larger goals he always seems to be working toward. (even if Kubo never got around to telling us any of them...)
...And I think in my hurry to get this monkey off my back once and for all, this is where I'm just roping off a good portion of the tangents I keep tripping myself up over... In a weird shifting of gears lets both rewind and get a little more granular about this...
アタシの卍解は 人を鍛えるとか 人に力を貸すとか...
my bankai, something like to forge/temper/train a person, or something like to lend/loan power to a person...
...そういうのには 向いてない
...that sort of thing whereas, not cut out for/suited to
A particularly poignant line I'd like to draw attention to is that first time we get a hint at Urahara's bankai, when he conscripts Renji to help train Chad in preparation for the war with Aizen. He says this with a solemn, almost disappointed or dejected expression, like he wishes his bankai, his swordspirit, the expression of his inner most self, was something different; was something helpful, in spite of what it really is... (Which is frustratingly when the actual bankai reveal is almost the exact opposite of this? There are some gray zones we can try to squeeze other facts into to make it all still work, but it's clearly not what was intended when that first line was conceived.)
His own given name, Kisuke[喜助] is written with the kanji "Joy + Assist" as in "one who assists in joy"/"one who makes (others) joyful." It's on the surface why he's the support character, the tech guy, the go to problem solver. But this line about his bankai changes that up a little, or at least adds new perspective to it; because if his bankai wasnt meant to be something that was useful for helping people, then his name becomes ironic and almost tragic. And the role he plays in the story becomes this act of defiance, and perhaps even penance against/for his nature? Because if he's not actually made to be a support a role, deep down in his soul, then everything he's does is something he's chosen for himself.
And this is what Aizen saw in his confrontation with Urahara, and what, in his shortsightedness, he saw as "the logic of a loser." He thought by giving up on the potential to be a god, to dethrone an undeserving god, to rebuild the world in his image, to be the hero, Urahara had given up on the fight against the Soul King entirely... He is insulted and disgusted that Urahara would lay himself so low as to be beneath the ambition only he (and aizen, by his own estimation, obviously) was capable of.
Because Urahara isn't built to be the friendly salesman, the helpful support role, the submissive service role... He is fully equipped to be the hero(or villain...) in his own right, a god even. And, really, we always knew this; we saw all the evidence laid out in front of us. And he saw it too. He saw that potential in himself, and he dragged it out of the depths of his soul and BEAT it into submission.
(I've been trying to figure out how to fit my broader Urahara headcanons in here, but I can't rightly justify it, and frankly it all starts to drift away from Benihime, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of this. So I think I'm just gonna say I'm done here for now😅. happy birthday Urahara. And happy new year yall)
The single serve double chocolate chip cookies that I pretty religiously make like four times a week are from Broma Bakery and they are so decadent and rich and amazing, I def recommend their recipes.
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