Irazu Sandō

"It begins, but does not end. Names wither in the silence. In an abyss of rolling clouds, raindrops fill an empty vessel. Those who are unworthy to be a vessel succumb to weight as they turn to stone. It breaks apart and turns to gravel. Pounding rain reduces it to dust. For such a vessel, there is no way out. But if one does not enter, there is no path. Those who are about to perish call it...Irazu Sandō." — Ichibē Hyōsube in "Peace From Shadows"

Irazu Sandō
Kanji	不入参道
English	Unenterable Shrine-Path
Location Statistics
Type	Hidden Dimension
Located In	Ichibē Hyōsube's city, Soul King Palace
Controlled By	Ichibē Hyōsube
Primary Function	Testing Soul King Candidates
First Appearance
Anime	Episode 380

The Irazu Sandō (不入参道, Unenterable Shrine-Path) is a hidden dimension within Ichibē Hyōsube's temple in the Soul King Palace, designed to test the aptitude and endurance of potential Soul King candidates.

Overview

Ichigo Kurosaki is brought into the Irazu Sandō.

A sacred area that not even the Royal Guard can enter without permission from the Soul King, the Irazu Sandō is "entered" by the walls and floor of Ichibē Hyōsube's temple peeling away around the candidate currently being tested, revealing a long path comprised of jumbled and irregular stones with a simple wooden torii gate at the end, flanked on either side by luminous patches of grass floating in water and hanging white shide, giving it the overall appearance of a shintō shrine. The area is filled with a constant drizzle of rain. Upon passing through the gate at the end, the candidate is brought to Senjumaru Shutara's palace.

Soul King Candidacy

Given only a wooden sword instead of their usual weapon(s), a candidate must simply walk down the path and pass though the gate at the end. However, with each step a candidate takes, they begin to feel an increasing amount of pressure on their body, making every subsequent step harder to take. This pressure either is or represents the "weight" of supporting all of existence. When Ichigo Kurosaki walked more than halfway down the path, he began experiencing strange visions of the Soul King's life, namely his separation of the chaotic void into the three realms of Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, the Human World, and the amputation of his four limbs that led to him becoming the lynchpin, which culminated in Ichigo gaining four shimmering, mirage-like pupils in the corner of each eye. A few steps away from the gate, Ichigo experienced additional visions of the original captains of the Gotei 13, was surrounded by Reiatsu of several different colors, and envisioned his body suddenly swelling up in rapid, painful growths as though about to explode, though this ended when he raised his wooden sword and channeled his power into it, creating a light that dispelled the vision, which pleased Ichibē.