Yoruichi Shihouin: Encyclopedia II - Yoruichi Shihouin - Abilities and items

Yoruichi Shihouin - Abilities and items

As a member of a noble family and head of the covert ops, Yoruichi acquired a lot of powerful abilities and artifacts.

One of her most important and unique abilities is that she can transform into a black cat at will. It is unknown if this ability possesses any time limit, but it is unlikely considering she used it for so long that she has become unused to and dislikes wearing clothing (much to Ichigo's chagrin). As a cat, Yoruichi is still able to use many of her abilities. Her transformation allows her a complete disguise in multiple ways; in addition to not appearing in a human form, her voice as a cat is deep enough for most to assume that she is male.

A less unique but equally important ability is the flash step (瞬歩 shunpo), which lets her teleport short distances with each 'step'. Although many high-ranking shinigami have this ability, Yoruichi holds the title Goddess of Flash (瞬神 shunshin), because she can move faster and for longer distances. It's unclear how many steps she can take before collapsing, but we know she needs to catch her breath after 200 steps due to being out of practice for a hundred years.

Yoruichi is a master of hand-to-hand (hakuda) and demon arts (kidō) and has learned one of the ultimate techniques that combines these combat arts. The technique is called shunkō (瞬閧, flash release) and allows the user to concentrate high amounts of energy in different parts of their body and blast it at opponents.

Yoruichi also has two items that allow her to fly (also used by Ichigo). One is a wand with a skull atop it that produces a tentacle that acts as a harness, and a single, bat-shaped wing that acts as a hang glider. Flight is triggered using the word tobe (fly!). No skill or previous experience is required to fly using this artifact.

The other is the tentōken (天踏絢 heavenly dancing figure), a brown cloak with a large draw string closure at the collar, with a large brooch displaying the Shihōin family crest. Like the wand, the tentōken seems to require no skill or previous experience to use. It also seems to be superior to the wand, since it allows one to hover in mid air, and leaves ones hands free. So far, only Ichigo has been shown using this artifact.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Abilities and items", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki