Hopefully Destructive Shinigami Tales

This wasn’t something I originally knew about, but discovered relatively recently. Camellia is a genus native to certain countries of Asia, namely in Southern/Eastern/Southeastern countries like Japan, China, Korea, and India. They are also a type of tea plant.

While researching, I found that Wabisuke Camellia appears to be a hybrid between two camellia plants: the c. pitardii (Pitard’s Camellia) and the c. japonica (Japanese Camellia).

Side note: I nicknamed a shiny Froslass Wabisuke in Pokémon Scarlet since flowers was the playthrough’s nicknaming scheme.

Klub Outside: Wabisuke Camellia’s Droopy Look Reflecting Wabisuke’s Abilities

Speaking of the wabisuke camellia, in Klub Outside, a Q&A that Tite Kubo runs, Kubo was asked about it. Namely in its relation to how Izuru had decapitated opponents (ex. Abirama Redder).

The individual asked: “Izuru-kun’s Zanpakutō is Wabisuke and Wabisuke is the name of a type of camellia. Does the theory that the reason why there are multiple scenes within the story where he decapitates his opponent, have its origins in the fact that the camellia is likened to a head and is described as falling?”

To which Kubo responded: “That’s correct. I thought everyone would take notice about the Wabisuke camellia but at the time it wasn’t really picked up on that much.“

This is an interesting tidbit given how we do see Izuru play into this “falling head”/decapitated aspect. And given how Wabisuke is unusually curved, and how it was used in the case of his fight against Abirama Redder, I can definitely see the parallel.

The Kanji in Wabisuke is Also Found in the Kanji for Apology/Apologize

Some of you may be wondering how his Zanpakuto means “to apologize” if it’s name is derived from a flower. It is both. But how we get there has to do with Japanese as a language.

It all comes down to the kanji used. Wabisuke’s is 侘助. The wabi- kanji it uses is also in wabishi (侘しい) which means lonely and is also seen in wabiru (侘びる) which means to pine/grieve. That wabiru also shares the kanji びるwith Wabiru (詫びる) and is homonymous with it.