The Seireitei's Inspiration
so, the Chinese have an ancient document, the Zhōu lǐ, which:
Builders, along with architects/planners, have, from ancient times, repeatedly referred to “Zhōu lǐ” ‘Kaogong ji’ as the only text mentioning the ideal model of a Chinese capital. In the Capital Model, with the palace at the center, “Zhōu lǐ” describes the fundamental model of the ideal Chinese city. However, no city has yet been found with a palace at the center and following precisely the city model given by “Zhōu lǐ”. If we dare list a city that might show at least some resemblance to such a model, Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties is the only possible example.
it suggests something that looks like this:
nobody in China ever built a city like this, but stick with me as we move to the Old City of Shanghai, with what it looked like in 1553:
huh it's a circle how interesting. now then let's go back to my article where I correctly predicted the radial division layout of the Seireitei but grab its manga image in color:
boy howdy would you look at that it's circular with 12 pie wedges and yet also has a rectilinear grid overlaid on top of the radial design, almost like some kinda fusion of the Zhōu lǐ ideal city and the Old City of Shanghai. fathom that
but let's not kid ourselves, Kubo is not an archaeologist and good artists copy, great artists steal. Bleach came out in fall of 2001 and was entering SS arc in 2003. what was the biggest cinematic event in the world at that time?
oh yeah huh gosh geeze what a coincidence
sure is weird that the Seireitei has this funny anvil-shaped hill in the middle of it huh? almost like it's referencing something. now sure the Seireitei isn't against a mountain but oh look there's another city in the same setting:
huh. then you got the zodiac:
gee there's 12 animal signs what a coincidence. now some people might wonder why on the anime map there's seemingly only one gate, but uh the sun rises in the east and I have a feeling that this fictional synthesis of things to do with Japan, "The Land of the Rising Sun" might privilege the eastern gate (remember up is by tradition actually south and by the way the map of Karakura is upside down too)
but also you know there's also a number of major archaeological sites built on axis with the solstice and equinox because telling time is kind of a big deal before you invent clocks
so yeah the Seireitei is a combination of ancient Chinese city design, astrological and zodiacal concepts, and Tolkien fantasy city aesthetic that was wildly popular at the time and was intelligent to try and capitalize upon for a commercial work
