Hoho

Hoho is a defensive style of fighting which relates to footwork, it is one of the four basic combat skills of the Shinigami. Hoho is an important skill for most Shinigami, which incorporates speed and agility. The skill level of Hoho can be enhanced and improved through concentration, training, and mastery of it. The foremost practitioners of this technique are those assigned to the Onmitsukido. Shunpo (Flash Steps) is the greatest expression of the Hoho technique; however there are variations even within Shunpo, which only master Hoho practitioners can use.

Shunpo is a movement technique which allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. The focal point which determines the basis of this technique is speed. As speed is the main factor of the technique, the method is best characterised by how fast one can get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps.

Shunpo can be categorised into four stages:

Untrained – Those in this category, possess no skill for Hoho and instead, rely on walking to get where they need to be, or have trained extensively to enhance their natural speed to a level allowing them to move considerably fast, though decidedly under that of Shunpo.

Practitioners – Practitioners of the technique can maintain fast movements for a short period of time, by seemingly taking only a few steps to bridge what would normally be a large distances. Those who are practitioners commonly use their knowledge of Hoho while engaging in combat.

Experts – Experts of the technique are considerably fast, and can maintain high speed movements for extended periods of time. While not as fast as a master, they can keep up quite effectively. Some holding the title are faster than others, but, nonetheless, their application of the technique is highly advanced.

Masters – Shunpo masters are capable of maintaining high speed movements for extended periods of time while using the least amount of steps to achieve those movements.