GENERAL
Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル・ソサエティ), Souru Sosaeti; Japanese for "Dead Spirit World")[1] is an afterlife (also called the spirit world). This is also where Shinigami live and where most Souls dwell until they are reincarnated into the Human World.
Overview
While Rukia Kuchiki initially describes Soul Society as something of a paradise, where nine out of ten times it is better than the living world and hunger is never a problem, Soul Society is far from sublime. In fact, aside from the slowed aging and aforementioned lack of hunger, life there is much like that in the living world.
Soul Society consists of the Rukongai (流魂街, Wandering Soul City; Viz "Rukon District"), where souls live when they arrive in Soul Society, and Seireitei (瀞霊廷, Court of Pure Souls), which is at the center of Soul Society. The mode of life here closely resembles that of feudal Japan.
The Human World and Soul Society are parallel to each other and are two sides of the same coin. Families separated by death are rarely reunited in the Soul Society unless they arrive in Soul Society together. People live nestled together like a family of strangers. One never gets hungry (if she or he doesn't have spiritual powers) and aging is slowed to a great extent, with lifespans of 2000 or more years not being unheard of, though such ages are limited to Shinigami or other Soul Society dwellers with high spiritual power. Children can be born as they are in the Human World. People can also be killed as regular Humans are, though they are capable of surviving wounds that would normally be considered fatal. A soul that dies in Soul Society is reincarnated on Earth as a new Human with no past memories.
Accessing Soul SocietyShinigami enter and leave Soul Society by unlocking the Senkaimon and using a Jigokuchō. Pluses, on the other hand, enter Soul Society through the ritual of Soul Burial. When people die, they are assigned a number to a part of Soul Society according to when they died. Spirits can be born in Soul Society as much as in the living world, with the Shinigami acting to balance the souls.
Intruders can pass through the Senkaimon in the same manner, but only in soul form. This allows spiritual beings, such as Ichigo in his Shinigami form, to enter without permission. Humans can also use such a gate through the use of Reishihenkanki (霊子変換機, Spirit Exchangers), which convert solid matter into Reishi.
Finally, Hollows can also directly rip a hole to Soul Society from Hueco Mundo, or in the case of Arrancar, using a Garganta.
GOVERNMENT
Soul King: Soul Society is ruled by the Soul King, who commonly leaves the running of Soul Society to the Central 46 Chambers and Nobles. The Soul King lives in the Royal Palace in a separate dimension in the very core of Soul Society, which is protected by the Royal Guard; as a separate dimension, this is not considered part of Soul Society itself. The King does have a specific system of "specialty duties" which are actively carried out but the exact nature of these duties is unknown.[9] The dimension can only be opened with a tri-pronged golden key fittingly named the Royal Key (王鍵, ōken). The location of this Royal Key is passed down verbally from one Gotei 13 Captain-Commander to the next, the former holder being Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. According to Rangiku Matsumoto, no Shinigami has ever seen the king.
Nobility: Another part of the government are the Noble Houses (Noble Families in the English version), especially the four Great Noble Houses, which are considered to be the highest of them all. The lower noble houses all serve one of the four each.
