1st Division

1st Division Captain: Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni

First Division Captain and founder of the shinigami academy. By virtue of his position and seniority, he is also the supreme commander of the Gotei 13.

Yamamoto-taicho looks like a very old man, almost after the fashion of the Taoist Immortals, but under his shinigami robes he still has a strong body that has not decayed with age. His spiritual pressure is possibly greater than any other being in Soul Society; it was enough to paralyze Ise Nanao--the Eighth Division Vice-Captain--with a mere glance. He wields Ryuujin Jakka, the strongest of all fire-type zanpaku-to. His skill in kidou is unknown, but probably as formidable as his swordsmanship, as he appears to embody the convention of the "old master."

Kyouraku Shunsui (8th Division Captain) and Ukitake Juushiro (13th Division Captain) seem to have a particularly strong relationship with Yamamoto-taicho. He mentions that they were the first graduates of his shinigami academy to rise to the rank of captain, and some clips from the anime show Yamamoto-taicho sparring with the two (and easily winning).

1st Division Vice Captain: Unknown

Not much is known about this man, other than his outfit, which is somewhat different and more formal than those of the other vice-captains. Judging from his appearance, face, and weapon, it is probably a safe guess that he is a sophisticated sort of man.

Shinigami court divisions

Quincy

Quincy

The Quincy (滅却師 kuinshī) are a fictional sect in the animated and manga series Bleach. The Quincy are a race that are originally a mixture of survivors of the hollow attacks and those who’d lost their dear ones to hollows. Because of the emotions that they held towards the Hollows who nearly robbed them or had already robbed them of their loved ones, they developed a variety of supernatural powers that allowed them to hunt and kill the hollows before they attacked humans (or to destroy them if they were late) The Quincy became nearly extinct due to the examinations done by the Shinigami 200 years prior to the Bleach storyline.

Amongst the main traits that sets the Quincy apart from the Shinigami is that they actually kill hollows instead of cleansing their spirits. The Quincy were slowly disrupting the balance of souls between the two worlds, and would have destroyed both worlds. This difference was led to the Quincy-Shinigami war. The victors of the war were the Shinigami and the Quincy line was closely monitored over the decades.

Later Quincies advocated the idea that since they were more numerous and already among the living, that they could act as the ‘first responders’ to the hollow attacks, since the Shinigami were less in number and could not respond to all the Hollow attacks prioritizing the more dangerous and current hollow attacks. The Quincies would be the first ones to attack while the Shinigami would send a representative to finish the Hollow off. But this was not accepted among the Shinigami who still decided to follow old procedures.

Mayuri Kurotsutchi, the Captain of the 12^th Division preformed experiments, (some of them cruel) on 2,661 Quincies.

Another difference between the Shinigami and the Quincy is that the Shinigami are dressed in black traditional clothing while the Quincy wear futuristic white uniforms. Another peculiar reoccurring motif is the cross that seems to appear on the Quincy uniforms.

Also, the Quincy usually use bows and arrows as weapons to fight against the hollows, which are made from spirit energy, while the Shinigami have sword-Zanpakto who can be considered allies.

The Quincy are also a very proud clan and there is an ethic called the Pride of the Quincy that by which the last Quincy, Uryuu Ishida lives by. The Quincy can be compared with knight as well as priests and crusaders.

Uryuu Ishida- Ishida’s character page can be found on the Major Character page of this site.

Ryūken Ishida (石田竜弦, Ishida Ryūken)

Ryuken is the father of Uryuu Ishida and the son of Soken Ishida. He is now the Director of Karakura Hospital and is also known as the last Quincy (a status contested by his son)

Ryuken appears to be a cold, workaholic who is very estranged from his family. He hates his status as a Quincy because it simply does not bring any money on the table and prefers to focus on saving the living rather then the dead. He is also against the idea of his son associating so much with his own father Soken and tells Uryuu Ishida not to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

Not much is known about Ryuken except that he helps his son regain his powers if he agrees not to associate with the Shinigami (manga) and that he has a special training chamber underneath the hospital.

We also know that despite Ryuken being a rich man, his son is rather poor and lives alone and not with his father. Uryuu Ishida had a strong bond with his grandfather who he describes as a warm and gentle man while stating that his father is cold and uncaring. Uryuu probably also dislikes his father since he was probably never there for him and his mother (we later find out in an episode in the Bounto Arc)

Sōken Ishida (石田宗弦, Ishida Sōken)

Soken is Ryuken’s father and Ishida’s grandfather. He was a kind old man that truly loved his grandson (and probably his son as well) He was an advocate for the Quincy idea to become the first responders and he truly believed in his cause to save people from hollows. He also instructed Uryuu and trained him to become a Quincy.

Sadly Soken died when battling a Hollow and the Shinigami did not come to save him in time. This has lead to the fact that Uryuu hates the Shinigami and he blames them for the death of his grandfather and the unnecessary suffering of other people because the Shinigami are slow to respond.

Soken was the last specimen that Mayuri Kurtsuchi obtained for his study on the Quincy.

Urahara Shop

Urahara Shop

The Uruhara Shop is a store in Karakura town run by Uruhara Kisuke that sell Shinigami items. It serves not only as a store but it also has a huge training ground underneath in the basement and it serves as headquarters in times of trouble. The store is run by Uruhara Kisuke with help of Jinta, Ururu and Tessai.

Kisuke Urahara (浦原喜助, Urahara Kisuke)

Kisuke is the main owner of the Uruhara Shop in the anime and manga series of Bleach. His store specializes in selling Shinigami items and serves as a home to the other workers of the shop.

Kisuke Uruhara in first appearance seems like a weird old guy, since he wears traditional Japanese wooden sandals, a cylinder hat and has grey-ish light hair. This appearance has earned him the nickname of geta-boshi or sandal-hat. He is a generally laid-back cheerful fellow that seems to dislike chaos and upheaval. He is first introduced as the person from which Rukia has bought her not so functioning items from.

Kisuke has a great sense of humor (loves to play pranks on Ichigo) and tends to hide his smile behind a fan he always seems to carry around. He can also go over the top with whatever he becomes passionate about, as Yurouichi notes and Kisuke once described himself as a ‘mere honest, handsome, perverted businessman.’ Even though Rukia complains that whatever she buys from his doesn’t always function properly or is overpriced.

But Kisuke can also become deadly serious when the situation warrants it, and as it is later revealed in both manga and anime, Kisuke is the former Captain of the 12^th Division. He also has a Zanpakto that is hidden in the cane he always carries around with him. It is also one of the rare female Zanpakto’s.

Kisuke always seems to appear near the scene of an important event, but never steps in to intervene, preferring to be in control from the outside. But he did on numerous occasions help Ichigo and the rest and trained Ichigo on to become strong enough to save Rukia from Soul Society.

Yoruichi Shihouin (四楓院夜一, Shihōin Yoruichi)

Yoruichi is not really a member of the Uruhara Shop, but she can be seen hanging around it a lot, usually in the form of a black cat. When she was introduced into the series she appeared as a black cat that came to the Uruhara Shop and Kisuke was delighted to see the cat and was playing with it, to Jinta’s embarrassment.

As a cat she appeared before Orihime and Chad and offered to train them to become stronger so that they could go to Soul Society. It is only later revealed that her cat form is not her true for and that in fact she is a beautiful dark-skinned woman (the fact that she was a woman shocked everyone the most since the cat had a male voice)

Yoruichi is actually the former leader of the Special Forces and she is also a descent of one of the four noble families of Soul Society, but unlike other nobles (e.x. Kuchiki Byakuya) she doesn’t like being all formal and wants people to call her without her honorific suffix. She is intelligent and witty and seems to have no shame as she playfully teased Ichigo when she saw his reaction to her naked body.

She is also aware of everything that happens within Soul Society and is also a former Shinigami. Yoruichi is Kisuke’s childhood friend and the two of them seem to be very close and she seems to come to him in times of trouble, and Kisuke always seems to be happy to have her there, but that also means that something big is about to happen.

Yoruichi, like Kisuke does not like to intervene in battles but will step in if she thinks that her side won’t win. She is also an instructor and trains Ichigo, Orihime and Chad for their trip to Soul Society. She was also helped Ichigo to achieve his final release Bankai.

Yoruichi is also very good friends with Ikkaku Shiba, and it seems that Ikkaku, Yoruichi and Kisuke seem to have been friends together in the past.

Ururu Tsumugiya (紬屋雨, Tsumugiya Ururu)

Ururu is a young and quiet girl who lives along with the other memberes at the Uruhara Store. She is often bullied by Jinta who never stops reminding her that he is better and that she is stupid and useless. But according to Uruhara, that seems to be far from the truth. She is supposedly powerful enough to easily fight with a Shinigami and as later shown in the series when Ichigo undergoes the training with Uruhara to rescue Ichigo, she possesses great strength and speed.

In battle she uses a bazooka that resembles a giant lit cigarette. She is also powerful enough to harm a gilian-class arrancar. It is not certain if Ururu is human and not much is known about her past. But if we look at the fact that Uruhara Kisuke was once the former Captain of the 12^th Division and invented modsouls and other things, we can speculate that Ururu might be one of Kisuke’s inventions, but that isn’t certain.

Ururu has a weird hairstyle that resembles a cockroach and is used for visual gags. She usually wears a white plain t-shirt with Uruhara Shop written on it and wears a pink skirt with white dots on it.

In her free time she helps out sweeping and working in the Uruhara shop and in times of danger aids Ichigo and the rest in battle.

Jinta Hanakari (花刈ジン太, Hanakari Jinta)

Jinta also works at the Uruhara shop and can be usually found teasing Ururu or Kon and since Renji came to live with them in the Bounto arc, he has been under constant attack from Jinta’s pranks. Jinta thinks highly of himself and boats over his achievements, bringing the usually out of proportion. He is a huge baseball fan and his weapon is a hexagonal club or “tessen”. He is strong enough to defeat weak hollows with it.

Jinta has also met the two Kurosaki sisters Karin and Yuzu. He seems to have a crush on the former one, and always blushes when he sees her, while he battles for the title Karakura Red with Karin.

Jinta has red hair, a big mouth and loves to swing his broom at people. He seems to be rude and loves to pray pranks but showed genuine concern when Ururu was wounded. He has a higher spiritual awareness then most human but it is not certain if he is/was a Shinigami.

(Tessai Tsukabishi (握菱テッサイ, Tsukabishi Tessai)

Tessai, is a fellow co-worker in the Uruhara Shop and is the most dedicated employee. He is always by Kisuke’s side trying to aid him whenever possible. He also cooks and cleans and stocks up the supplies in the store, and seems to be the only one after Rangiku Matsumoto that likes Orihime’s cooking.

Tessai is a massive, muscular man who wears slim rectangular glasses, has a darker tan, finely braided cornrows and a mustache. He always wears an apron and is never seen without it (not even when he is completely undressed) It is very likely that Tessai is a Shinigami, perhaps Uruhara’s former lieutenant, since he was able to use a level 99 kido binding spell, and only Shinigami can use the art of kido.

Masaki Kurosaki

Masaki, the mother of Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin died sadly when they were still children. Her death left a deep scar on her family. Isshin, their father keeps a large poster (that seems to change in manga) on the wall and talks to it occasionally. Karin finds that childish and Yuzu seems to have taken over her mother’s role in housework.

Ichigo on the other hand was there when it happened. His mother died trying to save her child and the memory of it is still imprinted in his mind. Ichigo blames himself for his mother’s death, the sadness he has brought upon his family for taking their beloved Masaki away who was the center of everyone’s universe. Ichigo truly worshipped his mother and so did the rest of the family.

It was because of her death that all the children’s personalities changed completely. Ichigo who had always been a terrified little boy, turned into his scowling short tempered self, carrying a burden of guilt for her death. Both Karin and Yuzu who had always been crybabies became more responsible and mature.

Yuzu Kurosaki

Yuzu, the younger of the Kurosaki twins, is very soft spoken and very feminine compared to her tomboyish sister Karin. She decided to take over the housework after their mother died and takes care of cleaning and cooking and chases Ichigo around worrying about him like a mother.
Yuzu is very emotional and very childlike compared to her sister, for example she still likes to play with dolls and stuffed animals (much to Kon’s misfortune) Like Karin she is a member of Don Kanonji’s Karakura Superheroes, who took up the role of fighting Hollows when Ichigo and the rest departed to save Rukia.

Karin Kurosaki

Karin is the younger sister of Ichigo and the older twin of Yuzu. She is cynical, sarcastic and loves to play soccer and excels in it. Actually, her kicks are so powerful so that she can even fight weaker hollows and defeat them with her kick. She is also very spiritually aware and can see ghosts and Shinigami. But Karin acts coolly when it comes to the subject of ghosts claiming that she does not believe in them even though she can see them. She later on confronts Ichigo telling him that she knows that he is a Shinigami and wonders why he is suffering so much.

Karin tries to act all cool and grown up at times acting like she does not really care. But we late discover that her attitude became like that after their mother died and Karin became very adult like and decided to become a responsible person.

Her name is a homonym in Japanese for the fruit quince, just like Ichigo’s name is for strawberry.