Bleach: Who is Jushiro Ukitake

Squad 13 Captain Jushiro Ukitake may not be the most memorable of the Gotei 13 captains we know but his sacrifice and the anime adaptation’s treatment of his life and legacy enable us to sympathize with a man who only wanted to fulfill a purpose in the lives of others, even if it was for a short while, just like his fleeting life.

History

The anime gives us a full background of Jushiro Ukitake.

A few centuries after Yamamoto’s defeat of Yhwach, Jushiro Ukitake was born the eldest son of a minor noble family in the Rukongai but in his infancy, the boy contracted a fatal lung illness.

With doctors not able to help the poor boy, Ukitake’s parents, the superstitious people that they were and needing their family’s heir to live, sought out the fallen deity Mimihagi, whose temple was in the 78th Rukon district.

In the anime, we witness Mimihagi inside Ukitake’s inner world as it produced tears from its one eye that Ukitake consumed, which turned the boy into a shadow version of Mimihagi in the inner world and lived within Ukitake’s body to sustain his life.

Through this arrangement, Ukitake would live a long life and become a Shinigami, training Zanjutsu directly under Head Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto in the Shin’ō Academy he founded.

Here, he would also meet Shunsui Kyouraku, another minor noble scion and the two would share a close friendship, such that Ukitake shared the truth of Mimihagi to him.

The two would become the first Shin’ō Academy graduates to become Captains of the Gotei 13, implying a transition from the original Gotei comprised mostly of criminals, including Unohana herself, who remained, to a more formalized institution that gathered formally trained Shinigami during this time of peace.

Ukitake would lead Squad 13, who were responsible for protecting Karakura Town, the current Jureichi, an area with the greatest concentration of spiritual power and is most attractive to Hollows.

Ukitake was known to be well-liked among his peers and considered quite handsome.

At some point, Ukitake would also be responsible for giving a Combat Pass to a Fullbringer,  a human named Kugo Ginjo, thereby becoming the first Substitute Shinigami.

However, Ginjo was betrayed by Soul Society as the Combat Pass turned out to be a surveillance device designed to control the Substitute Agent’s actions by absorbing and restricting their Reiatsu flow.

Because of this feature in the Combat Pass, Ginjo holds Ukitake responsible for the betrayal and plotted against the Soul Society.

In the light novel, “Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World”, we learn that this feature of the Combat Pass was installed by the Tsunayashiro Family, one of the Noble Five Clans of the Soul Society, as part of their plot to acquire Fullbringer corpses to extract their Soul King fragments.

Tokinoda, then just a member of the clan, made the Combat Pass into a surveillance device to lead the Tsunayashiro family to the Fullbringer hideout, leading to a massacre but Ginjo killed the assassins before they could make off with the Soul King Fragments.

In a way, Ichigo’s burial request for Ginjo somewhat delayed an opportunistic Tokinada from gaining more power for his personal plots.

Much later, Kaien Shiba became Ukitake’s lieutenant and someone he fully trusted, such that after he was killed in action by the Hollow Metastacia, who disguised itself as Kaien’s wife, Ukitake insisted to Central 46 that he did not require a lieutenant, an unprecedented request akin to Kyouraku’s first request as the new Head Captain to have two lieutenants instead of one.

Main Story

Ukitake’s first important appearance was during the Soul Society arc at the bridge leading to Rukia’s cell as he prevented Byakuya Kuchiki from killing Ganju and 4th Squad member Hanatarō Yamada, who were helping in Rukia’s attempted breakout.

We learn a bit about him and see that he is one of the friendlier captains but is also quite sickly.

He also seems to recognize Ichigo but Byakuya clarifies that Ichigo is not the same man that he is thinking about, which we learn to be Kaien Shiba.

Later, Ukitake and Kyouraku join forces to destroy the Sokyoku before it executes Rukia using the Shiho’in Shield.

Because of this action, the two would duel against their teacher, Head Captain  Yamamoto, who remarked that they were the strongest Captains of their time but this battle did not amount to much as Sosuke Aizen’s betrayal was exposed.

When Aizen made his escape, Ukitake asked how Aizen could go so low as to ally with the Menos.

Aizen said that no one stood upon the heavens, neither himself, nor you (referring specifically to Ukitake) or the gods.

This was intentional foreshadowing, as confirmed in the Klub Outside Q&A where Kubo confirmed that Aizen was aware that Mimihagi was inside him, something only Kyouraku fully knew of.

He would also participate in the Winter War, helping Kyouraku against 1st Espada Coyote Starrk but fell to the fledgling Arrancar, Wonderweiss Margela.

Hell Arc

In the 20th anniversary one-shot “Bleach: Breathes from the Jaws of Hell”, the whole point centers around performing a ritual called Konsō Reisai in front of Ukitake’s death.

Unlike the regular Konso that sends Pluses in the Human World to the Soul Society, Konsō Reisai is supposedly done to bury the dense Reishi of the late Captain’s body into the Soul Society to ensure proper circulation and this is done through the purification of a Hollow in front of Ukitake’s grave.

Twelve years have passed since the Thousand Year Blood War arc.

However, through Ichigo’s killing of Jigoku no Gaki that broke out of Hell and the presence of the Substitute Shinigami Combat Pass (which has Ukitake’s residual Reiatsu), the ceremony has been completed according to the Jailer of Hell, former 8th Espada Szayelaporro Granz and we learn here that because of how dense in Reiatsu Captain’s bodies are, the Konsō Reisai is performed to send Captains to Hell.

From the open Gates of Hell, a massive Sogyo no Kotowari emerges and stabs Szayelaporro to pull him back to Hell but not before the Jailer reveals that Ukitake and the other deceased Captains, Yamamoto and Unohana, have gained epithets, with Ukitake becoming “Kamikake” (Divine Possession)

Abilities

Although barely spotlighted in the series, Ukitake is defined by two things: his immense prowess as a swordsman of an older generation and his incredible spiritual power, the latter being crucial to maintaining his frail body for nearly a thousand years and for helping create the door to the Soul King Palace.

In the anime, Ukitake is also shown to use Kaido or healing Kido on Kenpachi and other injured Shinigami during the second Wandenreich invasion.

Zanpakuto: Sogyo No Kotowari

Ukitake’s Shikai, Sogyo no Kotowari, has the ability to absorb any energy-based attack and instantenously return the attack back with such speed that 1st Espada Coyote Starrk assume Ukitake released his own Cero, rather than returning Starrk’s Cero back at him.

As one of the oldest Captains of the Gotei 13, Ukitake’s release command is quite long. The command in the Viz translation is: “All Waves Rise, and Become my Shield, Lightning, Strike now, and Become my Blade”

In the “Can’t Fear Your Own World” novel, it is revealed that dual-type Zanpakuto do not occur naturally.

Kyouraku’s Katen Kyoukotsu is this way due to how the original spirit split herself into two, with Kyoukotsu holding the Ise Clan’s Zanpakuto, Shinken Hakkyōken.

Ukitake’s Zanpakuto is the result of Mimihagi’s influence since it is another living being living inside Ukitake’s body.

In the anime filler arc, Zanpakuto Rebellion, Ukitake’s Zanpakuto spirits take the form of twin boys, who somewhat resemble him in his youth and his relationship with them is akin to that of his actual younger siblings.

As a captain Ukitake has achieved Bankai but we have yet to see that in either the manga or the anime.

However, Ukitake’s role in the story is not over yet as he remains a key presence to look forward to in the Hell Arc.

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