Byakuya Kuchiki

Lore & Background

Byakuya carries himself like an aristocrat: calm, composed and outwardly indifferent, even when he is torn inside. He believes in law and order and holds that someone in his position must follow the rules if anyone else is to. As a teenager training to succeed his grandfather Ginrei, he was hot-tempered, and Yoruichi Shihōin teased him into flash-step games of tag that she always won.

Reader's Guide

Byakuya's zanpakutō is Senbonzakura. He wears a captain's uniform with a kenseikan headpiece marking his rank as clan head and an heirloom scarf of silver-white windflower silk. He likes cherry blossoms, night walks and spicy food and dislikes sweets.

More than fifty years before the story, Byakuya married Hisana, a commoner from the poor Rukongai district of Inuzuri, against clan rules. Before dying of illness she asked him to find and protect her younger sister Rukia without revealing their bond. He adopted Rukia into the clan a year later, then swore on his parents' graves never to break the rules again, which leaves him deeply conflicted when Rukia is sentenced to execution.

Did You Know?

• The Soul Reaper Women's Association voted him the captain they most wanted to publish a photo book of.
• His drawing skill is as poor as Rukia's, and only Rukia admires it.