Nanao Ise

Lore & Background

The Ise family are mostly women from a Shinto priestly line, said to carry a curse that kills men who marry in, as happened to Shunsui's brother. Her mother was executed for discarding the family sword after Nanao's father died, and Nanao grew up with elderly relatives before joining the Gotei Thirteen for her kidō. In Squad Eight she befriended lieutenant Lisa Yadōmaru. Serious and practical, she clashes with Shunsui's antics yet respects him; when truly annoyed she takes off her glasses, and whoever sees her face is left babbling.

During the Wandenreich's second invasion she creates a special kidō, Hakudan Keppeki, that can hold them off, and she persuades Shunsui to hand over Shinken Hakkyōken.

Shinken Hakkyōken

The Ise clan's ritual heirloom; Ise members have no zanpakutō of their own and only the family head inherits it. Shunsui hid it inside Kyōkotsu to keep the supposed source of the curse away from her, but gives it to her as a last resort in his fight with Lille Barro, since it can hurt divine beings. Its shikai is an ornate flat-ended bladeless sword that takes a god's power into itself and scatters it in eight directions.