How Strong Is Isshin Kurosaki? Compared to Other Bleach Characters

The world of Bleach is home to incredibly powerful characters that are capable of doing some things that can be unimaginable. Of course, we know that Ichigo Kurosaki is arguably at the top in terms of power levels, but he did inherit some of his powers from his own old man, Isshin Kurosaki, who seems to be strong enough to handle powerful captain-level opponents himself. So, just how strong is Isshin Kurosaki?

Isshin Kurosaki is incredibly strong because he became a captain of the Gotei 13 at one point in the past before he gave up his position for the sake of his wife, Masaki. In fact, he is strong enough to be able to handle his own against Aizen and fight a powerful Hollow like White on par while being injured.

It is a fact that Isshin Kurosaki is so strong that he also has a son with enormous potential. Of course, Ichigo is the combination of several different bloodlines and powers that allowed him to develop his own unique powers as well. But that doesn’t take away anything from his old man, who we know is still strong enough to give the other Gotei 13 captains a run for their money.

How Strong Is Isshin Kurosaki?

One of the characters that caught a lot of fans of Bleach off-guard during the time that he was introduced as a Shinigami was Isshin Kurosaki. That’s because he was seemingly a regular and unassuming doting father that worked as a doctor during the day. Of course, we all know that Ichigo Kurosaki, his son, was always very strong, and that means that he might have inherited his strength from someone who is also incredibly strong.

The bigger surprise, however, was the fact Isshin wasn’t only a Shinigami but was an incredibly powerful one that was able to put to shame a lot of different characters in Bleach. In fact, Isshin is so strong that he actually became the captain of the 10^th Division of the Gotei 13 during the time when he was still living in Soul Society. And he was the captain of Rangiku and Toshiro, who are both very strong in their own right.

Known as Isshin Shiba during his time as a Shinigami, Isshin is very strong because of the fact that he comes from one of the strongest Noble Houses in Soul Society. He came from the Shiba Clan, which used to be the fifth Noble House in Soul Society before it fell from its high position within the Shinigami. Despite that, he inherited the powerful spiritual power of his predecessors, as he was naturally very strong when he was born.

The fact that Isshin is so strong was something that was made clear during the events of Bleach when both Ichigo and Shinji sensed his spiritual presence miles away. In fact, Masaki also felt his incredible spiritual presence during Isshin’s fight with White, as she described his Reiatsu to be “incredibly powerful.”

On top of the fact that he was a gifted Shinigami since birth, Isshin also possesses immense skills with the sword. Despite being rusty after not having his Shinigami powers for about two decades, he was able to slice an Arrancar’s in a thorough manner when he killed Grand Fisher in only one strike using his sealed Zanpakutō. And during his fight with Aizen, Isshin’s skills with the sword actually forced the powerful villain to put his guard up because he was aware of just how strong this former captain is.

Even without the use of his sword, Isshin is still very strong as he is a Hakuda expert. One of his most impressive feats was when he used a simple finger flick called Oni Dekopin, which was powerful enough to send Aizen through several buildings with just a single strike. Of course, Isshin’s hand-to-hand skills were evident in the fact that he repeatedly attacked his own son as a form of roughhousing between the two.

Isshin’s Zanpakutō is called Engetsu, which takes the form of a regular katana. However, when he releases his Shikai, the sword becomes engulfed in flames. Using his sword’s released form, Isshin can use a Blood-Flame attack that allows him to use his own blood to release a huge amount of fire from his sword. Engetsu is actually quite strong that Aizen slashed Isshin from behind in the fight against White because Aizen knew that he was about to kill his creation.

In the fight against Aizen during the Fake Karakura Town battle, Isshin was able to showcase the power of his own Getsuga Tensho when it was able to destroy a large radius of Fake Karakura Town upon impact. And it was also powerful enough to leave a large gash on Aizen’s head.

Isshin’s Bankai was never revealed, but Aizen noted that it is very powerful that it leaves a considerable strain on the user’s body. As such, whenever Isshin is heavily injured, he is unable to use his Bankai. But it is also possible that his Bankai is so strong because Isshin has to pay a heavy price to use it. This is probably why Aizen attacked him from behind in the fight against White, as it would have prevented Isshin from using his Bankai on the Hollow.

Nevertheless, despite his injuries, Isshin was still strong enough to fight White on par, as we can make the assumption that this Hollow was strong enough to be a Vasto Lorde. Still, his injuries held him back in that fight. But we can make the assumption that he would have defeated White quickly if Aizen didn’t attack him from behind.

How Does Isshin Compare To Other Bleach Characters?

To truly see just how strong Isshin is, let’s compare him to other strong Bleach characters.

Ichigo

While Ichigo is Isshin’s son and is actually a hybrid of different bloodlines, the younger Kurosaki is stronger than his father due to the fact that his bloodline is some sort of an anomaly. He is a mixture of human-Hollow, Quincy, and Shinigami. It is the fact that he is the mix of three of the strongest types of beings in Bleach that makes him a lot stronger than his father. But it is possible that Isshin, in his prime, would have given Ichigo a run for his money before the younger Kurosaki defeated Aizen.

Aizen

Speaking of Aizen, he is also a hax character in the sense that he is basically immortal and is unable to die. Even Aizen’s Shikai is already stronger than almost any other Bankai in Bleach, as his Shikai is capable of controlling the five senses of a person. While Isshin held his own against Aizen in their fight, he was ultimately a lot weaker than him as Aizen didn’t even have to exert himself a lot in that battle.

Yamamoto

As the strongest Shinigami in existence other than Ichigo and probably a few other members of the Royal Guard, Yamamoto once said that no Shinigami born in the last 1,000 years was strong enough to take his place as the Head Captain of the Gotei 13. As such, he remained the strongest of the Gotei 13 for a thousand years until his death at the hands of Yhwach. Considering that Isshin was a captain himself, it goes without saying that he was not strong enough to take the Head Captain spot from Yamamoto.