Uryū Ishida is a character from Bleach that we have not written about so far, despite the fact that he is actually one of the main characters in the series, and this is going to be the second article with him as the protagonist. In this one, though, we are going to pair him with Ichigo. It is known that the two of them were rivals from the start but despite their turbulent relationship, Ishida and Ichigo became and remained close friends. But could they also be family? In this article, we are going to tell you whether Ichigo is related to Ishida in Bleach.
Ichigo and Ishida are not directly related. Ichigo’s mother lived with Ishida’s family before he was born and was set to marry his father, but she eventually met and fell in love with Isshin Shiba, with whom she had Ichigo; Ishida’s mother was Kanae Katagiri. But, in a symbolic way, since both Ichigo and Ishida are Quincy and have Yhwach’s blood in them, they are related through Yhwach’s blood, although it’s by no means a direct family relation.
The rest of this article is going to be dedicated to Uryū Ishida and Ichigo Kurosaki, as we are going to explain how they are related. We are going to give you all the details surrounding their family histories, after which we are going to draw our conclusions. There are going to be major spoilers for those that have not read the manga, so be careful how you approach the article.
Ichigo’s family history explained
The story of who Ichigo is an intriguing one primarily because he, as the protagonist of Bleach, actually has a unique blend of powers that are not seen in any other characters, even if they do present a combination of certain traits. Now, Ichigo is primarily a Human, that much is known, but he is not an ordinary human. Namely, from the very beginning of the story, we know that Ichigo is able to see and talk to ghosts; his younger sisters Karin and Yuzu are also able to do it, but to a lesser degree, although their powers do increase with time. Their father, Isshin Kurosaki, seems to be the only one who cannot see Ghosts.
But, we were in the dark for almost the whole manga. Namely, the origin of Ichigo’s powers was wrongly thought to be his father, who turned out to be a former Shinigami and the former Captain of Division 10 of the Gotei 13, where it was actually his mother who gave Ichigo his powers. This was revealed during the Quincy War Arc.
Namely, Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo’s mother, was the last of the Kurosaki family, which was one of the few “pure” Quincy families. She was adopted into the Ishida family by Ryūken Ishida’s mother, which is why she always called Ryūken’s mother aunt from then on. During a rainy night, Masaki felt two great Reiatsu converging in the vicinity. She couldn’t sit idly by and wanted to see if she could help. Ryūken initially wanted to stop her but couldn’t. Masaki encountered the wounded Captain Isshin Shiba of the Gotei 13’s Division 10.
This was in a fight with the Hollow White. With her abilities, Masaki was unable to hit the Hollow, so she let him attack her. White bit Masaki’s shoulder and Masaki took the opportunity to kill White with an arrow. Isshin thanked his rescuer, who introduced herself as Quincy. Both then returned to their homes but still thought of each other for days.
They would later meet after Kisuke Urahara noticed something odd about Masaki, who was actually slowly turning into a Hollow after being bitten by White. Isshin wanted Urahara to help her, but he couldn’t do it without Isshin sacrificing his powers, which the latter did without hesitation. Masaki was thus saved, but Isshin stopped being a Shinigami and went to the Human world, where he would end up marrying Masaki.
Masaki was thus a Quincy with Hollow powers, which is why the Ishida family shunned her, although they did not kick her out. When she finished high school, she visited Isshin again, and soon, the two of them became a couple. After Masaki finished college and Isshin opened a family clinic, the two of them got married and eventually had Ichigo, who inherited his mother’s, as well as his father’s powers.
Ishida’s family history explained
Ishida’s family history is closely related to the story of Masaki Kurosaki. Namely, Masaki Kurosaki was supposed to marry Ishida’s father, Ryūken, but that never happened because of the events we have described above. Ishida’s mother was actually Kanae Katagiri, who worked at the Ishida household at the time and loved Ryūken, although he was set to marry another woman.
Katagiri looked after the Ishida family about 20 years before the main storyline but was committed to serving and protecting Ryūken from an early age. When Masaki secretly left to fight the Hollow White, who was fighting with the Shinigami Commander Isshin, Ryūken wanted to follow her, taking Katagiri with her to prepare the Reiatsu armor for both of them. During the fight, however, they only took on an observing role, as Masaki was ultimately able to kill the hollow and thus save the Shinigami.
However, in doing so, Masaki was wounded by the Hollow. Ryūken ordered Katagiri not to report anything to his mother, but Katagiri saw it as her duty both to report that Masaki was protecting the Shinigami while not letting Quincy get involved in Shinigami fights, and to report Masaki’s wounds. When Ryūken found out about this a few days later, he was angry with Katagiri as he knew his mother would not tolerate such a thing. However, after Masaki collapsed from her wound, he first tried to help her. In the end, only a soul connection with the shinigami Isshin could save Masaki’s life, with whom she also moved in together after high school.
Since Masaki was considered “unclean” due to the Hollow injury, she had to leave the family one way or the other. Katagiri noted that this hit Ryūken, as Masaki’s ex-fiancé, hard. She then indirectly confessed her feelings for him, saying that it breaks her heart to see him so sad, which was not further commented on by Ryūken. Although his mother actually wanted him to marry a “pure” Quincy, Ryūken later married Katagiri. Together the two had a son, Uryū Ishida.
Not much is known about their married life as neither Uryū nor his father talked about it. Nine years before the main plot, on June 17th, Katagiri lost consciousness and passed away three months later. This was, as Isshin Kurosaki later explained, due to Yhwach and his “Auswählen” technique. In order to regain his lost powers, Yhwach would drain any Gemischt or Iimpure Quincy of their Reiatsu to restore his own. Quincys that were rather weak, like Katagiri, did not survive this. This is probably one of the reasons why Ryūken wants nothing to do with Quincy anymore.
As you can see from our story, Ishida and Ichigo are closely connected, but they are not directly related. Ichigo’s mother was set to marry Ishida’s father, Ryūken, but that never happened due to Aizen’s Hollow almost killing Captain Isshin Shiba. This is when and how Masaki both ended up with her Hollow powers and fell in love with Isshin. This meant that the marriage with Ryūken was not possible, as Ryūken’s mother wanted her son to marry an Echt Quincy, which Masaki was not anymore after being infected by White.
Masaki thus ended up with Isshin, with whom she had Ichigo, Yuzu, and Karin. On the other hand, Kanae Katagiri, who had been working for the Ishida family for a long time, was in love with Ryūken and although he did not initially notice her, the two would end up marrying and having a son, despite the protests of Ryūken’s mother, as Kanae was a Gemischt Quincy. So, based on this, Ichigo and Ishida are definitely not related by blood, as they are not part of the same family. On the other hand, there is a relationship between them.
Namely, as it later turned out, Ichigo is a Quincy, thanks to his mother’s powers and abilities, which he inherited. Ishida was introduced as a Quincy from the very beginning. This wouldn’t actually mean that much, had the Quincy War Arc not revealed one particularity about the Quincy. Namely, as all Quincy stem from Yhwach, who is the “Father of the Quincy”, they all have a part of his blood in them, regardless of how distant the relation is. This means that both Ichigo and Ishida share the same blood that came from Yhwach and are, as Quincy, related in that way. This is by no means a direct blood relation, but they are related in a way and we thought it was important to explain that here in this article.
