Hiromasa Ishikawa

Hiromasa Ishikawa (宏昌石川 "Large Bright Stone River") Is the founding Captain of the Seventh Division. Having shaped it with the desire to make something he might call a family of his own, a thing that he never had during his own childhood. The division largely flourished underneath him, as he treated all of his subordinates with a warmth seldom witnessed from a commanding officer of his position. Eventually however, Hiromasa's desire for freedom proved too great and he left his division after a few centuries of faithful service. He did so in a manner most unorthodox, he handed in a note to be delivered to the Captain-Commander an hour after his departure, and then he simply went ahead and left. Never saying any formal goodbyes and not bothering to talk about it to his squad mates, evidently, despite being praised for his kindness among his peers, he could certainly be found lacking in terms of common courtesy.

Prior to becoming one of the founding Captains of the Gotei 13, Hiromasa had been a travelling swordsman working not for the highest bidder, but for whomever he found worthy of his services. During the tumultuous times before Soul Society was formed, this often ensured the survival of whomever he rendered his services to and with his help they could often get quite far, far enough to make the difference they sought. Hiromasa's sword skills were exemplary even back then, being one of the first individuals to awaken what is now referred to as a Bankai. Throughout the years that talent would only increase. Until it reached the point where he ironically never required to unsheathe his blade to fight to uphold his own honor.

Although he left Soul Society behind, Hiromasa became highly invested in the human world and has come to own many strange establishments across the millennia, ranging from taverns, schools and gambling parlors and other places where the free and inhibited might come to enjoy one another's company. Currently however, Hiromasa is the lead vocalist for the extremely popular human world band known as Sphere, why he chose to do this is anyone's guess but few might realize that he does what he does simply because he finds the simplicity of most humans to be so charming and refreshing. He found them so fascinating in fact, that he often intentionally let them witness his true abilities, curious as to their reaction. The humans, incapable of comprehending the power of a Shinigami, much less one of his potential attributed his powers to a divine lineage and subsequently began worshipping him as a deity of wind.

Thus, Hiromasa has been known by a great many names, and in many different mythologies. In Japan he's known as Fūjin, in Greece as Aeolus and in China he's Fei Lian. He played the part of a god to the best of his abilities, he uses his powers to assist humans, keeping storms at bay and blowing away opposing armies and enemies. In time however, he came to realize that his worshippers wished to turn his powers towards warfare, to conquer and overwhelm their bitter enemies. Some of them also had the nasty habits of killing animals and executing enemies as a way to appease him somehow.. he found that quite alarming and refused to help them anymore. Hence most of them lost their favor with their "God".

Zanpakutō
Murakaze (叢 風, "Gathering Winds") : Is the Zanpakutō of Hiromasa, in it's sealed state it assumes the form of a regular katana. It's appearance is dull and forgettable, of exactly the precise length, and of the common color, it sports a common round tsuba and has a bluish gray wrapping. Hiromasa's sealed form can thus largely be described as nondescript, there's nothing remarkable about it, neither for good nor ill. That is, except for one thing, whenever it's drawn from it's sheath, the surroundings are put in motion as though grasped by a simple gust of wind, leaves flicker and dance, hair is drawn back and robes flutter in the breeze. It's as though the Zanpakutō is a physical manifestation of wind, the moment it's re-sheathed this effect quickly dissipates. Ishikawa explains that Murakaze is a no-nonsense kind of guy, and that his sealed state reflects that. Despite this, it's powers even in it's sealed state is nothing short of gargantuan, to the extent that Hiromasa often fights simple battles with the blade still meticulously sheathed. Which greatly weakens it's powers.

Even so, Murakaze's power is easily sufficient to keep up with most foes and might quickly overwhelm them at a moments notice. A gentle flick of his sheathed Zanpakutō being known to summon furious twisters, raging winds and blades of air all as he desires. A swing might conjure forth a gale so potent so as to upturn the very earth where it moves and hurl opponents far away from the Zanjutsu Grandmaster and breach most feeble attempts at standing against the forces of nature at Murakaze's command. Those who rise to challenge him are therefore almost never able to even reach him, as the moment he makes the slightest intent to defend himself his rival is picked up by fierce winds and deposited somewhere else, defeated but always miraculously uninjured.

As a testimony to Hiromasa's kindness and understanding of Murakaze, he's been known to consistently defeat his opponents in this manner, always without ever wounding them in the slightest. If his challenger is injured by him acting in self-defense, Ishikawa takes it as a great personal failure unless the individual was powerful enough to warrant a genuine use of force. Those who do warrant such a display however might get a taste of Murakaze's true powers. Should Ishikawa desire it, the sealed state of his Zanpakutō may split into two long spears, adorned with dragons along their shaft and evidently made out of the finest ivory. Although he might wield them as one would any other weapon, he rarely does so, instead that typically hover in mid-air and are more directed than actually wielded in combat.

While some might consider the spears to be a melee weapon with few applications, this is a grave fallacy that has cost many an opponent dearly. For each of the spears is a medium through which Murakaze might channel it's control over wind, A single spear might conjure forth raging tornadoes, cleave the sky in two to bring massive blades of wind down upon enemies below or fly forwards with such tremendous speed that even masters of the art of Hoho are known to have trouble outrunning them. Each time a spear strikes an enemy it does so with the force of a hurricane, disintegrating extremities and overwhelming even some of the most adamant of defenses in short order. The power of the elements cannot be stopped, even when consciously restrained in this manner. Should Hiromasa ever deign to wield one of Murakaze's spears for himself however, the result is immediate, and most foes soon learn just why he's hailed as one of the greatest masters of his field.

 Shikai Special Ability:


 * : Murakaze Tengekidō (叢風天激動, lit. "Gathering Winds of Chaotic Heaven")

Bankai Special Ability: