Sōken Ishida

was an Echt Quincy as well as the father of Ryūken Ishida and the grandfather of Uryū Ishida.

Appearance
Sōken is an elderly man with gray hair, a gray mustache and glasses. His eyes were deep gray and he had a bit of a beard of his chin. His skin was wrinkled with age and he had pronounced cheekbones. He wears white Quincy clothes underneath a brown tunic.

Personality
Sōken was a kind man whom Uryū admired. He preached an unusual variant of Quincy philosophy advocating cooperation with the Shinigami. He appeared to be a traditionalist, as he refused to accept the concept of Quincy evolution, preferring to the obsolete Quincy: Letzt Stil over the new Quincy: Vollständig. According to Ryūken, Sōken had a habit of taking things that were not his.

History
Sōken trained Uryū and Ryūken in Quincy abilities. Sōken taught Uryū throughout his childhood, becoming his mentor in the process. Sōken tried to make amends with the Shinigami by advocating a new system of response to Hollow attacks: Quincy would be the first-response squad, protecting Humans from Hollows until the Shinigami arrived to dispatch the Hollow, thus maintaining the spiritual balance between the worlds that was being destroyed by the Quincy. However, his proposal was never accepted, despite several attempts. At some point Sōken gave Uryū the Sanrei Glove.

At some point, Sōken refused to accept the new progress of the Quincy powers, such as the Vollständig, and held on to the old Letzt Stil. When he was exiled by them, Sōken escaped from the Quincy's hidden realm via a portal, taking with him a device used to activate it.

He was killed in battle when a group of giant Hollows attacked him, as the Shinigami arrived too late to save his life. During the rescue of Rukia Kuchiki, Mayuri Kurotsuchi reveals to Uryū that this was his doing; he delayed the Shinigami meant to protect Sōken so that he could study Sōken's soul for his research. According to a photograph Mayuri kept, by the end of his experimentation, very little was left of Sōken's body.

Bount arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Powers and Abilities
Master Archer: His skills in archery are determined by his ease of one-handed firing as well as precision attacking a target without inflicting any harm to anything but his target.

Reishi Absorption: As a Quincy, Sōken primarily absorbs spiritual energy from the atmosphere, and combines it with his own spiritual energy to form weapons. He has an easier time collecting this energy in environments with higher concentrations of spiritual particles, such as Soul Society or Hueco Mundo.

Spiritual Awareness: As a Quincy, Sōken can sense Hollows at a significant distance.

Spirit Weapon
Heilig Bogen (神聖弓 (ハイリッヒ・ボーグン), Hairihhi Bōgun; German for "Holy Bow", Japanese for "Sacred Bow"): Like all Quincy, Sōken uses a bow as his primary weapon. Sōken was able to create a bow similar to Uryū's first bow. He also teaches Uryū exactly how to use his own bow.


 * By further condensing Reishi, Sōken is capable of forming Heilig Pfeil, which he can fire at varying degrees.

Quotes

 * (To Uryū Ishida) "Be it Human or Shinigami, seeing a sad face is unbearable to me."


 * (To Uryū Ishida) "A heart of vengeance forges the soul firm with resolve, but if one is not careful, vengeance can be blinded by obstinacy and pride, thereby dulling the blade."


 * (To Uryū Ishida) "The Quincy's arrows are released in the name of Justice. In other words, justice is when you have something that must be protected. There is nothing more difficult than the basics that I have just taught you. From there on, it depends on your heart. In the name of justice, Quincies release the arrows from their hearts."