Sōken Ishida

, was the father of Ryūken Ishida and the grandfather of Uryū Ishida.

Appearance
Sōken is an elder man with gray hair, a gray mustache and glasses. 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.

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.

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 bribed the Shinigami who wer supposed to help Soken to be late so that he could take Soken in for study and experimentation. According to a reflection of a photograph seen in Uryū's glasses, all that was left of him in the end was his head.

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

Sōken appears to Uryū as a vision when he reaches his limit after the fight with Yoshi. He gives Uryū a few words of wisdom, and assures him not to push himself too far, telling him that there is nothing more that can be asked of him since he fought with everything he had, which is all that can be asked of any man. The vision of Sōken leaves his grandson to think about his words.

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: Sōken as a Quincy 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. To a sufficiently powerful Quincy, there is no difference between spiritual particles and spiritual energy as a source of power. He can manipulate spiritual energy for offensive purposes. Mayuri Kurotsuchi studied Sōken extensively, but found no abilities other than common Quincy abilities.


 * Spirit Weapon: Like all Quincy, Sōken uses a bow as his primary weapon. Sōken was shown creating a bow, as well as teaching Uryū exactly how to use his own bow. He had a bow similar to Lone Sparrow, and fired arrows of varying degrees.

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

Quotes

 * "A heart of vengeance forges the soul firm with resolve, but if one's not careful vengeance can be blinded by obstinacy and pride, thereby dulling the blade."
 * "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, Quincy's release the arrows from their hearts."
 * "Be it Human or Shinigami, seeing a sad face is unbearable to me. "