First Division

The First Division stands at the head of the Gotei 13. Under Captain-Commander Yamamoto it kept the usual single-lieutenant structure, but when Shunsui Kyōraku succeeded him he split the role between two officers: Genshirō Okikiba, who handles day-to-day matters, and Nanao Ise, who attends to the captain himself. The squad answers to the chrysanthemum as its emblem, a bloom standing for truth and innocence, and carries a deep purple as its color.

Though no special mandate is attached to it, the First ranks above every other division, and even its rank-and-file are held up as model Shinigami expected to read a crisis and mobilize before any order arrives. Its barracks double as the seat of the Gotei 13's leadership, housing the hall where the captains convene as well as a room for the lieutenants' gatherings. Beneath the compound lies the Central Great Underground Prison, and after Yamamoto's death his ruined blade, Ryūjin Jakka, was brought back to rest there.

Shunsui Kyōraku holds the captaincy, supported by lieutenants Nanao Ise and Genshirō Okikiba. Before him the division belonged to Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the founding Captain-Commander, whose own lieutenant Chōjirō Tadaoki Sasakibe long served the First alongside him.