Ninth Division

Numbered among the Gotei 13, the Ninth follows the same structure as its sister companies and answers to Captain Kensei Muguruma. It carries a dual identity, at once a combat unit and a cultural body, and its emblem, a white poppy, stands for oblivion, its signifying color rendered as tenné.

Charged with defending the Seireitei, the Ninth stays perpetually ready for battle as the Gotei 13's security arm. By long tradition it also shepherds the realm's arts and letters, and its captain doubles as editor-in-chief of the Seireitei Communication magazine, to which every division's lieutenant submits reports. The barracks house the usual offices and quarters alongside that magazine's editorial department, and its recruiters, chiefly Hisagi during the long stretch without a captain, court applicants with literary talent.

An elite squad once formed within its ranks, the Muguruma Commando Unit, a band of high-seated officers renowned for synchronized combination strikes and for the words Muguruma's Ninth Division printed across their uniforms. That unit was destroyed while looking into a rash of soul disappearances in the Rukongai around a century ago.

Kensei Muguruma commands the modern Ninth, with Shūhei Hisagi and Mashiro Kuna serving together as its lieutenants. The traitor Kaname Tōsen once held the captaincy, and after he abandoned Soul Society for Aizen, Hisagi kept the leaderless division running until Kensei reclaimed his old post once Aizen was beaten, at which point Mashiro rejoined as co-lieutenant at Hisagi's side.