CHEST TATTOO \ ITS MEANING,
and some stuff about kensei’s life.
his 6 \ 9 tattoo has a very personal symbolism, which goes beyond what’s addressed in canon — it’s not only a representative of his passion towards ninth, but also quite telling of his past & his own self.
it refers to the kanji 六 that composes the first part of his surname; muguruma ( 六車 )
kensei was born on the living world in mid-to-late 14th century ( 1301-1400 ), & died few years into his adolescence. his family was the main branch of a toraijin, a clan with genealogy rooted outside of japan current territory, & offered services of protection / guard — though known only regionaly, the muguruma clan was held in high regard by its truthworthness, honesty & loyalty.
being a first born, kensei was acquaintanced with swordmanship at a very young age, but soon showed his dishonorable tendency to fist-fight. despite the intense training he was put through, so he would learn to avoid such habits, often he would thrown aside his sword in favor of bare-handed attacks, which eventually got him deadly wounded — the nature & place of the injury might be the reason behind his bad memory, or so he believes.
to his luck, his procedural memories are unnafected, & he carried on his skills to soul society. other than that, he also remembers what had been hammed down on him incessantly; his family link with protection duties, the value of honesty & loyalty.
—— so his surname means not only where he came from, but also what was the base for who he’s currently & what he conquered until now:
* his proficiency skills made him stand out & pass through academy, despite his utter inability with kido;
* his family traditional purposes merged to be his main traits, as he puts honesty above all else, & can be expecionaly loyal to a cause, to the point of overlooking past grudges;
* the duty of protection left such a impression on him, he had no doubts where he was meant to be — ninth’s special duty is to protect the seireitei, acting as its security force, which called to his own memories since the very beginning.
ad. obviously ‘muguruma’ holds no special value on soul society, nor on japan’s territory either. the only person aware of its deeper meaning is kensei himself & he has not shared any of it with anyone but mashiro.
it refers to his division of choice, the ninth.
ninth was the first & only division kensei entered, starting straight as its 3th seat ( due his rapid development with tachizake; they both had great harmony, as its power enable kensei’s brutalistic tendencies ), then less than fifteen years later, he assumed the position of lieutenant.
he remained as ninth’s lieutenant for around 180 years, after which he got the captain position from ???? ( i just…. don’t know? but none of the royal guards fit, so it’s probably someone who died, as there’s no retirement in ss ) — by the events of turn back the pendulum ( 1901 ), he had been captain for around 300 years.
after his exile of 100 years, he was accepted back as ninth’s captain. considering the conditions that led to his exile, going back to soul society might have looked like a difficult decision to take, bordering on a lack of pride, but it wasn’t — ninth is kensei main pride & undoubtedly his main reason to live.
he poured almost his whole life into ninth, to a point where he considered it his personal instituition; part of gotei 13 yes, but mainly his own work. he’s rightfuly credited for perpetuating & solidifying ninth’s success in:
* performing its special duties of protection & readiness for combat;
* for developing / improving recognition processes for when engaging in unknown danger, as it’s ninth’s role as first in line of battle;
* for creating & establishing the seireitei comunication, which’s centered in raising gotei’s morale.
& while his passion for ninth has considerably decreased after his exile ( which’s why he has covered his chest tattoo / has made room to hobbies & love interests ), he still applies his whole self to his captain duties & has no desire to ascend in the hierarchy; if it ever comes to that, he’ll refuse any opportunity presented, no matter the rewards — his compromise to ninth surpass his seeking for recognition, for power, for the assurance what he’s doing is important. in a way, it goes over his compromise to gotei 13 itself.
— in short, his tattoo represents the essence of who he is as a person & for which cause this whole self is applied to: not the gotei 13, but ninth & his own morals.
this is why the 6 / 9 is not a funny trade mark of kensei, & should not be used as so in IC content ( unless offeding is the intention ); this is why he’ll never give permission to subordinates to use it as some sort of ninth’s symbol; this is while he doesn’t take shuuhei’s tattoo as a tribute, but as an innocuos dumbassery — in fact, appropriating of his tattoo is a great way to offend him.
since his return to soul society, his tattoo has been covered by his shihakusho; no one who didn’t know him from turn back the pendulum has saw it & therefore, it turned almost into a rumor.
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