• THE ILLNESS
It was not apparent until chapter 134 of that manga that Ukitake suffers from a pulmonary disease known as tuberculosis. Ukitake has had this illness since infancy. It is also because of his illness that his hair is white, three days after the first attack it turned white. As a captain, because of this illness, Ukitake has his vice captain, Kaien, do most of the work when he is too ill to do it himself. Also, it is known that Ukitake had lost friends due to his inabilities caused by this illness. Although Ukitake suffers from this illness, being a captain, he is respected by Shinigamis of other divisions for his kindness and skill.

The main symptom of Ukitake’s illness is violent coughing from the chest. The illness always seems to take effect whenever Ukitake is under stress. The amount of stress Ukitake is under determines how severe the symptoms are. For example, when confronting Byakuya about the advancing date of Rukia’s execution, Ukitake started coughing just as he was yelling at Byakuya, but quickly regained composure when the coughing ended. However, when fighting against the Hollow possessed Kaien, blood started coming out of his mouth before he started coughing when it seemed as if he was going to change his zanpakutou to shikai form right after he decided that there was no other way to save Kaien from the posession. In addition to coughing, Ukitake is also frequently seen perspiring.

Because of this illness, it may be the reason why Ukitake’s zanpakutou is shaped the way it is. In shikai form, Ukitake’s zanpakutou is both an offensive and defensive weapon. The reason for it also being a defensive weapon is most likely to help Ukitake if he were to suddenly become sick while in battle

Translation note: It says in Vol 18 tankubon which disease he suffers from. The word actually translates to 'consumption' and Consumption is a older name for Tuberculosis. Thankyou to Janice-senpai for the translations.

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