Name : Urahara Kisuke
Birthday : December 31
Height : 183 cm
Weight : 69 kg
Occupation : Shop owner of Urahara Sh¨­ten, former shinigami captain of the 12th Division.

Urahara Kisuke, He runs the Urahara Shop which sells shinigami items. The shop is maintained by Kisuke himself as well as Ururu Tsumugiya, Jinta Hanakari and Tessai Tsukabishi.

Kisuke Urahara is a former captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13 (shinigami army in Soul Society). He is also the founder and the first President of the Shinigami Research Institute (succeeded by Mayuri Kurotsuchi in both positions).

At some point (over 100 years before the main Bleach storyline), Kisuke was sentenced into exile by Soul Society for creating an untraceable gigai, which also caused the spiritual power of the shinigami inside it to deteriorate, along with his creation of the Hougyoku. Yoruichi Shihouin ran away with him as well, for reasons yet unknown. He also seems to be an acquaintance of Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father.

Kisuke Urahara always wears traditional Japanese wooden sandals and a cylinder hat, which has earned him the nickname geta-boushi (lit. sandal-hat). He is generally a laid-back, jovial fellow, although he can be deadly serious when the situation warrants it. Yoruichi notes that he tends to go over the top with whatever he becomes passionate about.

Usually he can be found near the scene of an important event, but will never step in to intervene, preferring to be in control from outside. After the event is over (i.e. the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Renji Abarai), he kindly pops up and helps the side he deems fit. Thus far, it has tended to be the side of the protagonists.

Kisuke founded the research institute in Soul Society and proceeded to invent a number of items, the known ones are as follows:

• Gikongan - AKA Soul candy - candy that forces the soul out of the body when eaten and replaces it with an artificial soul. Its name was changed to 'Soul Candy' later because the Shinigami Women Organization complained that the name gikongan wasn't 'cute'.
• Tenshintai (lit. change [death] God body) - doll which forces the materialization of a soul slayer which strikes it into the real world (as opposed to the slayer's world).
• Hougyoku (lit. orb of distortion) - an orb which dissolves the boundary between shinigami and hollow powers and lets shinigami and hollows beyond normal shinigami/hollow power limits. Because of the implications of what this could create, Urahara hid the orb inside Rukia Kuchiki's soul.
• Variations of faux bodies (gigai) - Urahara experimented with faux bodies and created at least two variations: an untraceable faux body, for which he was exiled from Soul Society, and a portable inflatable one.
  In addition, Urahara has also developed several novel techniques throughout the course of his research as the captain of the 12th Division, notably the technique to bury matter within a soul, and also the technique to later remove it without any damage to the bearer. The latter was used by Aizen to remove the h¨­gyoku from Rukia.

He also likes to build large underground training spaces in secret. He built the first one in Soul Society with Yoruichi for their training, and then created the second one in the mortal realm for a similar purpose.