Kaien's presence is described by Rukia as the sensation of the warmth of sunlight.(That's not a lot by itself, but other topics in this discussion will circle back around to it.) This is also contrasted by the fact that Aaroniero cannot maintain Kaien's form while in the light of Aizen's false daylight, and by some loose association Aizen factors in here as well, though indirectly.
There is also a bit of a (possible)tangential reference to it in Ichigo's hollow form, that actually harkens back to Zombie Powder. Together they gave us the phrase, "The rain drags black sun down, but the rain dried by white moon." It actually doesn't get utilized very much in the manga itself. Obviously there's Ichigo and his Black Sun epithet that was originally used on the cover art of the SOULs databook, opposite Rukia's White Moon on the cover of VIBEs. So we can basically ignore him entirely moving forward. I'll start by saying that Yamamoto has some Rising Sun imagery evoked in his bankai, but that's largely an offshoot of "Fire" and "Japan" as themes than of the sun itself. Several different characters in Bleach have associations with sun imagery, some more relevantly than others. Although the design is made to largely mirror White's oni themed look, it positions Ichigo as a sun god ironically Ichigo's outfit is mostly the same as White's save that his armor, beads and hakama are white and red and White's are all black.īut what is it exactly about Ichigo and The Sun, or more specifically a Black Sun association? because ironically there's actually very little direct imagery linking the two in the manga itself. In particular the use of a sun motif mirror harkens back to the Yata-no-Kagami, one of Japan's 3 imperial regelia, used to lure the sullen Amaterasu from the cave she'd withdrawn to, sinking the world into darkness. Amaterasu is Japan's chief god, mother goddess, and the sun incarnate her mythic bloodline is the claim of Japanese imperial royalty.
starting with the new Spirit Society character designs in Bleach: Brave Souls, I was vibing on the use of Amaterasu imagery.
Oh boy i sure don't have any idea how to structure this in the best way to tackle all the relevant points without just going in circles constantly, or making in incoherent web of nonsense.