Yoriichi Tsugikuni

Must know: The Hashira (柱はしら Hashira?, lit. Pillars) are the highest-ranking Demon Slayers.

Hashira is the highest rank that Demon Slayers can obtain in the Demon Slayer Corps. Those who hold the position are regarded as the most powerful and skilled combatants in the entire organization, protecting humanity against more dangerous threats that cannot be handled by other Demon Slayers.

The Hashira are all assigned a specific region that they are required to patrol, usually to gather information about the demons inhabiting said area and to improve their swordsmanship. They are also deployed on missions only if lower-ranking members are unable to complete it.

To be a member of the Hashira, a Demon Slayer must be among the strongest combatants in the entirety of the Demon Slayer Corps. There are two known methods (both extremely difficult) that allow one to prove that they are worthy of becoming a Hashira: the first method is to accumulate a demon kill count of at least 50 as a Kinoe-ranked Demon Slayer, or singlehandedly slay a member of the Twelve Kizuki. Regarding the latter method, it's implied that an individual who's the sole survivor of a group effort to kill a Twelve Kizuki member.

The second method is being a Tsuguko of a Hashira, which requires immense talent. Additionally, Tsuguko can only inherit the rank, if their respective Hashira dies or retires. In some cases, an exceptionally talented Demon Slayer can become the designated successor to one of the Hashira, known as a Tsuguko. To become a Tsuguko, a Demon Slayer can either apply for the position and get accepted, or get scouted by one of the current Hashira.

The effort required to achieve either of these methods requires almost five years' worth of training, though, the talented might take only two or so years to do so.

Within the Demon Slayer Corps, exceptionally strong and highly skilled Demon Slayers were known as the Hashira. After one particular Hashira with flame-colored hair encountered a man named Yoriichi Tsugikuni, who was grieving the death of his wife and unborn child, they were personally taught how to use Breathing Styles. However, not all of the Hashira could not replicate Yoriichi's Sun Breathing techniques and instead opted to create the five fundamental derivatives: Water Breathing, Flame Breathing, Stone Breathing, Wind Breathing, and Thunder Breathing.

All of the Hashira have Destroyer of Demons (惡あっ鬼き滅めっ殺さつ Akki Messatsu?) engraved on their weapons. Although not fully touched upon, it is hinted that a Hashira can retire whenever they want to. As the Hashira are a separate group of elite slayers, they have their own symbol on the back of their hand. These symbols correlate to what Breathing Style they are associated with. The Hashira are the only people in the Demon Slayer Corps with golden buttons on their uniforms instead of silver. The Hashira can get paid how much they want.

In the Sengoku Era, units lower than the ryō included the ibu (or 1/4 of a ryō) and the mon, which was a small copper coin often strung together in sets of 100 or 1,000. There were also silver currencies, such as the gin, which could be valued by weight rather than by individual coin denomination, and the even smaller chōgin and mameitagin. Money Below the Ryō: Ibu (or Ichibu-kin): This was a unit of currency that was equal to a quarter of a ryō. Mon: A small copper coin that was the lowest unit of currency, with a hole in the center that allowed them to be strung together in groups. Silver Coins: Silver was also used as currency in the form of coins like the chōgin (long silver bars) and mameitagin (bean-shaped silver coins), which were often valued by weight. The Sengoku Era featured a complex monetary system with gold, silver, and copper coins, each with its own denominations and values. The koban, a gold coin roughly the size of a palm, was the unit for one ryō. Lower denominations like the ibu and mon were used for smaller transactions, while larger transactions or those involving less precious metals might be settled using weighted silver.

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Name: Yoriichi Tsugikuni

Role: Yoriichi Tsugikuni (継つぎ国くに 縁より壱いち Tsugikuni Yoriichi?) is the overarching protagonist in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He was a Demon Slayer who lived nearly 500 years ago during the Sengoku era. He was the most powerful Demon Slayer to have ever lived.

He was also the inventor of Breathing Styles, being the one who created the first ever Breathing Style, Sun Breathing, that would eventually become the Hinokami Kagura used by Tanjiro Kamado and members of the Kamado Family and the five fundamental styles taught to all Demon Slayers.

Yoriichi was the younger twin brother of Michikatsu Tsugikuni.

Biography/History: Yoriichi and his older twin brother, Michikatsu, were born into the Tsugikuni clan within the middle of the Sengoku period, a time when twins were considered to be an extremely bad omen. Yoriichi in particular was born with an odd birthmark on his forehead, which caused his father to declare that he would kill him; however, their mother Akeno flew into a rage and stopped him. It was eventually agreed upon that Yoriichi would be sent to a temple to become a monk when he turned ten years old.

Despite their father's belief that the mark was unlucky, it actually granted Yoriichi incredible physical prowess and the ability to see the bodies of living things in transparency. Yoriichi grew up very differently from Michikatsu, being given much poorer food and education than his brother and confined to a small three-tatami room away from the rest of the house. He never spoke and was thought to be deaf as a result. Akeno subsequently made him Hanafuda charm earrings in the hopes the gods would bless him with the ability to speak. He also was frequently seen clutching his mother's side; because of this, Michikatsu found him pitiful. Still, his brother often snuck behind their father's back to see Yoriichi, even giving him a handmade flute as a gift to comfort him.

One day, when he was seven, Yoriichi smiled and spoke for the first time, declaring his intent to become a samurai like his brother after watching Michikatsu practice sword swings, startling him. However, Michikatsu was dismissive of this sentiment as it was well-known that Yoriichi would be sent to the temple when he was ten. Still, one of their father's men tasked with training Michikatsu decided to humor Yoriichi, showing him a simple stance. Unexpectedly, the young boy flew into action after assuming the stance, landing four blows against the man and shocking his brother, who despite his training had never landed one. However, Yoriichi couldn't stand the feeling of hitting someone and renounced his goal to become a samurai. Michikatsu often asked him about how he managed to hit the man and he described what was likely an early form of a Breathing Style. Rather than talk about the sword and continue training, he happily told Michikatsu he would rather play ban-sugoroku board games and fly kites with him instead.

When their mother passed away from her illness, Yoriichi went to Michikatsu's room at night to tell his brother the news and bid farewell, planning to leave for the temple that night. He expressed gratitude towards his brother, stating that he would always keep him in mind and fondly tucked away the flute Michikatsu had made for him earlier. It was later revealed to Michikatsu through their mother's diary that Yoriichi had known everything about their mother's illness, how it weakened her left side and Yoriichi's frequent attempts to support her and help her move around. It was also revealed that Yoriichi knew his father would make him his heir and send Michikatsu to the temple, ran away to spare his brother. Despite this kind act, Michikatsu developed an intense hatred and envy of Yoriichi for continuing to surpass him in everything and continually showing gratitude to gain seemingly nothing.

Yoriichi ran away from the house and didn't stop. After running straight for one day and one night without any sign of exhaustion into the mountains, Yoriichi met a girl around the same age as him named Uta, whose entire family had died. Yoriichi chose to live with her and after 10 years, Uta and Yoriichi had married: the former becoming pregnant later. Just before the expected arrival, Yoriichi left home to summon a midwife, promising his wife to be back before the sun set.

On his way, Yoriichi had helped an old man and lost so much time that he decided to return home and summon a midwife the next day. By then the sun had already set: when he finally arrived home he found that Uta and the unborn child had been killed by a demon. The tragedy shocked Yoriichi so much that he held her corpse in his arms for ten days straight and buried them after a pursuing Demon Slayer encouraged him to do so. This led Yoriichi to pick up his blade again and train as a Demon Slayer.

Aided by his Demon Slayer Mark and innate talent for swordsmanship, Yoriichi proved to be an incredibly powerful Demon Slayer. He reunites with Michikatsu after the latter's samurai encampment was slaughtered by a demon and he was left the sole survivor; Yoriichi killed the creature effortlessly and apologized for the deaths of his brother's comrades. With his breathing technique, later named Sun Breathing, and wanting to help others, Yoriichi tried to teach it to the other Demon Slayers. However, no one could match his form exactly.

Still, he remained undaunted and modified the breathing techniques to suit their strengths, allowing them to gain a similar increase in power and abilities to help them hunt demons. The variations he created formed the first Water, Wind, Flame, Stone and Thunder Breathing techniques and the best of these Demon Slayers became known as the Hashira, even though he isn't a Hashira himself. Michikatsu himself tried and failed to learn Sun Breathing, instead creating his own style he named Moon Breathing.

At some point during his days as a Demon Slayer, he saved Sumiyoshi Kamado and his wife Suyako from a demon attack. Since then, they became close friends despite having little interactions with each other for some time.

Eventually, Yoriichi encounters Muzan Kibutsuji, the progenitor of all demons and mortal enemy of the Demon Slayers, accompanied by Tamayo. Upon meeting him, Yoriichi felt his rampant malicious intent, likening it boiling magma from a volcano ready to consume everything. It was then he reasoned he was born with the skills and talent to defeat Muzan once and for all. Muzan stated that he had lost interest in swordsmen who employ breathing techniques and performed long sweeps of his arms to outright kill Yoriichi. He dodged them, but instantly realized any of those attacks would be fatal and felt fear for the first time.

Seeing into the Transparent World, Yoriichi discerned Muzan had seven hearts and five brains that change position within his body. Seeing his chance, he combined all his forms into a single attack, cutting through them all and overpowering Muzan completely.

Muzan was left in disbelief at his inability to regenerate while struggling to keep his head attached. Yoriichi asked him what he felt was the value of life but didn't receive an answer. He turned to Tamayo, but was surprised to see her looking at her master's dismembered body with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. Moving to kill him once and for all, Yoriichi instead heard the sound of teeth cracking as Muzan's body burst into hundreds of small pieces. Caught off-guard, he was only able to destroy 1,500 of the 1,800 pieces, leaving the rest to escape for Muzan to regenerate again. In spite of Yoriichi's failure to kill him, Muzan never forgot the encounter and remained fearful of Yoriichi for the rest of his life.

Tamayo was left on the verge of tears as she realized Muzan learned how to avoid death by decapitation, cursing the survival of the man that ruined her life. Upon realizing the Kibutsuji curse failed due to Muzan being weakened so much, Tamayo was surprised. Yoriichi approached her, but he didn't immediately attack. Tamayo decided to tell him everything he needed to know about Muzan and it was unlikely he would ever meet him again. As thanks for her aid, he let her go free, telling her he had faith in her will to end Muzan.

Appearance: Yoriichi was a tall man with a lean muscular build, fair skin, maroon eyes, and long spiky hair with red tips that he kept in a ponytail. He had a similar overall appearance to his twin brother Michikatsu, but unlike him, he was slightly more slender, had shorter bangs, and wavier hair than him. Yoriichi was mostly expressionless, though sometimes a little solemn and aloof.

Yoriichi wore a red haori over a very pale orange-colored nagagi kimono with a black umanori-styled hakama tied with a white uwa-obi, a pair of zōri with red straps and white tabi socks, with a Nichirin Sword carried at the left side of his waist, conventional to most Demon Slayers. He sported hanafuda earrings created by his mother as charms when he was thought to be deaf.

Personality: Yoriichi was a calm and respectful individual who wore a solemn and reserved expression at all times, rarely showing outbreaks of emotion. Generally, Yoriichi had a matching low and serene disposition, evident when he killed demons without changing expression or when Muzan was caught offguard by his immense skill because he appeared unassuming. Because of his gentle disposition and unchanging facial expression, most could not tell what he was feeling: the only person who could read his feelings without difficulty was his wife Uta.

He was also extremely humble, seeing himself as just another man and no one special despite his extraordinary abilities; an example being the time he performed the Sun Breathing's forms for Suyako at her request and almost seemed embarrassed afterwards. Yoriichi was also noted by his brother to always have had faith in the future and was confident that despite the immense power of the Demon Slayers after they started using Breathing Styles, a generation would emerge that would surpass their own.

Despite appearing mostly nonchalant, he experienced emotions like any other person; he grieved the loss of Uta and their unborn child for ten straight days and was driven to tears seeing the joy Sumire showed at the simple act of being lifted up as it represented the very same joy that his unborn child was tragically denied of. He also smiled warmly and expressed gratitude to Sumiyoshi after his friend told him his life was not worthless and promised to preserve his Sun Breathing forms through his descendants. Yoriichi was also very kind, shown when he was on the way to fetch a midwife in preparation of the birth of his child, only to stop and help an old man he met along the way reach his dying son. Additionally, despite his own immense skill and strength, he was not above admitting his own weaknesses, acknowledging that even a scratch by Muzan could kill him and experiencing fear for the first time in his life.

As a child, Yoriichi looked up to his older brother Michikatsu. Michikatsu's dream was to become the strongest samurai in the land, so he said that he would become the second strongest. Even in his childhood, he was extremely reserved and quiet, even being believed to be deaf by his family for seven years as he never spoke.

Yoriichi cared for his ailing mother when no one else knew she was ill and protected his father by not telling anyone about how he berated him as a child, even when his father did not love him. He loved and respected his older twin brother and he kept the flute Michikatsu gave him before he left home all the way till this day.

Skills/Abilities: Overall Abilities: Yoriichi was the strongest Demon Slayer in history, being born with the Demon Slayer Mark, access to the Transparent World, and Selfless State, as well as possessing a physique polished to the highest caliber and innate swordsmanship talent. As a seven-year-old child who had never picked up a sword before, he was able to defeat a trained sword instructor effortlessly and he was referred to as a miraculous prodigy beyond compare. After training as a Demon Slayer, Yoriichi could defeat multiple demons to where his older brother stated that he as a child couldn't even compare to him as an adult.

He alone among the Demon Slayer Corps was able to corner Muzan Kibutsuji and overpowered him in an instant, having him on the verge of death until he barely managed to escape. Despite having avoided death, Muzan was deeply scarred by that encounter, referring to him as the true "monster" between the two of them, and even the sight of his earrings made him tremble in shock, while mere memories of Yoriichi caused other demons to tremble in fear despite having never seen him before.

Genius Intellect: As a child prodigy, Yoriichi was extremely intelligent. Despite not speaking for most of his childhood, his first words were very clear and pronounced. He also displayed maturity beyond his age as he noticed her mother's illness and helped her all the way till her death. As another testament to his keen intellect, he could immediately use the Transparent World in combat despite never fighting before, being able to intuitively determine out that the lungs of a person will expand before they attack and that he needed to watch their bone movement, muscle contraction, and blood flow, which he used to his advantage instantly in the midst of battle.

Even with just the knowledge of how to hold a sword properly and go into a stance, he was able to instantly overpower a trained sword instructor, causing him to go unconscious and inflicting many injuries all over his body.[6] His unique intellect brought about the "Golden Age of the Demon Slayers" as he invented the Breathing Styles and modified the original Breathing Technique to suit the abilities and individual strengths of others. Furthermore, he was able to surmise that Muzan's weaknesses were his seven hearts and five brains and created an entirely new technique in that split second to overwhelm him.

Demon Slayer Abilities: Demon Slayer Mark: Yoriichi was the progenitor of the Demon Slayer Mark, having been born with it and possessing the tremendous physical abilities granted by its effects all throughout his lifespan. Unlike all other users of the Mark in his era, which cursed them to die before the age of 25, Yoriichi was able to defy fate and lived to about 85 years of age. It is presently unknown why Yoriichi is immune to the Mark's effects, but it is presumably because he was born with it, unlike other Demon Slayers who have to obtain it themselves.

Bright Red Nichirin Sword: Yoriichi was the first person ever to be able to turn his Nichirin Sword into a bright red color, and he subsequently gave other users the ability to turn their blade bright red as well. When fighting, Yoriichi could turn his normally black sword bright red at will, allowing him to hamper the enhanced regeneration of demons, even Muzan's instant regeneration, burning him at a cellular level and leaving scars on his body for hundreds of years.

Transparent World: Yoriichi had access to the Transparent World since birth, and could use it with incredible proficiency, evident when he could watch for lung expansions and muscle contractions within a person and surmise when to strike them as a child. This ability also granted him an advantage against Muzan, allowing him to find his weaknesses instantly and overwhelm him.

Selfless State: During their confrontation, Muzan noted that Yoriichi emanated absolutely no sense of drive, hatred, anger, fighting spirit, animosity or even bloodlust despite being in the midst of a battle against him, rendering it practically impossible for Muzan to detect him, predict his movements, or gauge how powerful he was with his senses. This gave Yoriichi an edge in battle against Muzan when he underestimated his strength, a mistake that haunted the Demon King for the rest of his life.

Physical Abilities: Immeasurable Speed & Reflexes: Yoriichi possessed unparalleled levels of speed that surpass all other characters in the series, including that of the Demon King, shown when he was able to dodge every attack that Muzan launched at him and near-fatally injure Muzan with one move, despite the demon's own immeasurable speed and strength. Even when Muzan divided himself into 1,800 flesh pieces to escape, Yoriichi still managed to reduce the number down to 300 in mere moments.

As another testament to his godlike movement speed, Yoriichi Type Zero, the robot doll modeled after him used by Demon Slayers to train, was built with six arms because two arms alone couldn't replicate Yoriichi's movements.

Immeasurable Stamina & Endurance: Even as a seven-year-old child, Yoriichi could run for a whole day without rest; he even remarked that he didn't feel the least bit enervated. His vitality was also beyond the level of any human, being able to survive without food or water for ten whole days when he was embracing his dead wife.

Immeasurable Strength: Yoriichi possessed tremendous levels of physical strength possibly beyond that of nearly all other Demon Slayers in existence. As a child, he could knock out a grown man with inclined physical abilities with a wooden blade, even causing extremely severe bruises the size of fists. When he was an adult, he was able to effortlessly slice off the neck of Muzan Kibutsuji, the most fortified body part of the strongest demon in existence.

Supernatural Abilities: Extrasensory Perception: Outside of the sixth sense granted by the Transparent World which allowed him to see the inner workings of a person, Yoriichi also had extremely honed sensory abilities, able to detect things outside the normal range of perception. Like most high-level Demon Slayers, Yoriichi would be able to discern the aura of demons from humans while also be able to tell the strength of his enemies at a glance. During Yoriichi's first encounter with Muzan, he could immediately tell that, by destiny, he was born into this world to defeat him. Yoriichi was also able to accurately sense the Demon King's aura, which he describes as magma erupting from a volcano.

Fighting Style: Unparalleled Swordsmanship: Yoriichi was the greatest swordsman to have ever lived. Even as a seven-year-old child with no training, he was capable of easily defeating a trained swordsman the very first time he ever picked up a sword, striking him in multiple areas across his body faster than the eye can process. His swordsmanship was so tremendous that a battle doll modelled after him had to be made with 6 arms wielding katanas and utilizing 108 techniques to even attempt to imitate Yoriichi's skills, and even then, the doll was still vastly inferior compared to him. His swordsmanship easily overwhelmed the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji.

Breathing Style: Sun Breathing (日ひの呼こ吸きゅう Hi no kokyū?): The style created by Yoriichi himself as the original Breathing Style which all other subsequent styles would be modeled after (and was later replicated by Sumiyoshi Kamado, who called it Hinokami Kagura (ヒノカミ神楽かぐら Hinokami Kagura?)). Yoriichi was incredibly proficient and unrivalled in his Sun Breathing, being able to take down demons effortlessly and even overwhelm the Demon King. When Yoriichi performed the techniques of Sun Breathing, the forms were so strikingly beautiful and breathtaking, he appeared more like a spirit than a man.

Techniques: Dance - The user performs a singular downwards vertical slash in an arcing motion.

Clear Blue Sky - The user spins and twists their upper body in a circular motion, releasing a 360° slash.

Raging Sun - The user unleashes two consecutive horizontal arcing slashes around themselves to strike incoming attacks.

Burning Bones, Summer Sun - The user performs a singular slash utilizing a spiraling motion which extends in front of themselves to defend from imminent frontal attacks.

Setting Sun Transformation - The user backflips into the air before performing a singular horizontal slash which aims to decapitate the target.

Solar Heat Haze - The user rushes forth, now attempting to deliver a strike seemingly enveloped in a heat-haze, masking the true length and location of the blade to deliver an unexpected strike.

Beneficent Radiance - The user spirals into the air whilst performing a swirling slash upwards to strike the target.

Sunflower Thrust - The user performs a singular thrust utilizing the tip of their blade to strike the target.

Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance - The user assumes a high stance, before unleashing a number of consecutive slashes in a fluid motion in the form of a Japanese dragon made of solar flames. This technique is capable of decapitating multiple targets at once.

Fire Wheel - The user flips into the air behind the opponent before unleashing a singular vertical slash in a circular motion to swiftly cut the target in half.

Fake Rainbow - The user performs high-speed twists and rotations, thus creating afterimages used mostly to evade attacks. The afterimages work most effectively on enemies with sharp vision.[46]

Flame Dance - A two-combo strike which starts with a vertical slash leading into a horizontal slash right after.

Thirteenth Form - The user continuously performs all twelve forms of Sun Breathing in repetitive succession to increase the accuracy and agility of their movements, and attacks. This form was created solely for the purpose of killing Muzan Kibutsuji, since the repetition of all twelve forms aims to destroy Muzan's twelve vital organs (seven hearts and five brains) that move freely inside his body.

Weapons: Standard Nichirin Katana: Yoriichi wielded a standard sized and shaped Nichirin katana that was deep black in color, but changed to bright red during combat. His katana's hilt was circular shaped with 4 slight indentations, with a black center and a golden border. Yoriichi's katana also had the word Slay (滅めつ Metsu?) engraved on the side, unlike Destroyer of Demons (惡あっ鬼き滅めっ殺さつ Akki Messatsu?) written on the Hashira's weapons. Along with his katana, Yoriichi also carried a standard sword sheath that is black in color.

Other: Yoriichi's family name is composed of the Kun'yomi reading of the kanji for "to inherit, succeed" (継つぎ tsugi?) and "country, kingdom" (国くに kuni?). His given name contains the Kun'yomi reading aswell and means "fate, destiny" (縁より yori?) and the traditional daiji for "one" (壱いち ichi?).

The bag in which Yoriichi carried his brother's flute may have possibly been made of the cloth of his late wife's kimono, as the cloth patterns between the bag and kimono are quite similar.

There are times where Uta believed he was the spirit of "Kṣitigarbha/Jizō" (地じ藏ぞう Jizō?) (a bodhisattva known for this vows of instruction of the Six Worlds of Saṃsāra and not attaining buddhahood until all Naraka hells are empty) or "Zashiki-warashi" (座ざ敷しき童わら子し?), a young-childlike yōkai who protects households.

After his mother Akeno gave him his signature Hanafuda earrings, Yoriichi realized he received them because his family had considered him deaf. She was the first person he had ever spoken to.

Although he is normally quiet and calm in nature, he chatted frequently after getting along with the Hashira of the Sengoku Era.

Hideyoshi Ubuyashiki was the previous Leader of the Demon Slayer Corps (He is the 35th leader and got beheaded by Kokushibo/Michikatsu) Aoki Ubuyashiki is the current Leader of the Demon Slayer Corps (He is the 36th leader and a 7 year old child)