Tanjiro Kamado

Tanjiro was born on a mountain as the eldest son of Kie and Tanjuro Kamado, a family of charcoal sellers. After his five younger siblings were born, he adopted the idea that, as the oldest child, he should be strong and endure any hardships for them.[1] Although the family did not enjoy a lavish lifestyle, they lived happily and showed a great deal of love and care for one another.One time, when Takeo accidentally knocked over a hot kettle, Tanjiro jumped in to protect him, resulting in a burn scar on his forehead.[2]Growing up, Tanjiro learned coal-burning techniques and was responsible for selling charcoal in the nearest town in order to earn money for his family. He appeared to frequent the town quite often, as the civilians there easily recognized him and regularly asked for his help.Tanjiro's father was a major influence on him and acted as his teacher for the foundations of the Hinokami Kagura, a ritual dance that was passed down across the family's generations alongside a pair of hanafuda earrings, and Tanjiro would often watch him perform this dance. Upon asking Tanjuro about his stamina despite the cold weather, Tanjiro learned from his father that there were specific breathing techniques to continue dancing endlessly.[3]When Tanjiro grew old enough to dance in place of his weakening father, he learned that the correct techniques would allow him to blank his mind, enter a plant-like state, and gain access to the see-through world.[4]Before Tanjuro passed away, a night with the threat of a hungry bear prompted him to show Tanjiro the state in action. Tanjiro was frightened at the sight of the predator, but his father quickly killed it with his axe upon entering the state. Tanjuro's abilities shocked him, and Tanjiro made sure to remember the event.[5] Soon after, Tanjuro passed, and Tanjiro's younger siblings began treating him as their father figure.[6]On a snowy morning, Tanjiro prepares to leave for the nearby town and sell charcoal in preparation for the new year. However, his younger sister Hanako Kamado and brother Shigeru Kamado hold him back, begging for him to bring them along. Their mother intercepts them and tells them how Tanjiro wouldn't be able to carry them if they were tired. Upon hearing his family's conversation, Takeo Kamado also expresses disappointment and states how he was initially hoping to cut wood with his elder brother that day.[7]Tanjiro bids farewell and starts making for the town. He quickly encounters his sister, Nezuko Kamado, who is carrying their youngest brother, Rokuta Kamado. Nezuko comments on their siblings' attachment to Tanjiro and sees him off.[6]Upon arriving at the town, Tanjiro holds a friendly conversation with the townsfolk, and some ask for his help performing errands. After spending the afternoon in the town, Tanjiro begins to make his way back home but is suddenly stopped by a man named Saburo. Saburo requests that the boy stay at his house for the night and warns him of the dangers in the mountains. Although Tanjiro tries to deny the offer, Saburo continues pushing and emphasizes that Demons are active during the night. Tanjiro finally relents and listens to Saburo talk about Demons as he falls asleep.[8]When Tanjiro makes his way back home the next day, he returns to see an unconscious and wounded Nezuko lying in the snow and shielding Rokuta with her arms. Devastated, he realizes that the entirety of his family has been slaughtered, except for Nezuko. Tanjiro picks her up and, while attempting to carry her to the nearest doctor, discovers that she has been transformed into a Demon and is promptly attacked by her.Tanjiro struggles to fend off his Demon-turned sister and is overwhelmed by her strength, narrowly managing to block her attack with the handle of his hatchet. As Nezuko begins to grow in size and overpower him, Tanjiro internally apologizes to his family for the suffering they must've felt during their last moments and begs his sister to retain her humanity. Upon hearing her brother's words, Nezuko begins to cry.The siblings are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Giyu Tomioka, who attacks Nezuko from behind, only for his attempt to fail when Tanjiro moves her out of the way. Recovering quickly, the swordsman asks Tanjiro why he protected the Demon, and he desperately replies that the creature is his sister. Looking at the maddened Nezuko, Giyu questions this statement before swiftly removing the girl from her brother's grip.[9]As Tanjiro calls out to Nezuko in alarm, Giyu tells him not to move and states that it is his job to kill Demons. He listens to Tanjiro's attempt to defend his sister and explain their current predicament. As Tanjiro expresses his confusion with Nezuko's transformation, Giyu comments that her change is simple to explain: any open wound bathed in Demon blood causes that person to become a Demon themselves, thus increasing their overall numbers. Tanjiro exclaims that his sister hasn't eaten any people, but Giyu reminds him that she had just attacked her previously and bluntly tells him that there is no way to cure a person once they are turned into a Demon, despite Tanjiro's plea to the contrary. As Tanjiro continues begging for his sister's release, Giyu brings his sword up to Nezuko's throat.[10]Tanjiro then bows before the swordsman and begs him to spare his sister's life. Giyu grows angry and yells that Tanjiro has no authority over who lives or who dies, given that he is too weak to protect even his own family. He labels all his talk about finding a cure for his sister's condition and his family's killer as ridiculous, since neither he nor the Demon Lord would have any respect for such a miserable display. Giyu demands that Tanjiro prove his dedication to protecting his sister by drawing his axe. While Tanjiro hesitates upon hearing these words, Giyu silently encourages him to find the resolve necessary to accomplish all of the lofty goals he had placed upon himself. He then stabs Nezuko in the chest, causing Tanjiro to throw a stone at him in fury.[11]Giyu blocks the stone with the hilt of his sword and avoids another one of the projectiles as Tanjiro charges at him empty-handed. Seeing the attack attempt as only a simple act of emotion, the swordsman angrily drives the hilt of his sword into Tanjiro's back, knocking him out. Staring down at the fallen boy, Giyu realizes his opponent's hatchet is missing and looks up to see the weapon spinning towards him through the air, narrowly dodging it. He muses over Tanjiro's clever strategy and realizes the boy's plan was to defeat him with the flying hatchet after he was knocked out.[12]Distracted, the swordsman is attacked by Nezuko, and he dodges backwards from her kick. Cursing himself, Giyu watches as the girl reaches for her brother, certain that she is going to devour him. To his surprise, she instead stands protectively in front of his vulnerable body before charging at him in rage. Giyu recalls Tanjiro's previous statement that Nezuko wouldn't eat humans, noting that somebody a long time ago had said the same thing and had been killed regardless. He reflects on the nature of Demons, in particular, the high amount of stamina lost during the transformation process, and what they do to alleviate the lost stamina and prevent starvation: eat humans, even those closest to them. Seeing that Nezuko was not following this example, Giyu sheaths his sword and incapacitates the unusual Demon with a barehanded blow to the neck.[13]While Tanjiro and Nezuko are unconscious, Giyu wraps the latter in a clean cloth and straps a bamboo muzzle-like tube across her mouth. When Tanjiro wakes up after seeing a vision of his deceased mother and siblings, Giyu instructs him to visit a man named Sakonji Urokodaki at Mount Sagiri and to not take his sister out in the sun, vanishing swiftly afterwards.[14] A surprised Tanjiro watches him leave, and he takes Nezuko to dig graves to bury their family and pray for their souls in the afterlife. The pair then leave their home and head towards Mount Sagiri.[15]Tanjiro is a young boy of average height with fairly tanned skin and an athletic, muscular physique. He has ruffled black hair with red tips (and being entirely only burgundy in the anime), combed back to expose his forehead, and wide, dark red eyes with white pupils that appear lighter around the lower section of his irises. He also has a scar on the top left of his forehead, first seen when his mother brought him to watch his father perform the Hinokami Kagura dance. The scar originally looked somewhat like a graze until his fight with the Hand Demon during Final Selection, after which it developed into a flame-like pattern as his Demon Slayer Mark. It is noted that his hands are visibly rougher for someone his age, as a result of his rigorous training under Sakonji Urokodaki. Tanjiro looks remarkably similar in appearance to his ancestor Sumiyoshi Kamado, possessing the same facial structure, eyes, and hairstyle as him, although Sumiyoshi's hair was longer, about shoulder-length, and would be tied in a ponytail behind his head.After becoming a Demon Slayer, Tanjiro wears the standard Demon Slayer uniform that is similar to the Japanese military uniform in Taishō era, his uniform being black tinted, and reddish black in the anime, it is consisted by a button-up jacket with stand colar and long sleeves, a white belt, tattsuke hakama pants that is wrapped tightly around his calves by a pair of white kyahan, and with tabi socks in the same color of his uniform on his feets, with a pair of zōri with red straps, all beneath his signature checkered haori. He carries a large wooden box on his back (which was a gift to him from Sakonji Urokodaki), where his sister sleeps as they travel during the day. Tanjiro is very kind by nature and has been described by others as having very gentle eyes and a compassionate persona. He exhibits a great deal of determination and will not give up once he has a goal to achieve; the best example of this is his relentless quest to find a cure for Nezuko. Even though he is relatively strong on his own, Tanjiro isn't opposed to asking others for help when he needs it. He is very protective of his friends, and even more so of his younger sister. However, despite his kind and understanding nature, Tanjiro does have a limit to his tolerance and has a distaste for rudeness and cowardice, as he easily becomes annoyed by Zenitsu Agatsuma's constant whining and angered by Inosuke Hashibira's barbaric actions.Tanjiro is direct and very honest, taking everyone's words with sincerity and seriousness. Upon hearing Tengen Uzui claim he is a god, he asked what area he was the god of. He has difficulty lying, and doing so causes his face to contort severely as his honest nature clashes with the insincerity of his words. Having grown up in the countryside of Japan, Tanjiro has no experience of life in large urban areas. During his missions to Asakusa and Yoshiwara, he stared in wonder at the bright lights enveloping the cities. He naively believed the Mugen train was perhaps the land's guardian spirit, and, just like Inosuke, he does not know what a red-light district is.Under Tanjiro's rather kind and friendly shell is a person with a growing fire of rage and vengeance inside of them. This side of him leaks out when Tanjiro first confronts Muzan, ready to take out his sword and attack him. When Muzan escapes, Tanjiro releases his frustration and declares he will be the one to kill Muzan. On Mount Natagumo, when the captured Demon Slayers had their necks snapped by the Mother Spider Demon's threads, Tanjiro showed noticeable anger that even Inosuke sensed. Upon seeing Daki smirking after witnessing her slaughter innocent people indiscriminately with her sashes, he seethed with rage and confronted her alone. This side of Tanjiro is fully exemplified after Muzan's speech, where he compares himself to a natural disaster. Tanjiro responds to that by calling Muzan "a being that should not exist." In the face of irrational evil, Tanjiro shows a more cold and terrifying side of himself, acting more violently towards his opponents as a result.Tanjiro's most notable attribute is his ability to empathize with anyone, even demons, which often makes him hesitate before delivering the final blow. Tanjiro has a unique ideology regarding demons, believing that those who have committed evil should be killed without mercy, but those who regret their actions should not be belittled after their deaths, showing great nuance and maturity in Tanjiro's thinking, probably brought about by his sister. However, as Tanjiro gains experience over the years of his service, he becomes more calculating and strict in his decisions. His courage to protect the weak commits him to face his enemies with respect and dignity, whether they are good people or evil demons. Tanjiro is adamant about serving justice to the evil by any means necessary, even declaring to cut off the heads of demons who have committed heinous crimes and confronting them about their inhumane mindset and their criminal deeds.