Highlights
- Sun Breathing is the original and most powerful breathing style, with all other styles deriving from it in Demon Slayer.
- The Sun Breathing techniques are divided into 13 forms, each leading into the other seamlessly for efficient demon slaying.
- Passed down through generations, the Sun Breathing style is limited to few users, making it both a rare and powerful asset.
With Demon Slayer nearing an inevitable crescendo in its overall story and an impending fourth season coming to screens, it is only fair to explore one of the series’ biggest mysteries so far. One look at Tanjiro, the series’ protagonist, and the first question that resurfaces time and again would be why he can use multiple breathing styles, a feat only he can pull off in the series.
The more intriguing question, however, would be what exactly is the Hinokami Kagura— the Sun Breathing Style. Manga readers who have reached the conclusion of the story probably know all about the technique, but maybe not all. In this regard, here are some things only the manga readers of the series are sure to know about Sun Breathing.
5 The Original Breathing style
Also Known As The Hinokami Kagura
Created by the greatest demon slayer to have existed, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the Sun Breathing style is the first and original breathing style to exist, with every other breathing style a subsequent derivation from the style.
The different breathing styles came from it, namely Water, Moon, Flame, Thunder, Stone, Wind, Flower, Serpent, Insect, Love, Sound, Beast, Mist. The different breathing styles came about due to the incompatibility of other demon slayers to the Sun Breathing, as it takes a heavy toll on the body, among other drawbacks, noticed by Yoriichi while trying to teach it while he was still a demon slayer. Apart from being the first breathing style, it is also the most efficient and versatile against demons, as it mimics the sun and replicates its effect alongside the user’s movements.
4 The Thirteen Techniques
Of Complete Harmony
Initially created with twelve techniques, all connected to each other. The Sun Breathing was perfected into an unnamed thirteenth form following Yoriichi’s confrontation with Muzan, which led to Yoriichi perfecting his swordsmanship.
Created to lead into one another, the Sun Breathing style is divided into thirteen forms, which are the Dancing Flash, Clear Blue Sky, Raging Sun, Burning Bones, Summer Sun, Setting Sun Transformation, Solar Heat Haze, Beneficient Radiance, Sunflower Thrust, Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance, Fire Wheel, Fake Rainbow, and Flame Dance. All of these culminated in the unnamed thirteenth technique and, ultimately, the dance of the Hinokami Kagura.
3 A Gift To The Kamado Lineage
An Insurance of Fate
The Sun Breathing, also known as the Hinokami Kagura dance, is a Kamado family ritual passed down from father to son through the generations. However, the Hinokami Kagura dance is not native to the Kamado lineage as it was a gift from Yoriichi Tsukiguni to Sumiyoshi Kamado, a close friend of Yoriichi and an ancestor of the Kamado lineage.
Relying on his keen memory, Sumiyoshi cleanly memorized all twelve forms of the Sun Breathing after only seeing Yoriichi perform it once. Alongside receiving Yoriichi’s hanafuda earrings as a gift for one of his children, Sumiyoshi decided to use the movements he memorized from Yoriichi as a dance to honor the demon slayer, whom he considered not only a friend but family. Sumiyoshi’s decision ultimately led to the creation of the ritual of the Hinokami Kagura.
2 Users of the Sun Breathing
The Kamado Lineage
Throughout the long history of the Demon Slayer Corps, there are very few known users of the Sun Breathing Style, even to the point where the breathing style became something of a lost art due to the rarity of its users. After the death of Yoriichi, the breathing style becoming the Hinokami Kagura ritual was more of an insurance of fate that played itself out in due course rather than a deliberate action due to the fact that Yoriichi had no direct descendant or family to pass on the style to—having lived the majority of his life alone and as a wanderer.
With no direct descendant known to the Demon Slayer Corps, the Sun Breathing style became more myth than history, with only very few individuals even capable of recognizing and identifying the style. Throughout the series, the only known users of the Sun Breathing are Yoriichi Tsugikuni, Sumiyoshi Kamado, Tanjuro Kamado, and Tanjiro Kamado, the current and last user. The Sun Breathing style, however, is not limited to just the Kamado lineage, as other people can use the style if a member of the Kamado family teaches them. Their use of it, however, will then be dependent on the user’s suitability with the style.
1 The Perfect Swordsmanship Style for Demon Slaying
The Ultimate Weapon Against Muzan
More than a breathing style, the Sun Breathing style is a representation of Yoriichi’s unparalleled and perfect swordsmanship. Created with twelve forms that lead into each other, the Sun Breathing makes use of the most efficient and minimal movements of its user to exert even greater force and speed while simultaneously ensuring the user never tires out his stamina.
Essentially, the Sun Breathing style represents the highest version that any of the other breathing styles can attain, as they are all variations derived from Sun Breathing itself. However, even with twelve forms, the Sun Breathing still needed to be completed and was only completed in Yoriichi’s battle against Muzan Kibutsuji. By adding a thirteenth form, the Sun Breathing style became the perfect style for demon slaying, explicitly created to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.
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