Highlights
- Only the strongest, known as the Hashira, are pillars in the Demon Slayer Corps, tasked with hunting powerful Demons.
- The Hashira are masters of specific Breathing Styles, each carrying immense power to fight against Muzan’s forces.
- The original 5 Breathing Styles, such as Flame and Water Breathing, form the foundation of the Hashira’s strength.
One can only be a part of the Demon Slayer Corps if they are strong, both in willpower and overall physical prowess. To thin out the powerful characters from the weaker ones for a position in the Corps, a final test is held on Mount Fujikasane, where only the strong will survive against many powerful Demons that dwell on the mountain. Only once they become members are they eligible to be promoted to the rank of Hashira.
In the ranks of these Demon Slayers, only the head of the Corps, Ubuyashiki, outranks the Hashira. All the Hashira are extremely adept at hunting and killing Demons and they have each mastered their own specific Breathing Style, making them some of the most powerful characters in the entire series. So, let’s go over the formation of the Hashira and see how they came to be such masters of the blade in the first place.
The Beginning Of The Hashira
The word ‘Hashira’ means pillar, and it perfectly encapsulates their role within the Demon Slayer Corps. Due to their incredible and unmatched power, these select few warriors serve as pillars for the entire Corps, as they essentially hold the whole thing together. Not only are they the foremost defense against Muzan’s demonic forces, but they are also the ones who seek to train the newbies that have joined the organization.
During the Heian Era, about 1000 years before the setting of the current story, Muzan Kibutsuji lived and committed horrible acts to become immortal, turning him into the world’s first-ever Demon. He was a distant member of the Ubuyashiki family, due to which the entire bloodline was cursed, causing them to devote their lives and resources to destroying Muzan and the Demons he had introduced to the world. While they had moderate success in killing Demons over the centuries, they were never able to stop Muzan himself.
Aging and dying is the beauty of the short-lives creatures called humans.
However, an exceptional Demon Slayer by the name of Yoriichi Tsugikuni joined their ranks roughly 500 years ago during the Sengoku Era after his wife and child had been killed by a Demon. His inclusion into the Corps singlehandedly changed the tides, as he trained the various members of the Demon Slayers to become better fighters, even attempting to impart his knowledge of Sun Breathing to them, which was proven to be the greatest tool the Slayers had at their disposal.
However, none of the other highest-ranking members could match his level of mastery with Sun Breathing, so they eventually reworked the style with their own strengths, forming the 5 original Breathing Styles. Though not as strong as Sun Breathing, these styles were incredibly potent and proved to be great enough to destroy even the most powerful Demons. After forming these styles, these characters began to be known as the Hashira, characterized with their specific Breathing Style. For example, Flame Hashira, Water Hashira, Stone Hashira, etc.
The Original 5 Breathing Styles Of The Hashira
Synonymous with the Hashira are the various Breathing Styles of swordsmanship that make them as dangerous as they are. Though every single Breathing Style in the series owes its roots to Sun Breathing, the offshoots are incredibly powerful in their own right as well, and it is said that while the individual strength of a character is the most telling of one’s strength, generally the closer a style is to Sun Breathing, the stronger it is.
Since the first 5 Hashira could not master Sun Breathing, they instead mixed it with their talents and strengths to make the 5 Breathing Styles, which are all the most powerful in the series. The subsequent styles, such as Sound Breathing or Mist Breathing, are offshoots of these 5. Since these were instrumental for the first 5 Hashira, let’s go over them and see their offshoots.
Flame Breathing:
The first person to use Flame Breathing was a member of the Rengoku bloodline, and every person since then to have become the Flame Hashira has descended from this line. This style is visualized with pure, red flames that seek to use powerful strikes to scorch their opponents. There are various forms of this style, with the user visualizing themselves creating and manipulating flames with each attack.
- Offshoots: Love Breathing
Water Breathing:
Water Breathing is said to be the most common of all Breathing Styles due to it being the easiest one for beginners to pick up on. It is characterized by the fluid movements that the user’s body must create in order to deliver their attacks with full potency, similar to a flowing river or rushing water.
- Offshoots: Flower Breathing, Insect Breathing, Serpent Breathing
Stone Breathing:
Stone Breathing is different from its other original styles due to the physicality it requires. Since it mimics stone, only the most physically strong characters can use this style, and it is implied that it cannot be used with a sword, as the only known users have been Gyomei, who uses an axe and flail, and the first ever Stone Breathing user, who used a Kusarigama. It is characterized by using powerful attacks that cause a ton of damage.
- Offshoots: No offshoots are known.
Thunder Breathing:
Thunder Breathing is one of the most deadly styles in the entire series. Since it replicates lightning, the main goal of this Breathing Style is to give the user blinding speed that is far faster than any other style, with the users forming lightning with every use. Since speed is the main goal of one who uses this style, it is characterized by pushing all of one’s energy into their legs so they can fly off at blinding speeds to deliver fast strikes.
- Offshoots: Sound Breathing
Wind Breathing:
Wind Breathing is a style that replicates incredibly powerful torrents and gales with both the user’s movements and strikes. This is also one of the most deadly breathing styles, as almost all of its forms include offensive attacks designed to swiftly kill anything they come across. Many movements also have the user quickly rotating, forming tornadoes filled that can deal lethal slashes to anyone caught in them.
- Offshoots: Mist Breathing, Beast Breathing
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime.