How was Tanjiro’s journey on Demon Slayer? (Photo Credit – Hotstar)
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In the world of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, where demons stalk the night and swordsmen rise to challenge them, a secret burns brighter than all others and it is the origin of the very techniques they wield. Among the myriad of breathing styles designed to enhance human abilities, one stands as the source of them all, the Sun Breathing.
For the Hashiras, it’s not just a technique, it’s a legacy etched into fire and memory stretching far beyond Tanjiro Kamado’s first clumsy sword swing.
Hinokami Kagura: A Dance Beneath the Stars
Long before Tanjiro knew of demons or swords, there was a dance, more specifically a ritual passed down quietly through his family. A graceful series of movements, performed before a crackling flame under the stars, the Hinokami Kagura was all he thought it to be. His father, frail yet unwavering, would perform it with a breath so steady it seemed otherworldly. It was tradition, reverence and most importantly, a survival hidden in ceremony.
However, fate has a habit of revealing truths in the most violent of ways. In the heat of battle against Rui, a lower-rank demon with threads sharp enough to slice flesh like silk, Tanjiro’s desperation awakened something ancient within him. Flames spiraled from his blade as the Hinokami Kagura became something far more than a mere dance. It was a technique and not just any, but one of unbridled power. His blade lit the forest ablaze in a moment that would go down as one of the anime’s most breathtaking scenes, and a new question began to flicker among viewers’ minds on what truly was this dance about.
Kyojuro Rengoku and Echoes of the Original Swordsman
That question led him to the home of Kyojuro Rengoku, the fallen Flame Hashira, whose dying words hinted at answers buried in forgotten books. But Rengoku’s father, once a proud swordsman himself, greeted Tanjiro not with hospitality, but with contempt. The moment he saw the boy’s hanafuda earrings, the same ones worn by a legend, his demeanor soured. He saw in Tanjiro the echo of something lost, the Sun Breathing. To Shinjuro Rengoku, everything else — Flame, Water, Thunder was but a diluted echo of that original blaze.
Though Shinjuro’s anger clouded any meaningful conversation, Tanjiro and Rengoku’s younger brother, Senjuro, managed to unearth an old, ruined text. Pages were missing, ink smudged, truths barely clinging to the parchment but a letter would later arrive, whispering a secret that there weren’t just a few moves to the Hinokami Kagura. There were thirteen.
This revelation unraveled further when Tanjiro, in dreams that felt more like inherited memories, walked the footsteps of a man named Sumiyoshi. A humble ancestor, Sumiyoshi had once stood before a figure whose presence could bend fate itself: Yoriichi Tsugikuni. A swordsman so powerful that even Muzan, the king of demons, trembled before him. Yoriichi had created Sun Breathing, born not from copying but as the original breath, pure and undiluted. He moved like a ghost, untouched by time and his attacks flowing like sunlight across a still pond.
A Legacy the Demons Tried to Erase
But even the strongest harbor regrets. Yoriichi, though nearly victorious, had failed to finish Muzan. That failure haunted him. Yet in his sorrow, he entrusted Sumiyoshi with something precious — his memories, his earrings, and his legacy. That legacy flowed through generations, disguised as a dance, until it reached Tanjiro.
Muzan, realizing the threat Sun Breathing posed, had long since begun erasing it from history, cutting down anyone who dared carry its spark. Even Kokushibo, Yoriichi’s own brother turned demon, played his part in silencing the flame. And still, the style endured, not through swordsmen, but through a family of charcoal sellers performing a divine dance.
2.Hinokami Kagura 🔆
Hinokami Kagura is a very heartfelt, accurate, & honest recreation of Sun Breathing. It being a dance is irrelevant when Tanjiro applies it to battle like a powerful Breathing Style. The differences in footwork, wrist angles, and (probably most importantly)… pic.twitter.com/wclmF77WWQ
As the final confrontation with Muzan draws near, Tanjiro begins to piece it all together. His father’s words echo the importance of breathing and the rhythm of the dance. And then it clicks. The twelve forms aren’t just individual techniques. When performed in a seamless loop, with no pause between them, they birth the thirteenth. It is a form not listed, but realized from the culmination of motion, fire, breath, and will.
