‘Demon Slayer’: Does Tanjiro Use Yoriichi’s Sword?

The events of season 3 of Demon Slayer are beginning to pick up, especially when it comes to Tanjiro Kamado’s evolution as a character destined to kill Muzan. Of course, it has already been implied that there’s some sort of connection between Tanjiro’s family and the man that invented the first breathing technique, Yoriichi. We also saw more of that connection in episode 2 of season 3 when Tanjiro trained with the Yoriichi Type Zero doll and found a sword inside it. So, does Tanjiro use Yoriichi’s sword?

It was never mentioned in the manga that this was the same sword that Yoriichi used during his lifetime. However, there’s a good chance that this sword was likely left by Kotetsu’s ancestor so that it would be used by the descendants of Yoriichi or the ones that inherit his Sun Breathing technique.

The connections between Tanjiro and Yoriichi are now becoming more apparent, especially now that he is set to wield a sword that was quite possibly used by the legendary swordsman or, at the very least, was forged for him. So, with that said, let’s look at who this sword belonged to and whether or not it is the same one that Yoriichi used several centuries ago.

Did Tanjiro Find Yoriichi’s Sword In The Doll?

Back in episode 1 of season 3 of Demon Slayer, we saw Tanjiro having a dream about Yoriichi and his connection with the Kamado family several centuries ago. Of course, this dream was inherited by Tanjiro from his ancestors as it was quite possibly a memory of the things that happened all those years ago. But while Tanjiro was still making sense of that dream, he needed to go to the Swordsmith Village to get a new Nichirin Sword after breaking the one that he got before the Entertainment District arc.

That was why he went to the village, where he tried to find Hotaro Haganezuka, the man responsible for forging Tanjiro’s swords. But because Haganezuka was angry at him for consistently destroying the swords that he forged for him, the swordsmith went missing to avoid encountering Tanjiro. And that was when Tanjiro encountered a young boy named Kotetsu, who was protecting the key of a mechanical doll from Muichiro Tokito, who wanted to use the doll for training.

This doll was called Yoriichi Type Zero, which was a mechanical doll that was created by one of Kotetsu’s ancestors around 300 years ago. He said that no one in his family ever learned how to replicate this doll or how to repair it. That was the reason why he wanted to protect it from Tokito, who would have destroyed it due to his immense strength and skills as a Hashira. But while Tokito did indeed train with the doll and left it damaged, Kotetsu decided to allow Tanjiro to use Yoriichi Type Zero to become even stronger.

Tanjiro struggled against the doll but eventually got the hang of it after training all the way to his limit for several days. When he finally landed a critical blow, he destroyed Yoriichi Type Zero’s head. That was when a sword was revealed to be hidden inside the doll. So, is this sword the same one that Yoriichi used centuries ago?

While it might seem like this was the same sword that Yoriichi used years ago, there’s a good chance that it wasn’t. And that’s because there are some indications that it wasn’t the same blade that he used when he nearly killed Muzan.

For instance, the hilt is different from the one we saw from Yoriichi. It is possible that Kotetsu’s ancestors changed the sword’s hilt. But because no one even knew that there was a sword hidden inside the doll, it is unlikely that people tampered with the sword or its hilt. 

There’s also the fact that the blade wasn’t black before Tanjiro touched it. Yoriichi was known to have a black-bladed Nichirin Sword back in the day. So, if Yoriichi had wielded this one in the past, it would have been black from the start.

As such, we believe this sword was meant to be Yoriichi’s sword back in the day because it wouldn’t have been hidden in the Yoriichi Type Zero doll if it wasn’t made for him. But there’s also a good chance that the swordsmith that created the sword and the doll was the very same one that forged Yoriichi’s swords before.

This would mean there’s a good chance that the very same swordsmith forged the sword and hid it inside the mechanical doll so that he would be able to ensure that only those who are truly strong enough to break the doll would inherit the sword. And there’s a possibility that he meant to forge the sword for the inheritor of the Sun Breathing technique, which he might have believed was the only technique strong enough to break through the doll’s defenses.

Does Tanjiro Use The Yoriichi Doll Sword?

One of the running gags of Demon Slayer is Tanjiro’s habit of breaking his swords. He has either broken or lost his sword numerous times in the past. And this is the reason why Haganezuka often scolds him as the swordsmith worked hard to make sure that he forged only the best swords for Tanjiro.

Tanjiro doesn’t have his own Nichirin Sword in the current arc because he broke the last one during the Entertainment District arc. And we know that he went to the forest where he found Kotetsu and the doll because he was told that there was a secret weapon hidden there.

That would mean that it was fate for Tanjiro to find Kotetsu and the Yoriichi Type Zero doll. As such, in the manga, he had the blade sharpened and polished by Haganezuka, who himself said that the sword was made from a special type of good-quality metal. That is why the sword is stronger than the standard Nichirin Sword.

In fact, in the storyline, Tanjiro never broke or damaged this sword, no matter how strong his opponents were. The only time that it was never damaged was at the end of the manga when he fought Muzan. But before that, Tanjiro never broke or damaged the sword, as it was clear that this was the sword that he was meant to wield. 

Is Tanjiro Stronger with Yoriichi’s Sword?

Now that you know the story of Tanjiro obtaining and using Yoriichi’s Nichirin Swords, we can tell you why that was important from the perspective of Tanjiro’s growth and evolution as a character in the series. So, did Yoriichi’s Sword make Tanjiro stronger? Well, it did.

As you know, Nichirin swords are special blades. Sure, they have fancy designs and colors, but in most cases – with a few rare exceptions – they actually look like normal swords, which would, on a general level, make them quite normal. But they are actually specially-crafted blades that are made specifically to fight demons. This is why demons fear them and why they are so powerful. They are also personally attached to the owner, augmenting their skills as they adapt to them personally and to their level of power. In itself, a Nichirin blade won’t give you a boost per se, but it will augment your skills and the blade will grow alongside you.

We know that Yoriichi’s blade is notoriously known in the lore and that even Muzan feared it. Due to Yoriichi’s role in the series and the fact that he was, actually, the creator of the Sun Breathing Style, his blade was specifically able to augment the powers of a Sun Breathing user. Sure, it would have made anyone more skilled, but its forte was Sun Breathing so it clearly augmented the efficiency and power of Sun Breathing’s forms.

Now, we have to remember that Tanjiro’s Hinokami Kagura dance was actually Yoriichi’s Sun Breathing, which is an important fact in this analysis. With Tanjiro mastering Hinokami Kagura, his skills became higher and now with Yoriichi’s sword in his possession, Tanjiro was actually able to use the Hinokami Kagura even better in that spect. He was far more powerful now and the forms he used were more elegant as the sword was naturally adapted for that specific Breathin Style.

So yes, Tanjiro is significantly stronger with Yoriichi’s sword and that could be seen in his fights, as his moves became much deadlier than before.