Demon Slayer: Sanemi Shinazugawa’s Wind Hashira Abilities Explained!
When discussing Demon Slayer, one usually talks about the demon slayers themselves or the demons. And while the series has offered us a variety of other intriguing characters, we will talk about one specific Demon Slayer – Sanemi Shinazugawa, Gen’ya’s brother and the current Wind Hashira – in this particular article. Sanemi is a very interesting character because of his unlikable personality, and his Wind Breathing Style is one of the more intriguing ones in the story. Building on that fact, we have decided, in this article, to tell you a bit about these powers and abilities, i.e., you are going to find out about his Wind Hashira abilities in the world of Demon Slayer.
Sanemi Shinazugawa is the Wind Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, which means he uses the Wind Breathing Style in combat. Wind Breathing is a Breathing Style that is derived directly from Sun Breathing and focuses on techniques that simulate wind and dangerous movements of air that can inflict heavy injuries on one’s opponent.
Having said this, many questions related to Sanemi Shinazugawa and his powers and abilities in the Demon Slayer franchise still have to be answered and explained. The rest of this article will explain all of those details further as we will dig deeper into the essence of his powers and abilities in the Demon Slayer manga and anime. This article might contain some spoilers, so we just wanted to give you a heads-up before you start reading.
Wind Breathing is a dangerous and powerful Breathing Style
One of the five primary Breath Styles directly descended from the Sun Breathing Style is the Wind Breathing Style. This Breathing Style was initially developed by one of Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s students who tried to learn the Sun Breathing Style from their master. However, the student was not as skilled as Yoriichi in that aspect, so instead of learning and mastering the Sun Breathing Style, he instead developed the Wind Breathing Style based on his own strengths and weaknesses as his own specific Breathing Style.
In fact, this is how most Breathing Styles were developed. Despite being independently created by Inosuke Hashibira, the Beast Breathing Style is a derivation of the Wind Breathing Style, suggesting that both Breathing Styles focus on utilizing an improved and heightened sense of touch. It’s also known that the Mist Breathing Style evolved from the Wind Breathing Style.
In total, there are nine special forms associated with Wind Breathing, as seen in Sanemi’s case:
| First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter | The user of this first form rushes towards their opponent at immense speed and lands numerous blows using a horizontal cyclone pattern of attack. |
| Second Form: Claws, Purifying Wind | The user creates a whirlwind of slashes around them, which has a defensive purpose (as it defends them from any upcoming attacks) and an offensive one (as it simultaneously slashes their surroundings). |
| Third Form: Clean Storm Wind Tree | The user has to leap up in the air for this form, slashing his katana simultaneously, creating a series of gale-force winds that simply destroy their opponents. |
| Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm | The user has to be below the target for this form, as the slashes launched are directed upwards from below the target. |
| Fifth Form: Cold Mountain Wind | The user has so be above the target for this form, as they create numerous circular arched slashes that increase in size and head towards the opponent. |
| Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist | The user simply rotates their body in what looks like an uppercut movement, which creates a powerful tornado of slashes that cut the opponent. |
| Seventh Form: Gale, Sudden Gusts | Like the previous form, the user once again leaps up in the air and swings their katana, but this time in a different way, creating devastating circular torrents of wind. |
| Eighth Form: Primary Gale Slash | Similar to the previous form, the user once again leaps up in the air and swings their katana, but this time in a different way, creating devastating circular torrents of wind. |
| Ninth Form: Idaten Typhoon | For this form, the user has to do a backflip and while they are upside-down, they create a gust of circular wind with their katana that destroys everything in its path. |
And while Sanemi Shinazugawa is the only known Wind Hashira in the series, he is not the only known user of the Wind Breathing Style. The other one was a character named Masachika Kumeno, who was Sanemi’s close friend and a brotherly figure to him, but he appeared only briefly in the series, despite being a powerful Demon Slayer, as the Demon Ubume killed him; after losing Masachika, Sanemi killed Ubume himself and was awarded the rank of Hashira because of that achievement.
Sanemi is one of the most resilient Hashira in the series
As for his other abilities, it has to be stated that Sanemi Shinazugawa is nevertheless a powerful character and that he has a lot to offer alongside his powerful Breathing Style. As a member of the Hashira, Sanemi is an exceptionally skilled swordsman, the third best among the Hashira, in fact. According to Kokushibō, Sanemi is at the peak of his skills and abilities, making him a very dangerous opponent for anyone, even a powerful Demon.
Sanemi’s blood is one of the rarest blood types, so it is exceptionally poisonous for Demons. It is, likewise, unique because of its intense power, as even the slightest cut that causes him to bleed has such an effect on Demons that they immediately start to crave it, which, in turn, causes them to lose concentration; Sanemi demonstrated this ability even with Kokushibō, the Upper-Rank One, who is an exceptionally powerful Demon.
The only Demon proven to be immune to the effects of Sanemi’s unique blood is Nezuko Kamado, due to her strong will and conviction not to consume humans, which was further conditioned in her mind by Sakonji Urokodaki.
Sanemi also has exceptional control over his own muscles. He can control them to simply stop fatal injuries from opening up and starting to bleed during a battle, as was demonstrated in the battle against the Upper-Rank One when Kokushibō tore open his abdomen, and he managed to continue fighting by controlling his muscles to simply heal the wound.
During the aforementioned battle against Kokushibō, Sanemi struck Gyōmei’s Spiked Flail with his katana, turning them bright red instantly. Later, while they are all fighting against Muzan, Sanemi, using the experience he had gained in his previous fight with Gyōmei, intentionally clashes his katana with Giyu’s weapon, which results in both of them becoming bright red once again. This was important because a bright red Nichirin Sword disables a Demon’s regenerative abilities.
Sanemi managed to activate his Demon Slayer Mark, which appears as an origami windmill with two dots on the sides, on his right cheek during his battle against the Upper-Rank One, Kokushibō. This mark greatly enhanced his skills and talents, which was shown when Sanemi was slashed in the abdomen but still could fight Kokushibō on the ground.
This demonstrates his greatly increased strength, endurance, and pain tolerance. However, without the assistance of Gyōmei and Muichirō, he was unable to land a significant blow against Kokushibō. Furthermore, despite the boost, he still has limitations since he would have been in danger of dying twice without the help of his two teammates. Sanemi is one of the series’ most effective Demon Slayers, as this article has nonetheless demonstrated.