Demon Slayer: The Kakushi – Explained!

In the world of Demon Slayer, the Demon Slayer Corps is the most important organization for fighting Demons that appear among humans. The Demon Slayer Corps is an organization that has been around since ancient times, dedicating its existence to protecting humanity from demons. The organization has hundreds of Demon Slayers, but the government does not officially recognize them. Now, like every organization, the Demon Slayer Corps also has a specific hierarchical structure, and the Kakushi are part of this structure. In this article, we will explain just who the Kakushi are and what their exact lore in the world of Demon Slayer is.

The Kakushi are members of a brigade of people who work with the Demon Slayer Corps. They are lower-ranked, non-fighting members of the Corps who perform various secondary and background duties, such as transportation, escorting, cleaning, fixing, mending, and so on. Their identities are not revealed as they all wear the same attire that hides them.

The rest of this article will dig deeper into the structure of the Demon Slayer Corps and explain how the Kakushi fit in the lore. And while they are rarely in focus, the Kakushi are an indispensable part of the Corps. That is why they deserve a standalone article in which we will tell you who they are and why they are such an important part of the group.

The Kakushi are exceptionally important to the Corps

The Demon Slayer Corps employs a brigade of individuals, including the Kakushi. They cover their identities by donning black versions of the traditional Demon Slayer outfits, which include a gakuran jacket and hakama pants, as well as black headgear and a black and white mask. A brigade known as the Kakushi is in charge of carrying out a variety of duties, from helping Corps soldiers to cleaning the area of demon attacks.

Other jobs carried out by the Kakushi include cleaning up the messes frequently left behind after major battles, sewing and mending the uniforms worn by Slayers, and taking people to and from the Swordsmith Village, which is hidden and whose location is kept secret, as even other members of the Corps don’t know it. They also serve as attendants at the Butterfly Estate, where they help the residents of the manor and those who heal there.

As for their structure, i.e., who the group members are, the Kakushi are generally Demon Slayers who have retired from the Corps due to injury, in some instances or some other reason. Some members of the Kakushi did not do well on the Final Selection exam but still wanted to help the Corps; therefore, they became Kakushi. The group is quite mysterious and versatile. The exact number of Kakushi in the series is unknown, and it is not known how exactly they work, but it was revealed, throughout the series, that there are many Kakushi in the series and that they simply appear when and where needed to perform various tasks.

Sometimes, the Kakushi are not really too happy with their duties, which is why they are known to complain or be grumpy, but they respect the hierarchy and their assigned tasks. Generally, though, they are an extremely helpful and useful lot who do their part in the Corps’ fight against the Demons, and without them, the Corps couldn’t really function normally, and the fighting units wouldn’t really have the leisure to focus on eliminating the Demons, which is why they are indispensable, really. Still, while they are not a fighting unit, they are not completely defenseless, have some hand-to-hand combat skills, and are quite fast, agile, and good at stealth work.

The identities of the Kakushi are (almost) never revealed

The Kakushi are a mysterious lot, which is what we have already said. Because they are not fighting units of the Corps, they are civilians who need to keep their identities hidden so that they would not be targeted because they are members of the Corps; also, the Kakushi know a lot of secrets about the Corps, which is why it would really not be advisable for them to end up being attacked and kidnapped by the Demons, who could torture them for information. So, they keep their identities hidden to balance their everyday lives and the tasks they do for the Corps.

Their names are rarely revealed, and the Kakushi all wear identical attires that hide their faces; in fact, the only things visible are their eyes, and sometimes, it is not even possible to discern whether a Kakushi is male or female, as the eyes might not reveal it.

Whether the Kakushi know who they are between themselves is unknown, but it could very well be that they do not, as witnessed by the process of transport to the Swordsmith Village: several Kakushi are needed to transport a person to the village, and each of them knows only their part of the path, i.e., they do not know how the previous Kakushi arrived to their location, and they do not know where the next Kakushi is going to take the person.

So far, we know that there is one famous female Kakushi, but save for her gender, we know nothing else about her. The only Kakushi whose identity we actually do know is Gotō, who is a famous Kakushi. He is the one who found the near-dead Tanjirō Kamado, Inosuke Hashibira, and Zenitsu Agatsuma in the Entertainment District after their fierce battle with the Upper-Rank Six.

Gotō is a very skilled Kakushi and a strong one at that, so it does not surprise us that he, by his own admission, had what it takes to become a Demon Slayer. Now, how, when, and why he ended up among the Kakushi is not known, but it is known that he survived the plot of the manga.