Demon Slayer: Was Yoriichi a Hashira?

When one decides to talk about Demon Slayer, one usually talks about the demon slayers themselves or the demons, despite the fact the series has offered us a variety of other intriguing characters. In light of that fact, we are, of course, going to talk about one of the more important characters in the series, namely, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the most powerful Demon Slayer in history. Yoriichi is responsible for creating the Sun Breathing Style, with which he almost killed Muzan, but the rest of his story is also impressive. In this article, you are going to find out whether Yoriichi was a Hashira when he was still a member of the Corps.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni was, indeed, a Hashira during the Sengoku Era, as was his brother, Michikatsu, before his deflection. Yoriichi was probably the Sun Hashira, and his status is proven by the fact that he was allowed to engrave something on his sword (something only Hashira can do), as well as the fact that it was confirmed that he was both banished from the Corps and stripped of his Hashira status.

The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s story, as it happened on the pages of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga. You already know what happened and how it happened, so we will just bring you the details so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article will contain many spoilers, so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.

Yoriichi was the most powerful Hashira of the Sengoku Era

Twins were regarded as a particularly bad omen during the Sengoku period when Yoriichi and his twin brother Michikatsu were born into the Tsugikuni clan. Yoriichi’s father threatened to kill him because of a peculiar birthmark on his son’s forehead, but their mother, Akeno, became enraged and detained him. It was ultimately decided that Yoriichi would be sent to a temple at the age of ten to become a monk.

Yoriichi left the house after their mother passed away and didn’t stop. In the mountains, Yoriichi had been running nonstop for a day and a night without showing any signs of tiredness when he came upon Uta, a young woman his own age whose entire family had perished. Yoriichi made the decision to reside with her, and after ten years, Uta and Yoriichi were wed.

The first spouse later became pregnant. Yoriichi left the house to summon a midwife just before the expected arrival time, but when he eventually returned home, he discovered that Uta and the unborn child had been murdered by a demon by the time the sun had set.

Yoriichi was so horrified by the catastrophe that he kept her body in his arms for ten days straight before finally burying them at a Demon Slayer’s urging. As a result, Yoriichi decided to reclaim his sword and begin his training to slay demons. He would soon join the Demon Slayer Corps and, being so skilled and a possessor of the Demon Slayer Mark. He was able to develop the first Breathing Style in history, the Sun Breathing. Sun Breathing remains, until today, the most powerful Breathing Style and the most complex one to master. All the other breathing styles were derived from Sun Breathing, including Michikatsu’s Moon Breathing, which Yoriichi’s brother developed because he was unable to master Sun Breathing.

After becoming a Hashira, the most powerful one, Yoriichi was allowed to engrave something on his katana, as all Hashira are allowed to. He then continued his pursuit of Demons. Yoriichi soon came into contact with Muzan Kibutsuji, the Slayers’ mortal foe, and ancestral demon, and made the decision to murder him. Yoriichi discovered that Muzan had five moving brains and seven moving hearts inside of him. When he realized his good fortune, he united all of his forms into a single attack, cutting them all off and thoroughly outclassing Muzan.

Muzan would ultimately succeed in escaping, but the conflict left her deeply traumatized and terrified of Yoriichi. After failing to kill Muzan, he met Tamayo, another demon, and believed her story about wanting to end Muzan, which is why he let her go free. Upon his return to the Corps, he found out that his brother, Michikatsu, had betrayed the Corps, killed the Oyakata, and deflected.

He was banished from the Demon Slayer Corps

Being blamed by the other Hashira, Yoriichi was initially sentenced to death for his failures, but the new Oyakata converted the death sentence to banishment. And so, Yoriichi was stripped of his Hashira rank and banished from the Corps. After his banishment, Yoriichi went to Sumiyoshi’s to enjoy their company and because he needed someone to talk to. Yoriichi got unhappy as he reflected on the misfortunes that had befallen him and expressed remorse for having left Muzan alive when they first met, as well as the countless deaths that would occur.

Suyako would have Yoriichi play the Hinokami Kagura for the Kamado family when he was visiting with them. He did it delicately, moving with such delicacy that he was more often compared to a Shinto than a person. Sumiyoshi carefully observed these performances and memorized them. Yoriichi handed Sumiyoshi his own Hanafuda earrings on his final visit, although indicating he could come to visit them whenever he wanted to. Sumiyoshi and Suyako immediately knew that was their final encounter.

Yoriichi spent the remainder of his life in isolation after being banished. Yoriichi lived far into his 80s despite being a bearer of the Demon Slayer Mark, which was intended to cause him to pass away at the age of 25. Although the Corps disowned him, he carried on as a freelance Demon Slayer, staying in touch with his Hashira friends while the Corps continued to look the other way. However, Muzan would gradually destroy the Corps, murdering every known user of Sun Breathing save for Yoriichi (who, of course, was ignorant about Sumiyoshi and the Hinokami Kagura), which was a serious issue. Yoriichi did not intercede, though.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni, who was blind and far into his 80s, went to confront his brother Michikatsu, who had been a demon and was now known as Kokushibo, the day before he passed away. Kokushibo was horrified to see his brother and enraged because Yoriichi, who he had always envied, had outlived the lifespan of a Demon Slayer Mark bearer without the aid of any enhancements. In contrast, he had to turn into a Demon to do it.

Yoriichi approached his brother to kill him, knowing he could not locate Muzan. Although Kokushibo was sure he could kill his brother because of his new powers (whereas Yoriichi was old), Yoriichi managed to slice Kokushbo’s neck before the Demon even drew his blade, showing that he was still in top form. Unfortunately, while Kokushibo waited for the finishing blow (at that moment, he was certain he would die), Yoriichi stopped moving. He died out of old age, standing on his two feet, before being able to kill his brother; Kokushibo would later admit that he would have died, certainly, had his brother not died at that very moment.

Yoriichi thus died an undefeated warrior. He defeated Muzan and almost killed him, and he did the same to Kokushibo; they were the strongest Demons in the series. And then he died. And that fact enraged Kokushibo, who charged at his brother’s corpse and started hitting it until he saw that Yoriichi kept a small wooden flute Michikatsu had given him when they were children, which actually broke him. He stopped mutilating the corpse, took the flute, and disappeared.