Demon Slayer: What Is Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art & How Did He Manage to Trap Muichirō with It?

The Demons of Demon Slayer are a truly fascinating lot. They come in all shapes and sizes, and while they are evil in their demonic form, their backstories and their lives while they were human usually contain a tragic note that makes you sad for them. But there are also exceptions, and one such exception is the protagonist of this article – Gyokko. The Upper-Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki, Gyokko, was a very intriguing villain with interesting water-based powers. In the most recent episode, we’ve gotten a glimpse of Gyokko’s abilities, and in this article, we will give you a detailed overview of what his Blood Demon Art is capable of doing and how he was able to trap the Mist Hashira with it.

Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art is called Porcelain Vases, and it revolves around replicas of the vase he lives in. He can, as it seems, create them anywhere and as many as he wants, and he uses them to trap his enemies inside them and devour them. Thanks to his water manipulation skills, he can also use numerous other techniques, including the infamous Water Prison Pot.

The rest of this article will focus on Gyokko and his Blood Demon Art in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. Gyokko is a villain but an exceptionally important and very peculiar character. As we have said, his unique ability to manipulate water and turn people into fish is very specific, so we will discuss it in this article. This article will contain some spoilers from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga, so be careful how you approach it.

Gyokko is a powerful Demon and he is exceptionally difficult to beat

As the Upper-Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki, Gyokko possessed powers and abilities beyond any conventional Demon, being able to rise to the level of the Hashira as seen in his confrontation with Muichiro Tokito, eventually surpassing him and coming close to killing him during the fight, but Muichiro managed to win after awakening his Demon Slayer Mark.

He was a formidable regenerator due to his Demon nature, and these powers tended to get stronger the more blood Muzan Kibutsuji gave him. He managed to escape Muzan’s beheading and was subsequently able to easily reattach his severed head. He was also effortlessly able to heal cuts caused by Nichirin blades in a short period of time.

Gyokko was demonstrated to have amazing speed and reflexes when, despite Muichiro Tokito utilizing his Mist Breathing techniques to impair and knock out Gyokko’s senses, he managed to dodge the attacks that would have killed him with ease. Gyokko was able to attack by shifting from one vase to another. He did have the drawback of being unable to scroll when a vase was destroyed. It is unknown if he creates the non-sentient demon fish inside his vases or if he summons them from other locations, but he could call them from his vases.

These summons might be connected to the demonic beings Muzan has in his base. He could shed his skin in a crisis and change his appearance. Gyokko’s physical transformation made him immensely stronger. He had translucent scales all over his body that were more durable than the diamonds being worked within his pot. Gyokko could only be seen in that state by three individuals. With his fists, he transformed everything into a tiny fish.

In terms of his Blood Demon Art, Gyokko’s skills revolve around his vases, which seem to appear out of thin air in response to Gyokko’s commands and which he uses for various tasks. Gyokko can transform in a crisis and change his appearance. Gyokko gains a lot of strength after altering his appearance. Thanks to this art, he can use several abilities, including:

• Thousand Needle Fish Kill – this ability allows Gyokko to summon many floating fish, which he then launches at his opponent. As they fly, they turn into poisonous needles that paralyze the target, rendering them unable to fight.
• Water Prison Pot – this infamous technique usually comes after the previous one. Gyokko creates a large bubble-like structure out of the water and traps his opponent inside. They cannot move and will eventually suffocate because of all the water inside.
• Octopus Vase Hell – a restraining technique that allows Gyokko to manifest large and powerful tentacles out of the numerous vases he has created. These tentacles restrain his opponents and make them sitting ducks.
• Ten Thousand Gliding Slime-Fish – a powerful technique that allows Gyokko to summon 10,000 fish from his pots. These fish collectively attack the opponent and start eating them until nothing, but bones are left. Also, if you manage to cut the fish, they will release poison before disappearing. The poison can be absorbed via the skin and is presumably fatal.
• Killer Fish Scales – this technique can only be activated in Gyokko’s true form. The demon launches a series of exceptionally powerful and fast physical attacks, being able to quickly destroy a large area, including a forest.

His main body is covered in translucent scales that are as hard as diamonds and that have been combined inside of its pot. Gyokko has only ever been observed in this state by three people. When he strikes something with his fists, it turns into a cute tiny fish. His power to morph is comparable to Father Spider Demon’s capacity to modify his appearance and strength.

Gyokko trapped Muichirō in the Water Prison Pot because he caught him by surprise

When Gyokko appeared in the Swordsmith Village and showed off his morbid human sculpture, after commenting how he disliked the taste of swordsmiths, he targeted Kotetsu and Kozo next. Still, Muichirō Tokitō stepped in front of him to protect the two swordsmiths. He first protected Kotetsu from a large fish Demon, realizing that the source of its power was the vase and not the head.

He then did the same to Kozo after Kotetsu persuaded him to go save him rather than head for the village, as the morbid fish Demons also targeted Kozo and Hotaru. Muichirō then took Kotetsu, and the two of them found Kozo and saved him from a fish Demon as well. Soon after, Gyokko appeared and targeted the two swordsmiths, preparing to engage Muichirō after realizing he was a Hashira.

Gyokko then started his fight with Muichirō, but he soon managed to trap him in his Water Prison Pot, after which he targeted Hotaru, who was, at the same time, working on restoring Yoriichi’s blade for Tanjirō, as he had promised after Tanjirō found the blade in the Yoriichi Type Zero doll.

Hotaru was so concentrated on repairing the blade, in fact, that he completely ignored Gyokko’s and Hantengu’s attack on the village. Gyokko pestered him all the time but was not successful. He even attacked and injured him severely, but despite his mask broken, his body injured, and losing one of his eyes, Hotaru kept working on the blade until he managed to deliver it to Tanjirō. And while Kozo tried to protect Hotaru, Kotetsu showed his bravery when he went for Gyokko’s pot to free Muichirō, who was on the verge of death. It was, indeed, thanks to Kotetsu’s bravery that Muichirō managed to free himself from the Water Prison Por. He also managed to awaken his Demon Slayer Mark in the process, after which he engaged the Upper Rank Five.

Muichirō was taken by surprise by Gyokko’s attacks, but he ultimately managed to win. We won’t be giving you all the details on this fight here, because you can read about it in our other articles… or you can just wait for the new episodes to air.