Demon Slayer: What Would Happen if Tanjirō Never Cut His Hair?

Tanjirō Kamado is the protagonist of the Demon Slayer manga and demon-themed anime. A young boy struck by tragedy, Tanjirō overcame his horrid fate and became a Demon Slayer, but not to avenge his family – he did it to find a way to return his sister, Nezuko, to a human once again. Tanjirō and Nezuko had an extremely close bond, as they were the only surviving members of the Kamado family after it had been attacked and slaughtered by Muzan Kibutsuji. In this article, we will talk about Tanjirō’s personal appearance, as you are going to find out what would have happened had Tanjirō never cut his hair in the series.

At the beginning of the story, while he is training with Urokodaki, Tanjirō lets his hair grow, and it is reasonably long at one point in the story. But, at one point, he decided to cut it, and while it is not wholly short at this moment, it is shorter than before. Were Tanjirō to let it grow again, at one point, his hair would make him look like Yoriichi even more, as the two of them have the same type and roughly the same color of their hair.

The rest of this article will explain the exact relationship between Yoriichi and Tanjirō Kamado from the perspective of their hairstyles, which is just a simple thing, but it is relatively important in understanding the similarities between them. You’re going to find out some historical details about the characters, the history of Tanjirō’s family and how Sumiyoshi is related to Yoriichi, and why they both profoundly influenced all future events related to the Demon Slayer narrative, but also why Tanjirō looks like Yoriichi. The article might contain some mild spoilers, so we just wanted to inform you.

Were he to stop cutting his hair, Tanjirō would simply look like Yoriichi

If you remember the start of the Demon Slayer series, Tanjirō Kamado had longer hair than now, although his current length is also relatively long. But, at the time, he did not want to cut his hair; when it got cut the first time, it was actually by accident. Namely, after Muzan had slaughtered his family and turned Nezuko into a Demon, Tanjirō arrived at his house, but Tomioka, the Water Hashira, soon attacked him and his sister. Tomioka wanted to kill Nezuko because she was a Demon. While trying to protect her, Tanjirō grabbed his sister, and the two of them just barely escaped Tomioka’s blade, but Tanjirō’s ponytail was cut.

This significantly shortened his hair, but the protagonist seemed to like it, and while he did not cut hir hair completely, we saw him retain the “forced” haircut he got from Tomioka.

Now, while everyone has gotten used to Tanjirō’s current hairstyle, some fans keep wondering what would happen if Tanjirō were to stop cutting his hair altogether and just simply let it grow. Aside from the typical issues associated with battling with long hair, there wouldn’t be much to it, but he would look even more like Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and he already looks a lot like him. Allow us to elaborate.

Everyone knows that it cannot be denied that Tanjirō and Yoriichi look alike. Now, in such cases, this would usually mean that the two of them are somehow related, even if only distantly, and indeed, the question of whether there is a blood relation between Tanjirō Kamado and Yoriichi Tsugikuni is one of the most often-asked questions related to the Demon Slayer franchise.

Due to a surprising number of similarities between the characters, fans have, of course, been wondering whether the two of them could be related. But they are not, as we have often explained here on Fiction Horizon.

We have already told you that Sumiyoshi is the connection between Yoriichi and Tanjirō. Sumiyoshi was Tanjirō’s ancestor; through him, the Hinokami Kagura dance and the Hanafuda earrings were passed down to Tanjirō. Sumiyoshi was not a relative of Yoriichi’s, so Tanjirō and Yoriichi are not related, but he was his only true friend, which is why there was such a strong liaison between them.

Sumiyoshi remembered Yoriichi’s Sun Breathing and adapted it in the form of a dance known as the Hinokami Kagura, which was passed down to Tanjirō, although not directly; namely, Tanjirō’s father would have certainly passed it down to his son had he not died, but Tanjirō, as an infant, saw his father perform it and managed to remember it somehow, which is why he was able to use it later on in the story.

The Hanafuda earrings were also a gift from his father, so this explains everything related to the two of them.

And that is basically the gist of it, the whole story. Yoriichi Tsugikuni was a friend of Tanjirō’s distant relative, Sumiyoshi, and that’s it. Tanjirō actually looks like Sumiyoshi more than he looks like Yoriichi, but there are some similarities between Tanjirō and Yoriichi as well.

They have very similar hair, and if you add to that the fact that Tanjirō wore Yoriichi’s earrings, received his blade at one point, and even used his special Breathing Style, it makes sense that the two of them are perceived to be similar in many ways. But no, they are not related, and from what we could actually gather, story-wise, the similarities are purely coincidental.

Of course, the author wanted to emphasize the symbolic relation between Yoriichi and Tanjirō, which is why he designed the two of them as he did, but this is purely an out-of-universe issue that has nothing to do with the actual interpersonal relationships between the two characters.

So, in that aspect, Tanjirō doesn’t fit the usual anime trope in this aspect, but it does have some similarities with it, which is what confused fans but also what inspired us to clarify it in this article for everyone. So yes, to sum it up, were Tanjirō to let his hair grow even more, he would simply look more like Yoriichi, and that is it.