How Strong Is Yoriichi Tsugikuni (Compared to Other Demon Slayer Characters)?

When one decides to talk about 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 are going to talk about one specific Demon Slayer – Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the strongest Demon Slayer in history – in this particular article. Yoriichi Tsugikuni is an exceptionally intriguing character and is known as the strongest Demon Slayer in the history of the Corps. Building on that fact, we have decided, in this article, to tell you a bit about his powers and abilities and how he would fare against numerous other characters from the Demon Slayer series.

The article is going to be divided into two major parts. The first one will represent Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s powers and abilities, while the other one will be a short comparison of Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s powers and abilities to the powers and abilities of other characters, divided into several subsections. These will not be detailed analyses, just brief comments so you can understand Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s position in the Demon Slayer lore.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s powers and abilities

Yoriichi Tsugikuni is a major supporting character in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. During the Sengoku Era, he was a legendary Demon Slayer of the Demon Slayer Corps. Yoriichi is the younger twin brother of Michikatsu Tsugikuni, who later became a demon and joined the Twelve Demonic Moons, serving as Upper-Rank One.

Yoriichi was an incredibly strong warrior. During his training to become a Demon Slayer, he could already defeat numerous Demons; his brother, Michikatsu, stated that even as a child, Yoriichi could defeat him in his adult age. He remains the only Demon Slayer who defeated Muzan Kibutsuji in a fight, making him flee to save his life; otherwise, Yoriichi would have killed him. He was also able to overpower Kokushibo, the Upper Moon One.

During his fight with his demonized brother, Yoriichi was – despite being old and blind – still able to overpower his brother and slice his throat, nearly killing him, before ultimately succumbing to his own injuries. Kokushibo himself admitted that Yoriichi had been able to land a second blow to his neck before dying. He definitely would have died, even though Yoriichi was old and blind at the time.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni was also exceptionally fast, especially for a human. This was demonstrated during his fight with Muzan, where he was able to counter all of his demonic abilities and overpower him with relative ease. Also, as we have said above, well into his 80s and completely blind, Yoriichi could slice Kokushibo’s throat so quickly that Kokushibo did not see it and wasn’t even able to draw his sword before almost being killed.

Yoriichi had no regeneration skills as he was a regular human. But, as far as it is known, he was so skilled that not one of his opponents actually managed to injure him. This was seen in his fight against Muzan and against Kokushibo; Kokushibo managed to hit him only after he had died, i.e., he managed to attack his corpse. On top of that, his resistance was proven when he managed to live well into his 80s, even though bearers of the Demon Slayer Mark died at the age of 25.

Yoriichi developed the original Sun Breathing Style that was later used by Sumiyoshi, who gave it the name Hinokami Kagura. Yoriichi was an expert at Sun Breathing, easily defeating demons and even overpowering Muzan, the Demon King, and the strongest Upper Rank. Yoriichi is known as the most skilled swordsman in the history of Demon Slayer. Even while he was still a child that had absolutely no training, the first time he took a katana in his hand, he was able to defeat an experienced swordsman in a fight, landing several quick blows all over his body; the blows were so quick that no one was able to perceive them properly.

How powerful is Yoriichi Tsugikuni compared to other Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters?

This section will compare Yoriichi Tsugikuni to some other strong Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters. These are going to be brief comparisons whose main goal is to give you a general idea of his powers and abilities.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. Tanjiro Kamado

This is truly an interesting match-up, knowing how Tanjiro is connected to Yoriichi in so many ways. Tanjiro’s ancestor Sumiyoshi was Yoriichi’s best and only true friend, and Sumiyoshi is directly responsible for the Sun Breathing Style’s survival in the form of the Hinokami Kagura. And while Tanjiro did master Sun Breathing at a later point in the story, remembering the dance he had seen his father perform and using Yoriichi’s blade later in the story, he never actually reached Yoriichi’s level of power. This was best witnessed in his fight against Muzan – Yoriichi had no trouble defeating the Demon King, whereas Tanjiro almost died. Tanjiro was powerful, but not as powerful as Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. the Hashira

This is a very versatile category, and while it usually depends on whom the protagonist is fighting – in this case, we can only confirm our firm opinion that Yoriichi would be able to defeat every single Hashira member. None of them, not even Gyomei and Obanai, has the skill level necessary to defeat Yoriichi, and no matter who comes at him, Yoriichi will be able to defeat them. We’re not even certain that a combination of Hashira would be enough to surpass Yoriichi, as he was truly an amazing warrior. We haven’t found a character in the series who could match that level of skill and ability.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. Zenitsu

Zenitsu was able to defeat Kaigaku, and that was, for the most part, his greatest achievement. Sure, Zenitsu was not weak by any means, but he relied on one trump card move, which was basically his whole deal. Yoriichi had so much more to offer in so many aspects that we cannot really begin to compare the two of them. The gist of this is that Zenitsu would not have even the slightest chance of defeating Yoriichi in a fight, which is why the winner here is absolutely clear.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. Inosuke

In this case, everything we’ve said about Zenitsu can also be applied to Inosuke. And while Inosuke is a more versatile fighter than Zenitsu and he is more courageous in that aspect, he couldn’t really do anything in a fight against Yoriichi. Much like Zenitsu, he simply doesn’t have what it takes to counter such a skilled and powerful character such as Yoriichi. If you remember how easily Giyu tied Inosuke to a tree, you’ll have a general idea of how Yoriichi would win this potential fight.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. Muzan

Muzan is the most powerful of all Demons and the creator of all the Demons that came after him. His weaknesses are the same as those of the other Demons, but his powers and abilities far surpass those of any other known Demon in the series. Using his powers, he has turned numerous people into Demons and has organized the most powerful ones in the Twelve Kizuki.

And yet – he is weaker than Yoriichi. The two of them actually faced each other in a fight centuries ago. While Muzan thought that Yoriichi was simply going to be another one of his victims, Yoriichi was able to surpass him almost effortlessly. He would have succeeded in killing him, had he known Muzan’s tricks, which enabled the Demon King to survive. But, from that moment on, Muzan Kibutsuji was in mortal fear of facing Yoriichi again, which is why he mercilessly hunted all those who knew the Sun Breathing Style; he was, of course, not successful in killing Yoriichi, who was the only character that Muzan feared out of the depths of his soul.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. Kokushibo

Kokushibo and Yoriichi were brothers, twins for that matter. And while Yoriichi was always kind and gentle to him, Michikatsu, as Kokushibo was called before becoming a Demon, was always envious of him because he was better in everything, and he actually hated Yoriichi. Faced with a premature death because of the supposed curse of the Demon Slayer Mark, Michikatsu accepted Muzan’s proposal to become a Demon. He avoided his brother for decades, but the two of them ultimately faced each other on the day Yoriichi died. When the two of them faced off, 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. And that is enough for us to declare Yoriichi, the winner.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni vs. the remaining Twelve Kizuki

We have already established that Yoriichi was more powerful than Muzan and Kokushibo, the two strongest Demons in the whole series. Based on that fact, we can easily conclude that he would easily defeat all the other Kizuki, even the Upper Ranks (as he would simply trash the Lower Ranks). He was so fast that he could slice Daki and Gyutaro practically at the same time; Kaigaku wouldn’t really be a challenge at all; Gyokko’s essence would be destroyed easily; Nakime’s powers might pose a challenge for a short time, but Yoriichi would find her eventually and kill her; none of Hantengu’s clones would really be a match for him either; as for Akaza and Doma, they might be powerful, but neither of them could beat Kokushibo, which means that Yoriichi would beat them as well.