Jigoro Kuwajima was the former master of Zenitsu Agatsuma and Kaigaku. He was also the former Thunder Hashira, and a master of the Thunder Breathin Style, a technique he passed down to his students. Although Jigoro is a character we see only through Zenitsu’s flashbacks, he played a major role in Zenitu’s upbringing and is a constant driving force for the generally frightful Demon Slayer.
This article is going to provide you with more details on the character of Jigoro Kuwajima. You’re going to find out everything you need to know about the character’s origins, his abilities, his Breathing Style, and some additional information about his role in the story. We have gathered all the necessary information for you in one place.
Jigoro Kuwajima’s origins
Not much is known of his history, only that he is the former Thunder Hashira. At one point, he met and took pity on the young Zenitsu who fell into debt with the wrong people because he had been tricked by the woman he was supposed to marry. He paid all of Zenitsu’s debts and then took him in as his pupil.
He then began to train the latter despite Kaigaku’s opposition, who thought that their master was wasting his time with Zenitsu. Jigoro helped his “grandson”, as Zenitsu started calling the old master “grandpa”, master the Thunder Breathing Style by helping him perfect the only technique he managed to use.
When he learned that Kaigaku, who had left to join the ranks of the Slayers once his training was finished, had turned into a demon, Jigoro, filled with immense sadness, ended his life by performing the seppuku suicide ritual.
Jigoro had a steadfast dedication to his students and strict training. Despite his status as a strong mentor and experience as a former Hashira, he had a soft spot and an unwavering dedication to raising the next generation of students. Due to this passionate devotion, he was filled with sorrow after discovering that her former student, Kaigaku, betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps and joined the ranks of the Twelve Kizuki.
Zenitsu Agatsuma noted that despite how often he complained and ran away, Jigoro never once gave up on him. He had saved Zenitsu from a lifetime of debt and taken him on as a student, and, displaying unwavering patience, he was happy to see Zenitsu master the first form of his breathing style. He had a strong belief in training skills to hone through repetition comparing it to forging and purifying the steel of his swords.
This strong fatherly love for his students is further demonstrated when he is flattered and moved by Zenitsu’s declaration of love and thanks for all of his efforts to force Zenitsu to improve, even though everyone abandoned him and made him feel utterly useless.
Now, if you’ve read or seen Demon Slayer, you know that Zenitsu kept calling Jigoro grandfather, and that Jigoro considered Zenitsu to be his grandson. So, were the two of them actually related? They were not! Jigoro and Zenitsu were not related in any way; in fact, they did not even know each other before Jigoro encountered Zenitsu for the first time and paid off his debts. Zenitsu is an orphan and his family members are unknown, but it is known that Jigoro was not directly related to him.
This, of course, means that Jigoro was not actually Zenitsu’s grandfather and that the name was a term of endearment and a sign of the immense respect that Zenitsu had for Jigoro, and vice versa. Some might suggest that Jigoro actually adopted Zenitsu, but we don’t think it happened legally; he just took him in and that was pretty much that.
Did Jigoro die in Demon Slayer?
As we have said, Jigoro is a character that we have met only through Zenitsu’s memories and flashbacks. Why? Well, Jigoro had committed suicide some time before the plot of Demon Slayer began. Devastated by the fact that his former pupil, Kaigaku, became a Demon, Jigoro felt both sad and guilty, blaming himself for that turn of events. Being the noble warrior that he was, he committed seppuku, a form of ritual suicide and thus ended his life.
Jigoro Kuwajima: Abilities
Aside from his Breathing Style, not much is known about Jigoro’s abilities. He was a formidable fighter and a great mentor; he had a very strict approach, but he was exceptionally skilled and had full confidence in his students. He also cared deeply for them, despite his seemingly distant visage.
Jigoro lost his right leg from the knee down in the middle of a battle when he was 35 years old, which is also the reason why he retired from being a Hashira. The exact circumstances of this battle are not known.
Jigoro Kuwajima’s Breathing Style
As the former Thunder Hashira, Jigoro uses the Thunder Breathing Style. This technique increases the amount of oxygen in his blood by controlling his breathing rate, which increases his strength and agility to match that of a demon.
He learned to do the Blast of Total Concentration at all times being a former Hashira, further increasing his base strength, speed, and stamina. As the first and only known trainer of this breath, Jigoro knows the six moves of the Thunder Breathing Style. They are:
| First Form: Thunderclap and Flash | The user rushes towards the enemy and kills them with superhuman speed. This form has three subtypes: – Sixfold: A variant of the First Movement with a series of six strokes. – Eightfold: A variant of the First Movement with a series of eight strokes. – God Speed: The user uses this technique to increase the speed of their Thunderclap and Flash. |
| Second Form: Rice Spirit | The user is able to generate five attacks around themselves in a single instant. |
| Third Form: Thunder Swarm | The user generates spinning waves of lightning in all directions. |
| Fourth Form: Distant Thunder | The user launches several ranged strikes towards their target. |
| Fifth Form: Heat Lightning | A simple, targeted, and deadly attack. |
| Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash | A series of powerful ranged attacks launched around the user. |
Jigoro Kuwajima’s voice actor
In the Demon Slayer anime series, Jigoro Kuwajima was voiced by Shigeru Chiba, whose real name is Masaharu Maeda. He was born on February 4, 1954 in Kikuchi and is affiliated with the talent management firm 81 Produce.
He is most known for the roles of Yoshihiro Kira from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, the narrator of Fist of the North Star, Megane (Urusei Yatsura), Rei Ichidō (High School! Kimengumi), Kazuma Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho), Pilaf (Dragon Ball), Raditz and Garlic Jr. (Dragon Ball Z), Buggy the Clown (One Piece), Kefka Palazzo (Dissidia: Final Fantasy) and Kōichi Todome (Kerberos saga).
He was also the voice acting mentor to Megumi Hayashibara.
