Gyomei Himejima

Gyomei Himejima is a Demon Slayer and the Stone Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Appearance
Gyomei is a hulking figure amongst the Demon Slayers. He is one of the tallest characters in the series, easily towering over his fellow Pillars. He is powerfully built and extremely muscular. He has spiky black hair and a prominent scar running horizontally across his forehead. Having been blind since childhood, he has white eyes with no visible irises or pupils. His eyes frequently tear-up when he gets emotional.

Gyomei wears the black and white uniform typical of a Demon Slayer, with an olive green happi draped over his shoulders. He also sports a large-beaded necklace around his neck and carries ojuzu when he is not engaged in battle.

His left leg was later severed during his fight with Muzan.

Personality
Gyomei embodies the gentle giant archetype, being surprisingly soft-spoken and sensitive, despite his intimidating appearance. He is also shown to be quite pious, carrying his prayer beads at all times and offering prayers in poignant situations.

Though he maintains a fairly reserved disposition, Gyomei harbors a very objective and somewhat suspicious view of the people around him, owing to his experiences before becoming a Demon Slayer. He is ever-cognizant of what others, particularly children or those younger than him, are capable of if given the opportunity. By reason of his doubtful nature, it can take a while for Gyomei to completely accept and trust others. When he does open up and let others in, he is unwaivering in his commitment to them.

History
Before Gyomei was a Demon Slayer and Pillar, he lived with nine other children who were orphans and raised them in a temple. The area was well known for demon attacks so Gyomei had always burned Wisteria Incense to ward off any demons that would harm him and the children.

One night, one of the nine children disobeyed the temple rules and traveled beyond its borders. He is immediately accosted by a demon, and in order to save his own life, he tells the demon to eat the other children including Gyomei. After night fell, the child invited the demon into the temple after putting out the Wisteria Incense.

Four children were immediately killed by the demon and the remaining children insisted on escaping the temple, ignoring Gyomei's orders. His frail stature and blindness fueled the distrust the children had in Gyomei's ability to protect them, which led them to abandon him and ultimately getting killed by the demon.

In the end, only one child—the youngest, Sayo—had listened and stayed behind in fear of the demon.

Though it is unknown how the exchange went down, Gyomei had been cut across the forehead by the demon but soon reversed the situation and began attacking the demon mercilessly after realizing he had a "frightening amount of power." He went on and beat the demon's head until the sun arose.

Soon after, people came to the scene of the incident to help but due to a misunderstanding with Sayo saying "That man's a monster. He killed them. He killed everyone." the villagers thought she meant Gyomei and not the demon.

He was later imprisoned and charged with the murder of the seven children but Kagaya Ubuyashiki, a.k.a "Oyakata-sama", intervened and released him before he would've been executed for his false crimes.

Later on, Gyomei became a Demon Slayer and after only two months, the Stone Pillar.

Natagumo Mountain Arc
Gyomei was present with the other Pillars when Tanjiro Kamado awoke.

Functional Recovery Training Arc
As the Pillars discuss what to do with Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado, Gyomei takes pity on Nezuko's form and calls her shoddy, saying it was a pity she was born into the world. Upon seeing Tanjiro's determination, he says that it is a pity how obsessed Tanjiro is and that they should kill him to release him from his suffering.

When Kagaya Ubuyashiki arrives, Gyomei kneels to greet him alongside the rest of the Pillars and is the first to speak after the Oyakata announces that he has given his approval to Tanjiro and Nezuko. Gyomei says that despite the Oyakata's wishes he was reluctant to accept the pair.

Gyomei looked on as Sanemi attempted to test Nezuko with his blood and took pity on Tanjiro, who was being restrained by Obanai Iguro for being a weak child. After Nezuko refuses to drink Sanemi's blood and Kagaya declares that the pair may leave in peace, he commences the Pillar Meeting with Gyomei also in attendance.

Demon Train Arc
Gyomei appears at the very end of the arc, where it shows him receiving the news of the Flame Pillar, Kyojuro Rengoku's, death. Gyomei is visibly saddened, tearing up, and offers up a prayer.

Pillar Training Arc
Gyomei was present at the meeting held at the Ubuyashiki Estate in the aftermath of the attack on the Swordsmith Village. He stops Sanemi Shinazugawa from getting into a fight with Giyu Tomioka over the latter's refusal to participate in the grand training of all the Demon Slayer Corps in order to find as many people who were capable of manifesting the Demon Slayer Mark as possible.

When Tanjiro Kamado and Zenitsu Agatsuma arrive at Gyomei's training camp in the mountains, they are shocked to find all the trainees, including Inosuke Hashibira meditating under a waterfall. They turn around as Gyomei greets them and are shocked to see him standing tiptoe on burning ground while balancing logs and boulders on his shoulders.

Gyomei says that the most important thing is the body's core, the limbs and that his training was geared to strengthening the limbs. He explains that his training consists of only three things: training underneath the waterfall, carrying three logs on one's shoulders and pushing a large boulder through a nearby town. Inosuke, who had passed out underneath the waterfall and been resuscitated by Tanjiro, noted that he could sense that Gyomei was the strongest Demon Slayer and Tanjiro agreed with this, stating that the Rock Pillar was the only one who had a different scent from the others.

He is later seen pushing a giant boulder, bigger than the one the trainees were to use across the mountain. The training was quite difficult but also not compulsory, which meant quite a few of the trainees quit midway, left aghast at the effort required. Genya then reveals to Tanjiro that the chant Gyomei would repeat often was in fact a series of repetitive actions designed to maximise his focus and that allowed him to pull off feats such as pushing the boulders.

Meanwhile, Gyomei looked on at the two from a distance as Genya continued to explain that while chanting, both him and Gyomei would remember their anger and painful memories which made their heart rate and temperature rise. Later on, when Tanjiro successfully completes the Rock Pillar training but is left severely dehydrated, Gyomei pours water on him to save the boy.

He then continues on and says that due to completing his training and for his actions in the Swordsmith Village of prioritising the villagers over his sister he believes Tanjiro is a true swordsman. However Tanjiro states that the choice was made by Nezuko and not himself and thus he could not accept Gyomei's acceptance and upon seeing this the Rock Pillar is left further impressed at Tanjiro's honesty.

Saying that all his doubts are now gone, Gyomei states that he has fully accepted Tanjiro regardless of what the other Pillars may say. He continues and reveals that when he was younger he raised nine orphan children in a temple and that one day one of the children broke their curfew and stayed out till after sunset, leading to the child being chased by a demon.

However, the child attempted to save himself and told the demon to eat all the children and Gyomei at the temple instead of himself, going as far as to put out the wisteria incense Gyomei would burn outside the temple at night to ward off demons. The demon snuck inside and immediately killed four of the eight children, Gyomei, who at the time was skinny and weak with a soft voice, attempted to protect the other four but three of them disobeyed his orders, believing their blind caretaker would be of no use. All three of them were also killed, leaving only the youngest, Sayo, alive as she hid behind Gyomei.

Determined to protect Sayo at all costs, Gyomei fought the demon and managed to pin it down and beat it's head in with his bare fists until dawn. He thoroughly disliked the experience of hitting another living being but persevered to protect Sayo.

As the sun finally rose the demon died and Gyomei who had lost many things that night had at least managed to protect her, however when people arrived and were shocked at the carnage, they asked Sayo what happened and said that the man was a monster who killed all the children and since the demon's corpse had disintegrated in the sun, everyone assumed she had been speaking of Gyomei and he was sentenced to death.

This was heartbreaking for Gyomei who had wanted for Sayo to be thankful to him for fighting for her, however he understood that the child would have been thoroughly confused due to all the chaos and would not have meant to unintentionally frame him. He was saved from execution due to an intervention from Kagaya Ubuyashiki and had been deeply paranoid of all people ever since, however he said that Tanjiro had now proven himself and that he would do everything he could to make Tanjiro would make no missteps in his life and pats the young Demon Slayer on the head, proud of him.

Abilities and Powers
As a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, Gyomei is a very powerful swordsman. He is stated by both Tanjiro and Inosuke Hashibira to be the strongest Demon Slayer in the entire Demon Slayer Corps. This is further given credence by Upper Moon One, Kokushibo, who noted that Gyomei's natural physical abilities have been trained to their absolute peak and also stated that in the last three hundred years, he has not encountered a warrior of Gyomei's caliber. He was able put up a fight against the strongest Upper Moon for a brief time without the use of his Demon Slayer Mark, further showing the extent of his skill.

Natural Abilities

 * Master Swordsman: Being a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, Gyomei is one of the most powerful and skilled swordsmen in the entire organization.


 * Immense Strength: Gyomei possesses immense physical strength, as shown when he uses his strength to push a large boulder bigger than him through a town. Through "Repetitive Actions", he is capable of doing a set of pre-determined movements in order to maximize concentration. Even before undergoing training as a Demon slayer, Gyomei had already possessed incredible strength despite having a weak build at the time he discovered his abilities.


 * Immense Reflexes: During their battle, Kokushibo noted that in stark contrast to Gyomei's large physical build, he possesses extremely fast and quick reflexes being able to easily move around his body to avoid all of his attacks, the Upper Moon even remarking that the ease and the grace that he moved was almost absurd to believe.


 * Immense Endurance: Gyomei possesses tremendous levels of physical endurance, able to take multiple attacks from Kokushibo, the Upper Moon One, receiving only minor injuries and continues to fight.


 * Enhanced Hearing: Gyomei has incredible hearing, being able to hear the sound of Muzan Kibutsuji's flesh regeneration during their brief confrontation. Later during his battle with Upper Moon One, Kokushibo noticed that Gyomei uses the sound of his chains rattling to tell the exact position the chain is in and uses that to guide his axe and flail during combat.


 * Crimson Red Nichirin Blade: During the battle against Kokushibo, Sanemi strikes Gyomei's spiked flail with his sword, turning both of them briefly red. Later in the battle against Muzan, Gyomei is able to turn both his spiked flail and axe red by striking them together.




 * Demon Slayer Mark: Later during his battle against Upper Moon One, Gyomei displayed that he too, has awakened his mark, appearing as cracked earth fissure like patterns on both of his forearms. When activated it drastically increases his physical and mental abilities, allowing him to fight the Upper Moon One for long a period of time.


 * See-Through World (きる): A different perspective of the world. Despite being blind, Gyomei gained the ability to see a perfect image of his enemies in his mind and sense them naturally.

Swordsmanship

 * Unique Weapon: Gyomei wields a swinging/whipping weapon similar to a kusarigama, consisting of an ono (axe) attached to a spiked flail via a long chain. To compensate for his lack of sight, Gyomei utilizes the sound of the chain to direct the motion of the axe and flail, allowing him to wield the weapon effectively. The weapon was forged from the same metals used in the creation of Nichirin Blades. Its craftsmanship in particular is noted for being incredibly high-class, and even superior to the swords forged during the Sengoku period, when swordsmithing was at the peak of development. Even the Upper Moon One, Kokushibo could not cut through the chain and was forced to instead resort to close range combat.

Breath of Stone (の):


 * First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar (ノ ・): Gyomei throws both the flail and axe towards his intended target and manipulates the chain by rotating it thus causing the axe and flail to also rotate in order to drill and grind right though his target.
 * Second Form: Upper Smash (ノ き): Gyomei throws both his axe and spiked flail for a pincer move before smashing down on the chain to cause the flail to then rebound and smash his target from afar.
 * Third Form: Igneous Reflection (ノ の): Gyomei unleashes a series of slashes with his sword deflecting nearby attacks.
 * Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock - Rapid Conquest (ノ ・) - Gyomei manipulates both the flail and axe weapons at both ends of the chain by swing the chain on both sides in order to strike his opponents using a two pronged wide ranged attack.
 * Fifth Form: Arcs of Justice (ノ) - Gyomei strikes his opponent with a simultaneous axe and iron ball barrage.

Trivia

 * Gyomei is blind, thus explaining the reason for the lack of pupils in his eyes. It is unknown whether an incident had caused him to be blind or he was born like this.
 * According to Tengen Uzui, Gyomei was one of the two people who became a Pillar only two months after becoming a Demon Slayer, the other being Muichiro Tokito.
 * It is heavily implied that the orphan who disobeyed the rules and let the Demon into the temple was Kaigaku, the future Upper Moon Six and a Breath of Thunder user.
 * Even after turning 14 years old, Sayo still wants to apologize to Gyomei for the misunderstanding.
 * Gyomei is the only Pillar who doesn't use a Nichirin Blade, instead favoring a set of chained axes.
 * "Namu Amida Butsu" also known as Nembutsu, is a chant from the Shin Buddhism. A common translation is: "I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life".
 * Gyomei cries like a hobby, and cries even when the garbage is messy. He was taught by a fellow monk.
 * Gyomei loves cats.
 * One of his hobbies is playing the shakuhachi, a type of flute.
 * Gyomei's astrological zodiac sign is a Virgo.

Quotes

 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "If I never got attacked by that Demon, I would have lived my entire life not knowing I was strong."
 * (To Kokushibo) "For example, even if the mark had not appeared, as long as you are in the Demon Slayer Corps, there is no guarantee you will live to tomorrow. Why would I cling to life at this point? No one becomes a Hashira with such half-hearted determination. That horrible insult... makes me boil with anger."

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