Tanjiro Kamado/Synopsis

Past
Tanjiro grew up on a mountain alongside his younger sister, Nezuko, the rest of his siblings, and his mother. He is the eldest son of the Kamado family. He was very loving towards his brothers and sisters and would go out of his way to care for them, and was admired for it. He was responsible for things like selling firewood in the nearest town in order to earn money for the family.

After a demon killed his family aside from Nezuko, he realized that Nezuko had become a demon. After being confronted by and proving his resolve to Giyu Tomioka, Tanjirou was guided towards the goal of becoming a demon slayer. Since then, he has traveled with his sister in order to find a way to turn her human again.

Final Selection Arc
During the Taisho Period. Tanjiro Kamado is living a modest but blissful life in the mountains with his family.

After coming home from an overnight trip selling charcoal, Tanjiro returns to find his entire family slaughtered by demons, save for his younger sister Nezuko. Tanjiro picks Nezuko up and attempting to carry her to the nearest doctor, he discovers that she has been transformed into a demon and is attacked by her.

While Tanjiro is struggling to fend off the attack from his Demon-turned sister Nezuko, Giyu attacks the latter from behind, only for his attempt to fail as the former moves his target out of the way. Recovering quickly, the swordsman asks the youth why he protects the Demon. Tanjiro tells him it is because the creature is his sister. Looking at the maddened Nezuko, Giyu questions this statement, before swiftly removing the girl from her brother's grip.

As Tanjiro called out to his sister in alarm, Giyu told him not to move, stating that it is his job to kill Demons like Nezuko. The swordsman then listens to Tanjiro's attempt to defend his sister and explain their current predicament, commenting that her change in demeanor is simple to explain: any open wound bathed in Demon blood causes that person to become a Demon themselves, thus increasing their overall numbers. Tanjiro exclaims that his sister hasn't eaten any people, Giyu reminds him of what had just transpired, shortly thereafter bluntly commenting that there is no way to cure a person once they are turned into a Demon, despite Tanjiro's plea to the contrary. As Tanjiro continues pleading, Giyu brought his sword up to Nezuko's throat.

Tanjiro then prostrates himself before the swordsman, begging for his sister's life, Giyu grew angry, stating that the youth has no authority over who lives or who dies, as he was too weak to protect his family, and that all of his talk about finding a cure for his sister's condition and finding his family's killer is ridiculous. Stating that neither he or the Demon Lords would have any respect for such a miserable display, Giyu demands that Tanjiro prove his dedication to protecting his sister by drawing his axe. As the youth pondered these words, Giyuu silently encourages him to find the resolve necessary to accomplish all of the lofty goals he had placed upon himself. He then stabs Nezuko in the chest, causing Tanjiro to throw a stone at him in fury.

Giyu blocks the stone with the hilt of his sword, avoiding another of the projectiles as Tanjiro charged at him empty-handed. Seeing the attack attempt as only a simple act of emotion, the swordsman angrily drove the hilt of his sword into his attacker's back, knocking him to the ground. Staring down at the fallen youth, Giyu wonders where his opponent's axe was. Looking up, he sees the weapon spinning towards him through the air, and narrowly dodges it. He then mused over Tanjiro's clever strategy, realizing that the youth's plan had been to take him out even though he would have perished as well. Distracted, the swordsman is attacked by Nezuko, dodging backward from her kick. Cursing himself, Giyu watches as the girl reached for her brother, certain that she was going to devour him. To his surprise, she instead stood protectively in front of his prone body, before charging at him in rage. Giyu recalled Tanjiro's previous assertion that Nezuko wouldn't eat humans, noting that somebody a long time ago had said the same thing and had been killed regardless. He further reflected on the nature of Demons, in particular, the high amount of stamina lost during the transformation process, and what they do to alleviate the lost stamina and prevent starvation: eat humans, even those closest to them. Seeing that Nezuko was not following this example, Giyu sheathed his sword, incapacitating the unusual Demon with a barehanded blow to the neck.

While Tanjiro and Nezuko were unconscious, Giyu wraps the latter in a clean cloth and straps a bamboo muzzle-like tube across her mouth. When Tanjiro regained consciousness, the swordsman instructed him to visit Urokodaki Sakonji at Mount Sagiri, and also to not take his sister out in the sun, vanishing swiftly afterwards. Before leaving the place where he grew up, Tanjirou along with Nezuko dug graves to bury their family and pray for their souls in the afterlife.

In their way, as sun had already risen, Tanjirou hid Nezuko in a small cave entrance in a mountain and went to the nearby village to try buying a broken basket and a little straw and bamboo, comically insisting to paying as the owner was willing to give them for free. Reaching the cave entrance, Tanjirou quickly assemble a basket large enough to carry her on his back, with a little help from her shrinking herself.

Near sunset, Tanjirou was told by some villager that to reach Mount Sagiri he would need to pass through a perilous mountain where people were disappearing. Unafraid, he went and on their path they encounter a way station with lights on, Tanjirou immediately smelled blood and went inside to check on possible harmed travellers. While walking in, Tanjirou and Nezuko saw a Demon with black hair and googly eyes feasting on three travelers had he just killed. When the Demon noticed them it felt something odd, but quickly jumps on Tanjirou trying to strangled him which Nezuko replied with a kick powerful enough to rip the demon's head off.

Even without a head, the Demon could still command its body to attack, while for the head it grew a pair of hands, shocking Tanjirou. As the body was furiously attacking Nezuko, Tanjirou had to double headbutt the head in order to get an opening and pinning the head to a tree nearby then helping Nezuko by tackling the body and throwing it off a cliff, almost falling together if it wasn't for his sister's help. However, this did not result in the Demon's death, although losing its body caused it excruciating pain.

Tanjirou realized the demon pinned in front of him smells different from the one he sensed in their house. Holding his knife, and deciding whether to kill the Demon or not, the hand of a figure using a Tengu mask touches his shoulder stating he would be unable to do so with such a blunt weapon. Tankirou quetioned the man how to kill a demon properly, only to be told that he would need to figure it out himself. For the man's disapointment, Tanjirou was too compassionate and overthinking, failing to kill the Demon before dawn, accidentally letting the Demon perish by the sun's first rays instead. After the Demon's death, Tanjirou noticed the man was already giving a proper burial to the Demon's victims.

The Tengu masked man introduced himself as Urokodaki Sakonji and ask if Tanjirou is the one Giyu spoke of in his letter, which the former confirmed. Urokodaki followed by scolding Tanjirou for his slowness on taking decisions, even slapping him when Tanjirou hesitated to reply what he would do if his sister decided to feast upon a human and stating he lacked resolution. He also stressed that Tanjirou must not allow his sister to harm another human under any circumstance, which he answered with conviction to Urokodaki who agrees to test him to see if he is worthy of becoming a Demon Slayer, telling Tanjirou to bring his sister and follow him.

On their path, Tanjirou who was carrying Nezuko on his back felt short-winded rapidly, while Urokodaki who seems much older than him not only was keeping an extreme fast pace as his steps were soundless. Glimpses of Tanjirou's past striked his mind, as they arrived to Urokodaki's house. All worn-out, Tanjirou questioned if he had passed the test, which Urokodaki replied the test would begin in that moment where they would have to start climbing a mountain.

Air was getting thin, and thick fog started covering their sight. When they reached the top of the mountain, Tanjirou was dizzy and feeling his legs weak, Urokodaki told him to climb down to the house at the foot of the moutain by dawn, vanishing in the fog afterwards. Tanjirou was very confident on his sense of smell to make his way back as he had memorized Urokodaki's scent, but he did not count with several traps set, including tripwire triggering rock throwers aiming at his face and body and wood trunks ramming at his back, and also covered pits. Tanjirou noticed he was running out of air quickly due the mountain had air thinner than the one he once lived, and he pushed himself to better control his breath while learning to evade the traps. A heavily exhausted and injured Tanjirou managed to reached the house before dawn. Urokodaki confirmed Tanjirou had passed the test and accepted him as his student.

Sakonji explained his profession as a Cultivator to Tanjirou, as well as how to join the Demon Slaying Corps: surviving the Final Selection. To prepare him for this trial, and to see if he would be worthy of even being able to participate in it, Sakonji begun to train Tanjirou in the way of the sword.

Natagumo Mountain Arc
Their next destination is to the north-northwest. Tanjiro and Nezuko head towards Mount Natagumo with Zenitsu and Inosuke. This mountain is covered with spider webs and is swarming with innumerable spiders. Leaving the cowering Zenitsu behind, Tanjiro and Inosuke head up the mountain where they run into fellow Demon Slayers entangled in spider webs.

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Танджиро Камадо