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 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 been transformed into a demon. After being confronted by and proving his resolve to Giyu Tomioka, Tanjirou was guided towards his 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, Tanjiro 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, Tanjiro 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, Tanjiro quickly assemble a basket large enough to carry her on his back, with a little help from her shrinking herself.

Near sunset, Tanjiro 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, Tanjiro immediately smelled blood and went inside to check on possible harmed travellers. While walking in, Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro. As the body was furiously attacking Nezuko, Tanjiro 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.

Tanjiro 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. Tanjiro questioned 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, Tanjiro 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, Tanjiro 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 he is the one Giyu spoke of in his letter, which Tanjiro confirmed. Urokodaki followed by scolding Tanjiro for his slowness on taking decisions, even slapping him when Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro to bring his sister and follow him.

On their path, Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro's past striked his mind, as they arrived to Urokodaki's house. All worn-out, Tanjiro 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, Tanjiro 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. Tanjiro 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 and ramming wood trunks, and also covered pits. Tanjiro 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 Tanjiro managed to reached the house before dawn. Urokodaki confirmed Tanjiro had passed the test and accepted him as his student.

Urokodaki explained his profession as a Cultivator to Tanjiro, as well as how to join the Demon Slaying Corps: surviving the Final Selection held at Mount Fujikasane. To prepare him for this trial, and to see if he would be worthy of even being able to participate in it, Urokodaki began to train Tanjiro in the way of the sword. Tanjiro's training consisted in regimens focusing to train different skills a Corps swordsman should have. For endurance, he would have to make his way up the mountain and down back on daily basis improving his evasion on traps and sharpening his nose, while Urokodaki slowly increased the traps danger to deadly levels, even making Tanjiro think he wanted to kill him. For swordmanship, Urokodaki started making he perform the same process as before, but Tanjiro would be carrying a katana for him to start thinking of it as part of his own body. After descending the mountain, Tanjiro would stand at the foot of the mountain and swinging his sword several times until he felt his arms would fall off. Next, Tanjiro learned from Urokodaki about the intricacies of the weapon and the forces behind it as he started slashing bamboo poles to train aiming and precision, Urokodaki even threatened him saying his bones would be broken if Tanjiro broke the sword. For combat practice, Tanjiro learned how to break the fall and get up quickly while with his katana sparring with Urokodaki unarmed, feeling his teacher is indeed ridiculously strong. And lastly for breathing, Tanjiro would learn how to breath properly and some standard forms, being hit in the stomach when he fails to get it right.

At some point after the training had begun, Nezuko fell into an endless slumber worrying Tanjiro deeply. Urokodaki even try calling a doctor, but without any luck finding what could be wrong with her. Tanjiro had the feeling any day he woke up, his sister would be dead.

Finally, after a year has passed, Urokodaki told Tanjiro that there was nothing left to teach him, instructing him to prove himself by improving the basics he has been taught. He was lead to a huge boulder by Urokodaki, telling Tanjiro that if he can split it in half with his sword, he would be permitted to go to the Final Selection. While Tanjiro hesitated, overcame by doubt, regarding his sword breaking Urokodaki was already leaving without a word, his hand in the boy's training completed. Tanjiro started training by his own harder and harder for half a year, still getting no success on his task and thinking his skills weren't enough. One day, in front of the boulder while headbutting it in desperation a shout for silence is heard by Tanjiro.

A boy with a Fox mask appeared on the top of the boulder scolding Tanjiro for his whinning. Tanjiro didn't know where he came from neither sense his smell while the boy proceeded by attacking Tanjiro with his wooden sword which the latter defended using the hilt. After putting some fight, Tanjiro got knocked prone and was insulted by the boy. In a rude manner, the boy implied he would train with Tanjiro who even got worried about the boy having a wooden sword while he was wielding a real one, only to be laughed at for his needless concern. While the boy was heavily pounding Tanjirou down, he told a huge boulder was already split by him and also that Tanjiro didn't understood the Breathing Technique taught by Urokodaki in its whole. Tanjiro felt sorry for himself only to be scolded again about be a man and make yourself progress regardless of previous failures, the boy proceeded to deliver that day's last blow as Tanjiro passed out.

A girl with a Fox mask was sitting next to him as he woke up. She wanted to know if he was alright, but he was too impressive by the Fox masked boy's combat skills. The girl proceeded assuring Tanjiro she would watch over him, in order to improve his techniques. She also clarified her name was Makomo and the boy's name was Sabito. She spent some time pointing out the defects and also correcting the unecessary movements in Tanjiro's techniques. Tanjiro came to know by Makomo that she and Sabito are not siblings and they were raised by Urokodaki, along with other children whom she implied had been watching over Tanjiro as well. Makomo instructed Tanjiro about concept of the Total Concentration Breathing Technique, by expanding your lungs and bringing a lot of air to your bloodstream, temperature shoots up and heartbeat accelerates as one become as strong as a demon.

Six months had passed, Tanjiro learned with Makomo how to smell out an opening thread that goes from the his blade to a spot in his opponent, once he can see this thread a slash can be made perfectly. At same time, Tanjiro continued sparring with Sabito to improve what he had learned. Until one day, a long haired Tanjiro faced Sabito who held a real sword that time in the simplest contest, the faster blade would win. For the first time ever, Tanjiro's blade reached Sabito's mask splitting it in half. Sabito's face appeared holding a sad smile, maybe proud and reassuring as felt by Tanjiro. Suddenly, Makomo and Sabito disappeared as Tanjiro realized he had not splitted the mask, but the huge boulder instead.

Tanjiro was praised by Urokodaki while also being told that his teacher did not want he would go to the Final Selection and had another of his children killed. Tanjiro cried as they hug and Urokodaki urged him to come back alive. Urokodaki cut Tanjiro's hair and also gave him a white mask ressembling a Fox with a sun symbol in the same place Tanjiro have his mark, to ward evil off. While leaving, Tanjiro told Urokodaki to give his best to Makomo and Sabito, surprising Urokodaki the fact his student knew the names if his long dead students.

Tanjiro arrived at Mount Fujikasane and gathered around with the other contestants. A little boy with black hair and a little girl with white hair walked in and explained that Demons hate Wisteria flower which grow abundantly until that area out of season. However, from that point on there were no more Wisteria and Demons captured by the Corps roamed free. Their trial was very straight forward, survive seven days there. With determination, Tanjiro and the other marched ahead.

Two Demons started assaulting Tanjiro, he quickly smelled the thread while avoiding their advances and seizing the opportunity to decapitate both in a single strike. Urokodaki had bestowed Tanjiro with a special sword called the Nichirin Blade, which at the decapitation of the demon crumbles the corpse, preventing it from regenerate. Tanjiro smelled a rotten scent when praying for souls of the Demons he had just killed. Coming closer to the center of the scent, Tanjiro found a contestant running away from a Demon with several hands swirled over its body. The Demon had tried to kill the contestant, but Tanjiro pushing himself to act, saved the boy when the Demon recognized him as an Urokodaki student by his mask pattern: The Fox.

The Demon questioned Tanjiro regarding current affairs to estabilish in which period of time he was, upon discovering 47 years have passed since his capture by the hands of Urokodaki during his time in the Demon Killing Corps on the Edo Period, the Demon got furious. The contestant refuted such fact stating no Demon there should be that old, which the Demon replied he not only survived, but he had killed 50 people in his life, 13 were Urokodaki students including Sabito and Makomo per his description of them as being the most notable ones, and implied Tanjiro would be the 14th. Tanjiro recalled Urokodaki teaching him that the strenght level of a Demon is proportional to the number of humans he had eaten. Tanjiro noted his sense of smell had developed to the point he can detect the strength level of a Demon by its decaying scent, explaining the rotten smell felt before.

Tanjirou breathed heavily as the Demon started describing how it killed both Sabito and Makomo. In an angry response, Tanjirou charged at the Demon slicing several of his arms, but was hit by a hook punch on his ribcage and thrown in the nearby tree, hitting his head and fainting. Tanjirou heard a call to awake from one of his deceased brothers while unconscious, in the nick of time waking up and dodging the Demon's onslaught. Shortly retaliating, cutting more arms from the Demon when Tanjirou realized no matter how many arms he cut, more would grown. Tanjirou suddenly leapt very high in response of smelling the Demon's hands underground. While in midair, the Demon tried to take advantage and strike him down, but Tanjirou in a very improvised way headbutt the punch, forward rolling and positioning himself in strike range for the Demon's head.

Tanjirou used the Water Breathing: First Form and decapitated the Demon. And contrary to the Demon's belief that Tanjirou would disdain its existence, he felt sorrow holding the hand of the Demon while its corpse crumbled and prayed for God does not let it become a Demon again when it reincarnates. Tanjiro thought for himself that all children under Urokodaki side who died could be at ease now.

On the morning of the seventh day, Tanjirou and 3 other contestants were congratulated for having survived the trial. One fellow contestant seemed totally unaware, the other was still scared about the trial he had just passed and the last one questioned about when they would get the blades. It was explained that they would have to pay a fee for the uniform costs, get their bodies measured and also the ranking system ranging from 1st to 10th, which they were the lowest: 10th. Also, they would chose a chunk of Tamahagane alloy which forging the blade with it would take 10 to 15 days, and Kasugaigarasu would follow the new Demon Hunters at all time for communication purposes. When the last was said, a crow landed on Tanjirou's shoulder. There was a stress when the contestant who was anxious for the blades didn't want to wait and in a rage hit the person explaining the procedures to them. Prompting Tanjirou to held him and asking him to calm down, which he didn't and Tanjirou broke his arm in the process. After that, each one chose an alloy for its Nichirin Blade to be forged.

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