Gyomei Himejima/Synopsis

History
Gyomei was born blind in the Himejima clan on Mount Hinode. Due to unknown circumstances, he lost his family.

When he was a late teenager, he lived with nine children who were orphans and raised them in a rundown temple. He lived a poor but happy life. Their affinity in having no blood connection helped them bond very well. They were like a family. Every day, he would work his hardest in order to feed the children and he himself would barely eat anything. Due to this, he was very skinny and weak.

The area of the temple was well known for demon attacks so Gyomei had always burned Wisteria Incense at night 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 betrayed his companions. 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 and were killed by the demon as well. Gyomei believed that his frail stature and blindness fuelled the distrust the children had in his ability to protect them.

In the end, only one child, Sayo, the youngest, had listened and hid behind him. He was determined to protect her at all cost and fought against the demon mercilessly after realizing he had a "frightening amount of power". Without the demon's attack, he would have lived his life without knowing his true strength. 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 is a monster! Everyone... he... killed everyone!" the villagers thought she meant Gyomei and not the demon. He was then imprisoned and charged with the murder of the seven children till Kagaya Ubuyashiki 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 Hashira. He would go on to slay the demon who killed Kanae and Shinobu Kocho's parents. The sisters stayed with Gyomei for several days, and despite their insistence on learning how to slay demons, Gyomei refused to teach them how to do so. He is at last convinced to introduce them to breathing style cultivators (albeit two different ones) after they manage to move a large boulder.

Mount Natagumo Arc
Gyomei was present with the other Hashira when Tanjiro Kamado awoke.

Rehabilitation Training Arc
As the Hashira 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 hearing 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 Hashira 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. He is shocked as his leader revealed that Tanjiro had come into contact with Muzan Kibutsuji. He and his fellow Hashira are then halted from even more debating by a simple gesture from their leader, with the Stone Hashira remaining silent as Kagaya explains more of his reasoning for pardoning Tanjiro and Nezuko.

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 Hashira Meeting with Gyomei also in attendance.

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

Hashira 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 Hashira 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 maximize 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 Hashira 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 Stone Hashira 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 Hashira 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 its 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.

Infinity Castle Arc
As he hurried to the Ubuyashiki residence, Sanemi thought back to when the Hashira held another meeting amongst themselves, with Sanemi declaring that they should have at least two Hashira guarding the Oyakata at all times and asked Gyomei if he could do something to make that possible.

The Stone Hashira had responded by saying this was impossible, going on to tell the others that he became a Hashira when he was nineteen years old and had been asking the Oyakata about this exact matter for eight years straight. Each time, he adamantly refused by saying someone as strong as a Hashira should not be wasted on him.

After the Ubuyashiki residence explodes, Gyomei is there to provide backup to Tamayo after she successfully injects Muzan Kibutsuji with her medicine and cleaves the Demon's head clean off. Gyomei mournfully remembers the first time he met Kagaya, when he had been but eighteen years old and the Oyakata fourteen, as Kagaya told him that he knew Gyomei was not a murderer but had fought to protect the other children at his monastery. He then remembers when the Oyakata requested that he be used as a decoy to allow Gyomei to behead Muzan, also telling the Stone Hashira that he believed the sun was the only way to defeat the Demon.

As Muzan regenerates his head and uses Blood Demon Art: Black Blood, Brambles to attack Gyomei, the Stone Hashira counters with a Stone Breathing, Third Form: Stone Skin to protect himself. He is then transported inside the Infinity Castle alongside the other Demon Slayers.

Inside the Infinity Castle, Gyomei is alongside Muichiro Tokito at first and the both of them slice through a myriad of weaker demons with ease. After being prodded by the Mist Hashira, Gyomei confirms that Kagaya had intended to use himself as bait after his illness had worsened to its final stages, showing great rage at the passing of the Oyakata. While Shinobu Kocho fought with Doma she remembered the time when she and her sister, Kanae Kocho had been saved from a demon by Gyomei.