Hinokami Kagura

Hinokami Kagura (ヒノカミ) is a Breathing Style only known and taught by the Kamado family, later revealed to be the first Breathing Style, Sun Breathing (の).

Description
The Hinokami Kagura is a Breathing Style that is passed on from father to son in every generation alongside the Hanafuda earrings. The Kamado family uses the breathing style within a ritual ceremony practiced every new year, where the Breathing Style user offers the Fire God a dance from sunset to sunrise to ward off threats and diseases.

The dance is composed of twelve segments repeated throughout the night. The last user is Tanjiro Kamado, who learned the breathing style from his father, Tanjuro Kamado. Other people can learn this technique if taught by a Kamado descendant.

The Hinokami Kagura is later revealed by Shinjuro Rengoku to be a legendary Breathing Style known as Sun Breathing (の), a legendary and forgotten Breathing Style and the first one to ever be created. All other Breathing Styles are derived from it as the result of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the creator of Sun Breathing, modifying it to suit the individuals he taught.

Both the Hinokami Kagura and Sun Breathing are Breathing Styles that mimics the sun and replicates it with the user's movements, techniques and abilities. All techniques and forms are extremely varied and have no set pattern, making it the most versatile and effective against Demons. The Hinokami Kagura/Sun Breathing can also slightly hamper a Demon's regenerative abilities and make their wounds feel as if it was burning. Users that have mastered Sun Breathing visualize themselves seemingly manipulating solar flames when unleashing its techniques. Tanjiro Kamado also noted that using this style increases his overall power and speed, probably due to the fact that his body is more suited to Sun Breathing as opposed to Water Breathing.

Known Techniques
Sun Breathing was initially created with 12 techniques all connected to one another by Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Later upon meeting Muzan Kibutsuji, Yoriichi perfected his swordsmanship form, creating a new Thirteenth Form.


 * Dance - The user delivers a single high-powered vertical slash.
 * Dancing Flash - A modified version of Dance developed and utilized only by Tanjiro Kamado. The user infuses the Thunderclap and Flash technique of Thunder Breathing into the high-powered slash of Dance by inhaling huge amounts of oxygen, increasing the pumping of blood through the entire body, focusing it on the legs, and releasing it all to assault the target with a slash. This technique was capable of outspeeding Genya Shinazugawa, Nezuko Kamado, as well as the fleeing Hantengu. This technique is said to be slower than Zenitsu Agatsuma's Thunderclap and Flash.


 * Clear Blue Sky (の) - The user spins their body vertically to deliver a 360° slash.


 * Raging Sun - The user unleashes two horizontal slashes to hit or defend from incoming attacks.


 * Burning Bones, Summer Sun - The user unleashes a large circular slash that defends from imminent frontal attacks.


 * Setting Sun Transformation The user backflips into the air to deliver a powerful upended sword slash.


 * Solar Heat Haze - The user charges towards the target, unleashing a horizontal slash seemingly covered in haze that fails to land, but actually does hit the target.


 * Beneficent Radiance - The user spirals into the air and delivers a powerful slash that surrounds the enemy.


 * Sunflower Thrust - The user unleashes a single thrust attack with the point of the blade.


 * Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance (の・い) - The user unleashes a continuous fast and powerful sword attack that seemingly takes the form of a Japanese dragon made of solar flames. This technique is capable of decapitating multiple enemies at once.


 * Fire Wheel - The user leaps behind the opponent and spins in the air downward, releasing a sword attack in a circular motion.


 * Fake Rainbow - The user performs high-speed twists and rotations, thus creating afterimages used mostly to evade attacks. The afterimages work most effectively on enemies with good vision.


 * Flame Dance - A two-combo strike which starts with a vertical slash and then a horizontal one right after.


 * Thirteenth Form (ノ) - The user continuously performs all twelve forms of Sun Breathing in repetitive succession to increase the accuracy and agility of his movements while reducing fatigue. This form was created solely for the purpose of killing Muzan, since the repetition of all twelve forms aims to destroy Muzan's twelve vital organs (seven hearts and five brains) that move freely inside his body thanks to his shape-shifting ability.

Game Exclusive Techniques

 * Cross Slash - The user ignites their sword with solar flames and releases two arching flame slashes before delivering a forward "X" shaped slice to their opponent.


 * Scorching Rush - The user rushes forward at blinding speeds with a flaming sword and performs a 5-move combo as follows: a low-ended strike, a spinning wave attack, a powerful forward thrust, an upward slash and finally a downward slash.

Demonstrations

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Trivia

 * The passing of the Sun Breathing as a Kagura draws heavily from Japanese mythology. In Japanese folklore, famous tales in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki explain that the Kagura ritual originates when Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, retreated into a cave, plunging the world into darkness. In response, Ame-no-Uzume, goddess of revelry and of dawn, danced outside the cave to entice the sun goddess out. From these events, the Kagura was born, a ritualistic dance that honors Kami (Gods and ancestral spirits). Likewise, the Sun Breathing was disguised as a Kagura and passed down as the Hinokami Kagura.
 * After Tanjiro had witnessed Yoriichi perform all thirteen Sun Breathing forms through Sumiyoshi’s memories, he noted his own current Hinokami Kagura forms contained wasted movements, then proceeding to try and fix those once he resumed battle, as such Tanjiro only starts naming his attacks as Sun Breathing thereafter, which showed that the Kagura moves weren’t as strong as they should be before Tanjiro actually saw Sun Breathing in its purest form.
 * The kanji for "sun" has the same pronunciation as the kanji for "fire".
 * Another god of fire in Japanese mythology is the Sanbo-Kojin, sometimes referred to as the Kamado-gami (竃神). Sanbo-Kojin is sometimes identified as an incarnation of the demon-slaying Acala, and thus related to Vairocana (also called Dainichi Nyorai whose worship is related to sun-worship.
 * According to the second fanbook the Kamado family has preserved the Hinokami Kagura as a ceremonial practice all the way to present times, Tanjiro’s great-great-grandchildren, Sumihiko and Kanata, are practitioners of it.