Daki

Daki is one of the primary antagonists in the Entertainment District Arc of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. She is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, being the secondary holder of the position of Upper Rank Six (の), a position she shares with the primary holder, her older brother, Gyutaro.

Appearance
Daki is a tall, curvaceous, pale-skinned, and slender woman with lime green eyes and long eyelashes. Her hair is white with a lime green ombre at the bottom and is styled in a full, long ponytail and with kanzashi hairpins (three on each side) holding up the ponytail. The kanji for "Upper Rank" is engraved in Daki's left eye and the kanji for "Six" is engraved in the other. When not disguised as a Oiran, she sports a pink flower-like demon crest on her face, and wears a two-piece version of her kimono consisting of magenta pink panties tied by long, black bows on the sides and with two magenta pieces of cloth that cover her chest. She has magenta thigh-high stockings with black flower patterns and tall three-legged sanmaiba/koma-geta or mitsu-ashi shoes. After her Obi sashes returns to her, black cracks appear on various parts of her body and Daki's hair shifts from black to pale white (pale white with lime green tips in the anime), matching her original hair color when she was human. When her elder brother Gyutaro awakens, he implants his left eye into Daki's forehead upside-down, creating black ink-like markings (similar to the markings covering Gyutaro's body) around the eye as well.

Under her disguise as an Oiran, she appears to abide to the characteristics of the oiran/tayū, her hair being the typical date-hyōgo style having numerous Ōgi bira kanzashi hairpins both decorating and supporting it as well as wearing traditional makeup. Daki also possesses a multi-colored eye, with the top half in a terracotta orange color and the bottom half in a lime green color with a black spear-like pattern in place of pupils. She also wore a large pure-white haori with black five-faced pentagonal shaped patterns near the cuffs and hem, with a dark magenta-colored Susohiki/Hikizuri (trailing skirt) kimono and a purple juban under all of it, keeping fragments of her Blood Demon Art as her Obi.

Before she turned into a demon, Daki was a young girl with long, disheveled white hair with messy bangs along with dark lipstick. She wore a torn, light kimono with an irregular square patterns with a horizontal lines across it. She was described to be so pretty that her beauty can make adults falter.

Personality


Daki is a very prideful, dimissive, and sadistic person, taking enjoyment in toying with her victims before killing them and not showing the slightest bit of guilt or remorse for apathetically taking the lives of people. Daki also seems to think very highly of herself, dismissing all non-Hashira Demon Slayers as not worth her time, and getting incensed when Tanjiro Kamado spoke to her, presumably because she looks down on him. This is also shown when Daki says that she might spare Tanjiro if he tells her how many Demon Slayers are present in the Entertainment District, and when Daki openly expresses how slow the Demon Slayer's techniques are and her boredom, further exemplying her arrogant and dismissive personality.



As a courtesan, she seems to have a seductive side as seen during her typical interactions with her male clienteles. Despite being hundreds of years old, she has displayed childish and brattish tendencies such as throwing tantrums, crying hysterically when things don't go her way, and lashing out against anyone to vent her frustrations. Daki was openly aggressive and both verbally and physically abusive towards anybody that displeased her in any form. Daki had a certain number of habits that were well recorded in history, in particular her use of the word "Hime" at the end of any of the identities she assumed. She also had a habit of angling her head to the sides and glaring at others while sitting when criticized. As an oiran, Daki was extremely cruel and wicked, pulling on a young girl's ear because she didn't clean up her room and punching Zenitsu Agatsuma for merely touching her.

Daki displayed a spoiled and bratty demeanour that bordered on sociopathy, harassing many of her fellow workers to the point of suicide, purely because they annoyed or retorted her, all the while showing no traces of guilt and in fact deflect the blame on her victims for offending her. She was so proudful that she had no respect for anybody, not even her house owners, rubbing on their faces that she was their central source of income as both a way to display her status and halt their objections towards her. She was so drunk on her standing and infamously violent tendencies that some house masters had to resort to bowing their heads in order to calm her angry outbursts, to which she responded by putting up a corrected, more polite and affable stance. Nonetheless for all her faults, she was an exceptionally skilled courtesan whose many identities had always earned great fame and significant earnings.



Daki has shown to have exceedingly childish and aggressive tendencies, potentially due to her young age prior to being transformed into a demon. This was shown when she threw a tantrum and cried when she got beheaded by Tengen Uzui, showing her childish temperament and whining incessantly while spewing threats at the Hashira.

As seen during her fight against Nezuko, Daki also suffers from a certain level of Pyrophobia. Due to her having been burned alive at the age of 13 in her human life, Daki has shown to have a deep psychological fear of flames. Having been shown to scream hysterically after she was set on fire by Nezuko's Blood Demon Art due to the experience having brought back that painful trauma to her.

In stark contrast to her bossy, hostile, dominating and violent exterior, Daki was fanatically loyal to Muzan, bowing her head immediately and speaking in a considerably meeker voice tone while being both visibly terrified and mesmerized by his presence. This was well known to him to the point he actively honey-laced his words towards her in order to easily motivate and direct her actions, despite the fact he thought badly of her abilities in comparison to her brother.

She seems to have a somewhat caring relationship with her brother, Gyutaro, though she has been seen insulting and ridiculing him when they both fail, showing that despite her love for her brother, she isn't above ranting and lashing out at him, as shown when she spoke cruelly of him upon their defeat, even insulting his appearance and viciously claiming that he couldn't possibly be her brother.



However, underneath her spoiled attitude towards her brother, Daki is shown to possess a strong genuine love for him, as seen during her time in Limbo, where despite Gyutaro attempting to sever ties with her and try to send her to heaven, Ume stubbornly refuses to abandon her brother, even if it meant going to hell together with him. Having tearfully reminded him that no matter what happened to them, they were at their strongest together and promised that no matter how many times she died and was reborn, she would always be his little sister.

It was noted by Gyutaro that as a human she possessed an easily influenced, honest personality, causing her to easily take up the personality traits and words of those she trusts and admired to heart, as evidenced by Muzan's manipulation. Her brother Gyutaro himself believes that the sole reason why she is like she is now was due to her being raised by him to be selfish and to only worry and care about herself due to taking to heart his words of "take before you're taken from", resulting in her current personality.

Human Life
Daki was born over a century ago with the birth name of "Ume" in the Entertainment District's Kirimise/Rashomongasi (Lowest Caste) area, where only sick prostitutes, geishas and oirans who could no longer work in the brothels were sent and left to die. Her birth mother was a prostitute there, having given birth to her elder brother a few years before. Her biological father is never mentioned, but was likely one of her mother's customers. Her brother noted their mother to be severely mentally unstable (most likely due to the district's extremely harsh and poor living conditions), having attempted to kill herself and her son numerous times as well through possible miscarriage. She also physically abused him due to not having the finances to keep him fed, forcing him to fend for himself. When Ume was born, their mother hated her due to her hair color and eyes and would try and kill her. One day, their mother tried to cut Ume’s hair off with a razor, but Gyutaro became enraged and went on a rampage. This lead to their mother distancing herself from them. Ume was primarily raised by her elder brother until her early teen years, when her mother passed away from the disease Ume, the same sickness she was then named after.

Gyutaro noted that, even as a young child, Ume had an incredibly beautiful face that even grown men and women would falter from looking at. She was so beautiful that if she smiled, she would be given things; leading to the nickname Shiraume. This gave him hope that the both of them could rise from poverty and be able to lead a better life by being scouted and eventually recruited to work in one of the most prestigious Brothels of the district. And just as he had hoped, Ume, in her early teen years, was finally chosen to work in one of the Entertainment District's High Class Brothels. She began receiving proper education, taught the proper skills and fed the finest foods in her training to become a Oiran, and even before her training was even completed, Ume had already begun making a fortune by attracting many suitors and customers to the brothel, due to her beauty. At the same time, her elder brother began working as her "Collector" and would collect money and debts owed to the brothel.



However, this all came to an end when Ume poked out the eye of a samurai, a customer of hers, when he insulted her brother while her brother was away collecting debts. In retaliation to this, she was bound, burned alive and left to die in a ditch. Barely clinging to life, she was then discovered by her brother, who began to hysterically panic upon seeing her near-death state. They were then discovered by the same samurai she blinded, accompanied by the Manager of the House she worked in. The two attempted to kill both Ume and Gyutaro, only to be killed by her brother instead, who then picked up his sister’s charred body and carried her around town in search of help. His struggle turned out to be in vain, as he came to the realization that no one would help them.

As Gyutaro collapsed from exhaustion and fatigue from his severe wounds, Doma, who was Upper Rank Six at the time, happened upon the siblings while wandering the district in search of beautiful Geishas to devour. Taking pity on them, he offered to help the pair by turning them into demons, claiming that it was because he was a "nice guy". He then challenged them to become strong enough to be chosen by Muzan Kibutsuji and join the Twelve Kizuki alongside himself.

Demon Life
As a demon, Daki continued her work in Yoshiwara, at least dating back to the Edo Era. She had gained a reputation for both her beauty and cruelty, such that senile elders remembered her ill-temper and demanded for "hime" (meaning "princess") to be added to her name. In an effort to disguise her identity as a demon, she held different names over the years such as Yatamahime and changed to new houses every decade. But nonetheless, stories sprout about Oirans who were beautiful and cruel, had "hime" at the end of their name and slanted their head to the side when angered, all concerning Daki.



At some point, she fought, killed and ate seven Hashira. In her latest disguise, she became a member of the Kyogoku House and held the name Warabihime. She became an Oiran and was known as the main source of the house's success. Despite this, her cruel nature became apparent and most of the staff greatly feared her. Her violent reputation was cause for several girls to commit Ashinuke. Some prostitutes got hurt for annoying her and others even committed suicide over her excessive bullying.



Two days before Tanjiro Kamado and company infiltrated the Entertainment District, Daki was confronted by Omitsu, the manager of the Kyogoku House, over her abuseful treatment of the staff. When the hostess revealed her knowledge of Daki's past and extended lifespan, the Upper Rank seized her. Carrying her far above the district, Daki mocked Omitsu for her stupidity, labeled her as inedible, and dropped her to her death. Returning to her room, Daki was surprised to see Muzan Kibutsuji. Bowing to her master, she listened as he praised her for her new-found strength, cautioned her against getting careless, and stated his high hopes for her as a special demon. Presumably during the same meeting, Daki is embraced in Muzan's arms as the Demon King tells her to hunt down and kill Nezuko Kamado, a demon that has escaped his control just like Tamayo.

Abilities


Overall Abilities: As an Upper Rank demon, Daki is very powerful, having been personally acknowledged by Muzan himself as being a "special demon". It has been noted that Daki was able to kill and eat seven Hashira in the past, further exemplifying her strength. Her flesh detachment in the form of an sentient Obi sash was strong enough to hold off the combined efforts of Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, Makio and Suma, the former two being seasoned Demon Slayers while the latter two being kunoichi with shinobi training. Meanwhile, a weaker Daki was already a hand full for Tanjiro Kamado who had begun to actively use the Hinokami Kagura in combat.

After her sentient flesh Obi spread across the entire city returns to her, Daki's power dramtically increases, so much so that her speed in this form was incomparable from before. In this form, her sashes also become more durable, allowing them to slice Nezuko Kamado's body in half and destroy buildings with ease. Furthermore, once Gyutaro's eye is implanted in her, Daki's power is amplified once again, giving her improved speed and reflexes that can outclass the likes of Zenitsu's Thunderclap and Flash technique. This also allows Daki to coordinate her attacks with her brother, drastically increasing their offensive output and easily turning the tables against the combined efforts of Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and even Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira.

Extrasensory Perception: Daki has the ability to share her senses and mind with her elder brother, and also allow him to control her body by implanting one of his eyes into her forehead. Through this eye, she can send him logistical information through this link in order for them to better coordinate their attacks. Furthermore, through her sentient Obi sashes, Daki can gain information from multiple places at once, even being able to telepathically communicate with it. As her Obi sashes were able to tell that Tengen was a Hashira from his presence alone, it can be assumed Daki can do so as well.

Hair Manipulation: Daki possesses the ability to manipulate her own hair, possibly as an extension of her shapeshifting and flesh manipulation abilities. She briefly displayed this when she shifted her hair color from white to black and even turning it into a weapon as she attempted to attack Inosuke by wrapping her hair around his arms after he successfully decapitated her and took her head from her body to prevent her from reattaching it.



Immense Regeneration: As an Upper Rank demon, Daki possesses advanced regenerative abilities, easily regrowing her severed Obi sashes after they were cut off and later regenerated her leg after it was torn off by Tanjiro. She could also recover from Nezuko's powerful kicks that destroyed her head and pierced her torso within seconds. Daki also displayed the ability to heal from Nezuko's pyrokinetic Blood Demon Art that can slow down the regeneration of demons. Later, she was also shown to be able to easily reattach her severed head despite being repeatedly decapitated by Tengen and Inosuke.

Immense Speed & Reflexes: Daki is extremely fast, shown when she could effortlessly keep up with Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura techniques to the point she remarked that it was boring. Like all Upper Rank demons, Daki can move so fast that she appears to teleport. After she becomes whole with her dispered Obi sashes, Daki's speed increases drastically, such that it was incomparable from before. Her speed increases even more after Gyutaro awakens, allowing her to keep up with Zenitsu's Thunderclap and Flash technique and successfully react to Tengen's explosives.



Immense Strength: As an Upper Rank demon who harbors an extremely high concentration of Muzan Kibutsuji's blood, Daki possesses incredible physical strength. This is shown when she punched Zenitsu through two rooms effortlessly, made a hole in a roof by hitting it with her bare hands and nearly tore off a young girl's ear. Daki could also lift up an elderly woman without any trouble.

Keen Intellect: Daki possesses above average levels of intellect. She was able to lure and trap courtesans for over a century without being caught, and was able to effectively blend in with all the other inhabitants in Yoshiwara without being noticed by Tengen, who possesses extremely sharp senses. As an Oiran, Daki would also have had received a lot of education to climb to her position. Furthermore, Daki was able to tell that Zenitsu was a non-Hashira level Demon Slayer after hitting him once.

Restricted Flight: Daki briefly displayed the ability to levitate in the air though unknown means, though it is implied that her sashes have a part to play in it.

Shared Biology: Gyutaro and Daki possess a rather abnormal trait not seen in most demons. Despite the fact the siblings are two different people, the two have essentially a single body. This can be seen with how Gyutaro normally remains concealed within Daki without altering her physical mass in the slightiest. Even though Gyutaro is inactive for the majority of the time, he is still more powerful than his sister who is an active predator. This implies that humans consumed by Daki also serve as nutrition for Gyutaro, allowing the two to grow stronger at the same time. Gyutaro also has control over his sister, being capable of not only retaching her head for her, but also healing her burnt tissue for her when she was under emotional distress.
 * Decapitation Immunity: Daki has a unique immunity to decapitation by Nichirin Swords thanks to her connection with Gyutaro, whether it be when he is "sleeping" inside of her or when his "core" is implanted inside of her body. This is showcased when, despite being repeatedly decapitated by Tengen and Inosuke, Daki's body showed absolutely no signs of disintegration. As the Demon Slayers quickly realize, the only way to bypass this immunity is if Gyutaro himself is simultaneously decapitated alongside her.

Skilled Courtesan: Daki has unparalleled skills as a courtesan, with her many identities being well known through the Entertainment District's history which brought great fortunes to houses that hosted her. She in turn used her elevated status to get away with many of her abusive practices.

Unlimited Stamina & Endurance: Like all demons, Daki has infinite stamina and endurance. This was mainly displayed when she barely flinched and continued fighting nonchalantly when her Obi sashes, which are extensions of her own body, were cut by the Demon Slayers, with the exception of Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura techniques. Furthermore, Daki never showed any signs of pain or agony despite getting her head sliced off.

As seen from her brother's memories, Ume had already showcased, at the very least, above average vitality and endurance even as a human, having survived for a prolonged period of time with her entire body burned alive. Upon discovering her and her brother, Doma noted that Ume was able to stubbornly cling to life despite her injuries and managed to successfully survive long enough to be transformed into a demon.

Blood Demon Art
Obi Sash Manipulation: Daki's Blood Demon Art allows her to create flower-patterned Obi sashes from her flesh, as well as freely manipulating them at will. Daki often creates these sashes from her back and retracts them back into her body when not in use. She has also displayed the ability to exert control over her Obi from extremely far distances. Her sashes are noted to be soft like silk yet as sharp, if not sharper than most Nichirin Swords. In combat, Daki uses her Obi sashes as powerful and fast tendril-like whips to unleash long-ranged interweaving attacks while also being able to use it to form a shield around her body if need be, making her Blood Demon Art an extremely effective blend of offense and defense. Her sashes are so powerful that they could repel and block attacks from Tengen's explosives and slice up buildings with ease. Furthermore, they are especially difficult to cut because of their soft properties, and can further loosen the effectiveness of slash attacks by bending and weaving.

Her sashes have a unique property that allows her to store objects, usually humans she wants to eat, inside her sashes. She traps them inside the sashes by transforming the objects she wishes to store into 2 dimensional flat versions of said object. This allows her to be stealthy with her movements, as any opening or pathway that is wide enough for a sash to fit in is one that she can take. To free someone from being trapped in the sashes, one must cut it apart while avoiding cutting the people trapped inside, immediately freeing anyone and returning them to their original form. Daki mainly uses this ability to store humans that she wishes to eat in a space underground and consume them later. Lastly, Daki can transmute her own neck into a sash to prevent herself from being decapitated.
 * Sentient Flesh Obi: Daki has also displayed the ability to create sentient Obi sashes as well, which she does to guard and protect her "store house" where she keeps her food. The sentient sashes also have a secondary purpose, which is to capture women in the brothels of the Entertainment District and to gain information about them, as seen when it interrogated Makio. She also created another living sash to to monitor and watch over Hinatsuru as she suspected her of being a spy for the Demon Slayers and then kill her if anything goes amiss. Daki can also telepathically communicate with her sentient sashes, shown when she could give it instructions and watch over Inosuke fighting.
 * Power Distribution: Daki has shown that when she creates her indipendent flesh Obi's, she actually seperates a portion of her strength and places it into them. This is seen where after the sashes returned to her and was reabsorbed into her body, Daki's power was stated to have drastically increased as she physically transformed. This was noted by Tanjiro upon noticing that her scent became much stronger and more ominous after her sashes had been absorbed back into her body.

Techniques

 * -|Description =
 * Eight Layered Obi Slash (り) - Daki creates 8 long ranged Obi sashes to cut down her opponents from afar. Daki noted that this interweaving attack has no blind spots, thus making it extremely difficult to evade or counterattack.
 * -|Demonstrations =

Trivia

 * The alias "Daki" contains the On'yomi reading of the kanji for both "degenerate, descent, lapse into" and "princess"
 * Her real name contains the Kun'yomi reading of the kanji for "plum". Her human nickname contains the kanji for "white" and "plum".
 * The latest alias she used as an oiran has the Kun'yomi reading for "bracken" and "princess". The other alias Yatamahime contains the Kun'yomi reading of the kanji for "house", "pearl" and "princess".
 * It was revealed by her brother that her birth name as a human, "Ume", was the name of the disease that killed their mother. It appears that would be syphilis, as its Japanese name is "Baidoku"; "Bai" and "Ume" are alternative On'yomi and Kun'yomi readings of the same character respectively, while either the kanji 黴 and 梅 can be used for the first character.
 * Muzan Kibutsuji saw Daki as not a very smart child.
 * It's possible that part of the reason Muzan pretended to like Daki was that she was beautiful and a major source of income. It's noted that one of Muzan's favorite Upper Rank demons was Gyokko, as his pots were works of art that could be sold for a high price, suggesting that despite being a demon Muzan still saw value in having cold hard cash. As an oiran, Daki would also have made a good deal of money.
 * Daki's ability to transform her neck into an extendable sash appears to be based on the Japanese folklore yōkai called the Rokurokubi.
 * In the manga, the color of Daki's hair in her awakened form is pale while, whilst the color is pale white with lime green tips in the anime adaptation. The change was most likely made due to Gyutaro's own lime green-tipped hair.

Quotes

 * (To Omitsu) "They say the secret to living a long life... is to keep silent when you see horrible things. That's how everyone around me managed to survive."
 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "Demons never grow old. And they don't need money to eat. They don't get sick. They don't die. They have nothing to lose. [...] We beautiful, powerful demons... can do anything we want!"
 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "You humans are so miserable. No matter how hard you try, this is all you got. How unfortunate."
 * (To Gyutaro) "No! No! No! You can't leave me! You mustn't leave me! We have to stay together! No matter how many times I might be reborn, I'll always be your little sister!"

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