Chapter 151

The Sound of Bells on a Snowy Moonlight Night (りの) is the one hundred and fifty-first chapter of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Summary
Tanjiro remembers how his father seemed like a plant; he had never shown any emotional outburst and was always gentle, maintaining his demeanour till his death. Whenever he remembers him, he immediately pictures his soft smile and calming voice. Tanjiro remembers a question he asked him about what he thinks when he performs the Hinokami Kagura. Even as a child, Tanjiro knew that the dance involved performing all twelve moves from night to dawn continuously. Worried about his frail body, Tanjiro asks if he can be the one to do it next year.

Tanjuro thanks his son for his concern but brushes aside his worry, stating that every year he performed it, he never tired. He remembers learning it from his own father, but notes that even though he was younger and healthier then, doing it exhausted him greatly. He figured out though the forms had useless moves, what mattered was using the correct breathing and movements, as well as releasing all your strength through minimal movement. Tanjuro states that by doing this, your mind becomes invisible, but to properly do so, he had to find his movement and sensations, utilise all his senses and gain complete awareness of your body.

He tells his son that by doing all this, he can learn to remove unneeded parts of the Hinokami Kagura and learn just to do what is necessary and close off everything else. Tanjiro asks how can he close everything else and his father responds by saying it's like people closing their eyes to hear better. As he does this, his body will adapt and the movements will become natural. Tanjuro tells him that when your mind becomes invisible, he will see into the Transparent World but this is the end as his body would have reached its limit. As an amazed Tanjiro asks if he can do it as well, he is told he can do so by working hard and not slacking off, while being presented with new warajis.

An incident happened ten days before Tanjuro's death; a bear had come to the mountain, killing and devouring people. As the Kamado family sleeps through a blizzard, Tanjuro suddenly awakens and gets up, after which he asks his sleepy eldest son to accompany him. As Tanjuro and Tanjiro wander outside, the two encounter the very bear; two metres tall and believed to have killed six people. A frightened Tanjiro watches his father confront the bear with only an axe and his frail body.

Tanjuro apologises for its hunger but warns the creature that coming any closer will mean facing him. He tells it that if anything tries to harm his family, he will show no mercy and take its life. As the bear roars and lumbers forward to kill him, Tanjuro swings his axe and leaps up, decapitating the bear before it could move a step. As its giant head drops to the ground, Tanjiro tries to piece what had happened, In that instant, Tanjuro would have to swing twice to get completely through its neck, and with his sense of smell, he realises Tanjuro never wavered in the slightest. He had no hesitation, fear, no intent to kill, with his plant-like presence, he simply killed it.

Tanjuro looks behind and asks if his son had witnessed what happened. A shaken Tanjiro confirms he saw what took place and runs up to hug him. As he tells his son to never forget what he saw, Tanjiro looks back and realised this moment was a form of training his perception. He was supposed to learn to see into the Transparent World, like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him; they would have had to learn in this way. He finally understand his father's words and thinks back when he manage to suddenly dodge Akaza's strike that seemed about to connect. Though it would have surely killed him, he manage to escape it. For just a slight moment, when Akaza grabbed his blade and was poised to swing, Tanjiro had entered the Transparent World, seeing Akaza's muscles through his body, as he did to Hantengu. Managing to close off other sense to dodge something unavoidable, his body became even faster.

Apologising to Inosuke for doubting him, Tanjiro steels his resolve that while Giyu battles Akaza, he will use this new power to his best ability and beat the demon.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Tanjuro Kamado (Flashback)
 * Tanjiro Kamado
 * Takeo Kamado (Flashback)
 * Hanako Kamado (Flashback)
 * Shigeru Kamado (Flashback)
 * Kie Kamado (Flashback)
 * Rokuta Kamado (Flashback)
 * Akaza
 * Giyu Tomioka
 * Inosuke Hashibira (Flashback)

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