Breathing Styles

Kyojuro explaining Breath Styles to Tanjiro.png

Breathing Styles are swordsmanship styles practiced and taught by the Demon Slayer Corps. They are capable of allowing their users to fight on par with Demons, and are generally used with Nichirin Blades to slay Demons, with a few exceptions.

Overview

Breathing Styles are swordsmanship forms practiced and taught by the Demon Slayer Corps. The Breathing Styles make use of specific and concentrated breath patterns, which increase the user's lung capacity and amount of oxygen in the blood. This increase of oxygen allows the user to enhance their physical abilities and mental concentration, allowing them to fight on par with Demons, whose physical prowess surpasses that of the average human.

Focused Breathing is also capable of clotting wounds from severe injuries and slowing down the circulation of poison in the bloodstream.

All known Breathing Styles currently taught within the Demon Slayer Corps are derived from the Sun Breathing, the first one ever created.

Total Concentration Breathing

Total Concentration Breathing (全 (ぜん) 集 (しゅう) 中 (ちゅう) の呼 (こ) 吸 (きゅう) , Zen Shūchū no Kokyū^?), an advanced application of Breathing, is a state where a Breathing Style user inhales the maximum amount of oxygen within a specific breath pattern to raise their physical and mental prowess to their utmost limits. It is often used by Demon Slayers for a brief moment to temporarily boost their combat capabilities to prepare a decisive attack.

Blowing into a special gourd to rupture it.

Total Concentration: Constant (全 (ぜん) 集 (しゅう) 中 (ちゅう) ・常 (じょう) 中 (ちゅう) , Zen Shūchū Jōchū^?) is a Total Concentration Breathing state during the morning, noon, and night, and even while asleep that Advanced Demon Slayers, such as Hashira, can constantly maintain. There is an immense difference in strength, speed, and stamina between someone who can maintain Total Concentration Breathing at all times and someone who cannot.

Learning to maintain a constant state of Total Concentration Breathing requires tremendous effort, though, the skill itself is noted to be quite elementary despite the required effort.

The training process involves blowing into a special type of super durable gourd. The objective is to blow into the gourd with enough strength to make the gourd break apart. As training progresses, the gourd is replaced by larger and larger variations of the same type of gourd. The largest known gourd is about the size of a chair.

Breathing Hybridization

It is possible for a swordsman to use more than one Breathing Style technique at a time, allowing the user to take advantage of the advantageous aspects of both techniques. Tanjiro Kamado, for example, can use both the Water Breathing and Sun Breathing styles simultaneously.

Known Breathing Styles and Users

Flower
# of Attacks: 7

Love
# of Attacks: 6

Flame
# of Attacks: 9

Sound
# of Attacks: 5

Thunder
# of Attacks: 7

Water
# of Attacks: 11

Water
# of Attacks: 11

Insect
# of Attacks: 4

Serpent
# of Attacks: 5

Moon
# of Attacks: 16

Stone
# of Attacks: 5

Beast
# of Attacks: 11

Inosuke
Hashibira

Note: The colors used to represent the Breath Styles above are not necessarily based off of the color associated with each style's Nichirin Blade. For Nichirin Blade colors, see this page.

Branch System

All Breathing Styles originate from the Sun Breathing, the first Breathing Style ever developed.

Sun

Water

Moon

Flame

Thunder

Stone

Wind

Flower

Serpent

Love

Sound

Beast

Mist

Insect

Trivia

The names of Breathing Styles are very strict. For example, the Flame Breathing (炎 (ほのお) の呼 (こ) 吸 (きゅう) , Honō no kokyū^?) should never be referred to as the Fire Breathing (火 (ひ) の呼 (こ) 吸 (きゅう) , Hi no kokyū^?).
According to the second fanbook, Breathing Styles were not entirely lost to history, they eventually became just like the Hinokami Kagura is to the Kamado family, a ceremonial practice, a dance so to speak.