Breathing Styles

Breathing Styles (呼 (こ) 吸 (きゅう) 法 (ほう) , Kokyū Hō^?) are swordsmanship styles practiced and taught by members of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Description

A Breathing Style being used to slay a demon.

Breathing Styles are swordsmanship styles that makes use of an esoteric breathing technique known as 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^?) practiced and taught by members of the Demon Slayer Corps and are used in combat by Demon Slayers (later passed on as traditional dances post-time skip).

All known Breathing Styles currently taught within the Demon Slayer Corps are derived from Sun Breathing, the first one ever created. The majority of known Breathing Styles mimic a certain element of nature (i.e. flame, water and wind) and replicates it with the user's movements, techniques and abilities. The weapon attacks of Demon Slayers who use Breathing Styles are also longer ranged, possibly due to shockwaves or air pressure generated from their weapon itself when swinging and striking.

New Breathing Styles are always being created to suit a Demon Slayer's combat needs, which results in new weapons being utilized in demon hunting (i.e. flails and whips). Such Breathing Styles embody a bigger variety of concepts, like animals, plants and emotions (i.e. serpents, flowers and love). When utilizing a Breathing Style, users automatically visualize themselves manipulating the subject behind their style, making it seem as if they were using magic, though those that are less apt and proficient in their style will visualize less of it than one who is.

As the different Breathing Styles were created by swordsmen combining what little they could of Sun Breathing with their own sword skills to display their maximum power, it is possible to mix different Breathing Styles if the user cannot master one particular Breathing Style alone in order to use the stronger aspects of different styles to compensate. Tanjiro, realizing that he could not master Water Breathing like Giyu Tomioka nor could he handle the strain of Hinokami Kagura, showed to be able to combine the two techniques together in order to have stronger strikes than when he used Water Breathing alone and move for longer periods of time than if he used Hinokami Kagura alone. He did this to save Hinatsuru from Gyutaro, and later used it once again during the Infinity Castle Arc to slay dozens of demons.

Total Concentration Breathing

Total Concentration Breathing being used to increase a Demon Slayer's speed.

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^?) is an advanced and esoteric breathing technique where a user inhales the maximum amount of oxygen within a specific breath pattern to raise their physical and mental prowess to their utmost limits. The effects include a plethora of enhanced physical and mental abilities, like superhuman physical characteristics (i.e. strength, speed, stamina, durability and agility), faster thought processes, maximizing concentration and hyper-information processing. At a more advanced level, Total Concentration is also capable of clotting wounds from severe injuries and slowing down the circulation of poison in the bloodstream.

Tanjiro Kamado displayed a technique called Recovery Breathing (回 (かい) 復 (ふく) の呼 (こ) 吸 (きゅう) , Kaifuku no Kokyū^?), which, by taking a brief moment to focus and steady his breath, allows him to recover from fatigue and stiff muscles that prevent his body from moving, which he uses to overcome the whiplash of using Hinokami Kagura techniques twice in a row.

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 the 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.

Blowing into a special gourd to rupture it.

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.

Known Breathing Styles and Users

Flower # of Known Forms: 7		Love # of Known Forms: 6	Flame # of Known Forms: 9
Kanae Kocho	Kanao Tsuyuri	Mitsuri Kanroji	Shinjuro Rengoku	Kyojuro Rengoku
Sun # of Known Forms: 13				Sound # of Known Forms: 5
Yoriichi Tsugikuni	Sumiyoshi	Tanjuro Kamado	Tanjiro Kamado	Tengen Uzui
Thunder # of Known Forms: 7			Wind # of Known Forms: 9
Jigoro Kuwajima	Kaigaku	Zenitsu Agatsuma	Sanemi Shinazugawa	Masachika Kumeno
Water # of Known Forms: 11
Sakonji Urokodaki	Giyu Tomioka	Murata	Sabito	Makomo
Water # of Known Forms: 11	Insect # of Known Forms: 4	Serpent # of Known Forms: 5	Moon # of Known Forms: 16	Stone # of Known Forms: 5
Tanjiro Kamado	Shinobu Kocho	Obanai Iguro	Kokushibo	Gyomei Himejima
Mist # of Known Forms: 7	Beast # of Known Forms: 11
Muichiro Tokito	Inosuke Hashibira

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

Breathing Styles Relationship Chart

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 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 after the demons were wiped out. Instead, they eventually became traditional dances.