Kotoha Hashibira

“	Pinky promise, pinky promise. I will protect you, I promise. Until you get big, your mother will protect you all alone. Sorry Inosuke. You may feel lonely, but I will work hard to protect you in your father's stead. Inosuke, I will protect you even if it costs me my life.	”
	— Kotoha Hashibira to Inosuke Hashibira in Similar Features, Returning Memories

Kotoha Hashibira
Manga
Kanji	嘴平 琴葉
Rōmaji	Hashibira Kotoha
Characteristics
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Age	17-18
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Emerald Green
Personal Status
Status	Deceased
Relative(s)	Unnamed Mother-In-Law Unnamed Husband Inosuke Hashibira (Son) Aoi Kanzaki (Daughter-In-Law) Aoba Hashibira (Great-Great-Grandson) Unnamed Great-Great-Grandson
Debuts
Manga Debut	Chapter 37 (Partial Appearance) Chapter 160 (Full Appearance)
Anime Debut	Episode 18 (Partial Appearance)
Portrayal
Japanese VA	Mamiko Noto
English VA	Jennie Kwan

Kotoha Hashibira (嘴 (はし) 平 (びら) 琴 (こと) 葉 (は) , Hashibira Kotoha^?) was the mother of Inosuke Hashibira.

Appearance

Kotoha was described to be a beautiful, young woman, similar in appearance to her son, though Doma stated that she had a softer appearance compared to Inosuke. She wore her long, black hair tied up in a bun at the end and had long, and had emerald green eyes similar to her son, Inosuke Hashibira. She wore a green kimono with floral patterns on the kimono and an dark obi with an obijime and obiage.

Personality

Kotoha was a kind and loving woman, always showing appreciation to those around her. She treasured Inosuke dearly and would always sing lullabies to him when he was a baby, promising to always protect him no matter what. When meeting Doma, she found a fond liking in him due to him helping her escape the abuse she was facing from her family.

According to Doma, Kotoha was naive and not very smart. Doma describes her as a "beautiful" but innocent person. It's unknown whether he exaggerated her low intelligence due to his patronizing view of humans or if her kind nature coupled with the fact that she was partially blind from the beatings she endured from her husband made her ignorant to Doma's true nature. Quite contradictory however, Doma also claimed that she was also sharp despite her supposed stupidity, and that is how she found out about him being a cannibalistic demon who devoured his followers.

History

Kotoha gave birth to Inosuke at the age of 17 or 18 and was in an abusive relationship with Inosuke's father, as well as with her mother-in-law who bullied her on a daily basis. One day, during one of his outbursts, she bit her husband's hand, grabbed Inosuke then ran away from the abusive household, fleeing barefoot through the snow. Since she didn't have parents or any siblings to go to, she was running ahead until she reached the Eternal Paradise Faith cult, taking shelter as one of the worshippers of Doma - a leader of the cult. Her husband and his mother chased her there but were soon killed by Doma, who found them to be too noisy, abandoning their corpses in the mountains.

Kotoha flees from Doma with an infant Inosuke.

Kotoha lived there happily with her son until she suspected that the worshippers were being eaten by Doma. After accusing him of lying to his followers, she ran from the temple with Inosuke in her arms and tried to go through the forest, but was trapped by a cliff. In her final moments, she apologized to Inosuke for failing to protect him and tosses him into the river as an attempt to save his life. She was ultimately killed and eaten by Doma, who claimed to have devoured her to the bone.

Synopsis

Mount Natagumo Arc

Kotoha in Inosuke's memories.

During his battle with Father of the Spider Family, Inosuke was severely injured and left unable to fight back as the demon grabbed him by the head. As he was slowly crushed, his life began to flash before his eyes; among the memories he saw was a woman, who was covered in blood. She cried and apologized to Inosuke before dropping him from a height, but Inosuke was unable to recognize the woman.

Infinity Castle Arc

Doma remembers Kotoha through her son.

During his battle against Upper Rank Two, Doma, Inosuke suddenly has his mask snatched off by the demon, who unexpectedly recognized him. After wounding the Demon Slayer, Doma explained that his face almost seems familiar to him, despite Inosuke's annoyance and insistence he is a stranger. Stabbing his finger into his brain, Doma reaches his memories of Kotoha and her encounter with him, adding that she possesses a similar face to Inosuke, who was previously a stranger in his memories. The demon then spoke of when she first met him with an infant Inosuke in her arms, how she eventually discovered his cult's true purpose, and her attempt to flee with Inosuke had ended with her being devoured by him.

Inosuke, previously believing his mother had abandoned him and discovering that a lullaby in his memories was actually from her, became truly enraged at the realization he was staring at his mother's killer. Doma laughs at the thought of nothing remaining of Kotoha as he had even devoured her bones and mockingly asked if there was ever a happy moment in her life, infuriating the Demon Slayer, who then suddenly charged head-on towards the powerful Upper Rank and was joined by Kanao Tsuyuri in killing the demon. Eventually, Shinobu Kocho's plan to be devoured by Doma and poison him succeeds, weakening Upper Rank Two to the point that Inosuke and Kanao are able to behead and kill him for good.

As the demon fades to ash, Inosuke furiously stomped on Doma's remains as they burned before recalling a memory of speaking about his mother to his friends Zenitsu Agatsuma and Tanjiro Kamado. He had previously said that he doesn't have a mother, or if he did, that she abandoned him. Sensing his friend's anger at a woman he had never known, Tanjiro reassures him that despite his circumstances, he believes his mother loved him dearly. Inosuke, now realizing he was indeed loved by Kotoha to her death, began to cry and mourn her.

Relationships

Inosuke Hashibira

Kotoha loved her son immensely and raised him by herself, often singing songs and promising to protect him. In her final moments, she was apologetic to Inosuke for failing him as his mother and guardian.

Doma

At the beginning, Kotoha had thought that Doma was a nice and trustworthy individual, since he had been generous enough to give her and her baby a shelter when she was in desperate need of it. However, this started to take a drastic change when she discovered his true identity as a demon, and how manipulative he was by eating his worshipers. Though she was killed and later eaten by him while she tried to escape with Inosuke, Doma stated that he never intended to eat her in the first place and was planning to have her by his side until her death, since he enjoyed her company.

Abilities

Kotoha was an ordinary human, without any special powers or abilities.

Singing: According to Doma, Kotoha possessed a great talent in singing.

Relatives

		Kotoha				Father
				Inosuke				Aoi
		Spouse				Child
Spouse				Child
Child				Aoba

Trivia

• Kotoha's given name contains the Kun'yomi reading of the kanji for the "Japanese Harp" (琴 (こと) , koto^?) and "leaf, plane" (葉 (は) , ha^?).

Quotes

• (To Inosuke Hashibira when he was a toddler) "I'm sorry Inosuke. I'm sorry your mother is so foolish. I always fail. I always go to someone bad. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm your mother but...I must take good care of you..."
• (To Inosuke Hashibira when he was a toddler) "Your small hands are so cute, Inosuke. You're so warm, Inosuke. You're everything to me. I'm so happy I can be with you."