The Hashira in Demon Slayer are a largely unexplained force, and they are major supporting characters in both the show and the movies. However, not nearly enough time has been spent developing their backstories. Viewers do know a little bit about Shinobu Kocho thanks to a small flashback where more is also learned about Kanao, who is not a Hashira, and through a short conversation that she had with Tanjiro. Shinobu is currently the Insect Hashira, and takes it upon herself to train and heal young slayers. In this, she is very different from many of the other Hashira who firmly believe in survival of the fittest.

Demon Slayer follows the story of Tanjiro Kamado and his younger sister Nezuko. His goal is to return his sister to her human form after she was turned into a demon in an attack that killed his entire family. He encounters the Hashira at a meeting wherein the fate of his sister is heavily debated. Once the debate ends with Nezuko being granted an exception to the kill all demons rule, Shinobu takes Tanjiro and his comrades in aiding in their training and physical recoveries.

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Shinobu’s Family

Kanao from Demon Slayer smiling kindly

Shinobu has a younger sister, Kanao Tsuyuri who was adopted by her older sister Kanae Kocho. Kanae was the previous Flower Hashira, however, she was slain years prior to Tanjiro meeting Shinobu. Kanae however lives on and also practices Flower Breathing like their older sister. Shinobu was initially against raising Kanae as a part of her family but clearly grows to have a sisterly love for the younger girl by the time that Tanjiro and his friends encounter them. Her parents however were killed by demons while she was still very young. It was their deaths that drove her to join the ranks of Demon Slayers in an effort to save anyone else from suffering as she did.

She also to an extent considers the young orphaned girls who live with her at the insect mansion to be family, at the very least her wards. She takes their training very seriously and clearly has great empathy for their situations. It isn’t quite addressed whether or not she has adopted those girls as Kanao adopted Kanae but for all practical purposes she treats them as younger sisters or daughters just the same as Kanae.

Personality

Shinobu-Kocho Demon Slayer

Shinobu is demonstrated to be an extremely nice girl, maintaining a placid smile in any situation, although fans have reason to doubt that this might be her true personality. She claims to want to live peacefully alongside demons as Kanao had wanted but is ruthless in her treatment of demons. Her cruelty toward demons is evident when she gives the Spider Demon Daughter hope that she will help her before killing her with that same smile. She clearly loves her older sister though, as she wears her haori at all times.

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Abilities and Skills

Shinobu-Tsuba

As the Insect Hashira Shinobu practices Insect breathing, a technique that she pioneered herself; largely in order to cater to her specific strengths and weaknesses. Despite being a member of the Hashira, and therefore one of the more powerful Demon Slayers out there, she does not have the strength to decapitate a demon. She instead relies on wisteria poison on her blade to ensure the death of her opponents.

In order to deliver this poison, she has also developed her skills as a swordsman. Again in homage to her physical weakness, she does not have a style that is traditional to the Demon Slayer Corps. Instead, she focuses on slashes and stabbing motions that are designed to most effectively deliver the poison to her victims, and potentially to help avoid getting her blade stuck. Her speed is even supposedly faster than Water Breathing’s Drop Ripple Thrust form.

In her fight with the spider demon, viewers get to see some of her skills in action. She uses Butterfly Dance Caprice to strike the demon multiple times before she even registers what is happening. But this skill also brings up an interesting question. Prior to being struck the demon sees a swarm of butterflies, with one even landing on her finger. This could be simply a visual representation of her attack, much like the water droplets and dragons that are associated with Tanjiro’s Water Breathing attacks. But it could also possibly be a side effect of the attack since the demons don’t normally interact with these visual cues of Tanjiro’s.

Getting a deeper look at one of the Hashira revealed a complex, tragic, and strong character. Shinobu is an incredibly unique demon slayer who not only invented her own breathing style but also cannot rely on any of the traditional demon-slaying techniques due to her own physical limits. The fact that Shinobu survived the deaths of her parents and older sister while maintaining a clear focus and generally kind personality displays a certain amount of personal strength as well, although the anger she displays is only natural of one who has dealt with all that she has.

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