Kokushibo is a key enemy in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a demon who is a member of the Twelve Kizuki and holds the highest rank, Upper-Rank One.
He was born over five centuries ago during the Sengoku Era as Michikatsu Tsugikuni, a former Demon Slayer and the older twin brother of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the greatest Demon Slayer ever.
He is also the ancestor of Muichiro and Yuichiro Tokito, as well as the one who turned Zenitsu Agatsuma‘s senior, Kaigaku, into a demon and led him to join the Twelve Kizuki.
“Yoriichi… when you smiled, I couldn’t help it… but I always found it disturbing. And when we were talking about how there were no successors for the various breathing techniques you suddenly started viewing things with strange optimism and you smiled. In my conceit I believed that only our generation was special. I felt sick with disgust and irritation. What did you find so amusing? […] What is so amusing about imaging such a future? Just thinking about losing makes me boil with anger.“
In response to Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s statement about future generations
Kokushibo – Abilities
Overall Abilities
As the highest ranking member of the Twelve Kizuki, Kokushibo is the strongest demon, second only to the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji.
Over the course of his nearly 500-year life, he has fought dozens of Demon Slayers and gained vast experience and knowledge.
His physique is one of the most polished and massive in the organization, as he is not only a user of Total Concentration Breathing but also a marked individual who used the Transparent World and a demon with the highest concentration of Muzan’s blood in the organization.
Biological Absorption
Through physical contact, He has the ability to absorb human and demon bodies.
Although this trait has never been demonstrated, He is said to absorb demons who challenge him and are defeated.
Transparent World
Kokushibo, like Yoriichi, has not only gained access to the Transparent World, but also the ability to use it constantly. This allows him to see his opponents’ muscles, blood flow, and joint movement.
With this ability, he can accurately predict and anticipate his opponents’ movements and attacks.
Extrasensory Perception
With the Transparent World, he could perceive his opponents’ bodily structures and see through their bodies, allowing him to predict their attacks and movements.
Demon Slayer Mark
When He trained under Yoriichi, he discovered his mark. The Demon Slayer Mark greatly enhances an individual’s abilities, making them much stronger and faster than they would be otherwise, but at the cost of being cursed to die at the age of 25.
He, on the other hand, is no longer bound by the curse after transforming into a demon and gaining immortality.
Flesh Manipulation
To some extent, He has the ability to manipulate his own flesh. He used this power to morph his face into having two more pairs of eyes while also lengthening his brow.
He’s also used this ability to fashion an extremely tough and sharp katana, complete with tsuba and its own scabbard.
Sword Manipulation
He has the ability to freely manipulate the form of the blade, as demonstrated when he grew three additional blades from the original blade to increase its reach and size, transforming it into a weapon similar to the Shichishito (Seven-Branched Sword).
Immense Durability
His neck is so tough that despite swinging his sword with all his might, a marked Sanemi barely made a dent in it.
Furthermore, despite the Stone Hashira slamming his flail on his neck from above and the heat absorbed from the sun searing him, Gyomei’s massive spiked iron ball was similarly ineffective in damaging his neck.
Immense Regeneration
He has one of the most potent regenerating talents in existence, second only to Muzan Kibutsuji, the Demon King. Kokushibo was able to regenerate quicker than that Akaza and Doma.
He was able to regrow his complete head after being severed by two marked Hashiras and successfully defeated death by beheading after being decapitated by Nichirin Swords.
Immense Speed and Reflexes
His speed was significantly beyond that of his other Upper Rank brethren, as seen when he sliced off Akaza’s arm before he or any of the other Upper Rank demons there recognized.
He outpaced Muichiro‘s Mist Breathing techniques with ease, traveling so quickly that he looked to teleport.
When Genya used his shotgun to fire the Upper Rank from afar, Kokushibo was able to “teleport” behind him before the bullets could reach him. Even though his arm was slashed the minute he arrived.
Immense Strength
He has shown incredible physical strength, breaking the ground by stamping on Sanemi‘s blade. And subsequently being capable of raising a massive sword much heavier than a typical katana and swinging it continuously at incredible speeds without rest or apparent effort.
Indomitable Will
When He was going to be murdered, he forced his regeneration to develop and regrew his own head, along with a slew of additional upgrades, all because he refused to die until he had surpassed his younger twin brother, Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
Menacing Aura
Muichiro, a Hashira who has battled and destroyed innumerable demons and even an Upper Rank in the past, lost his desire to fight as his body trembled uncontrollably in the sight of Kokushibo.
Monstrous Transformation
While confronting Gyomei and Sanemi, Kokushibo suffered a change that led him to take on a more monstrous form. With projecting fangs and mandibles, and big white horns on the front and back of his head. Pointed claws, red outgrowths on his forehead, and his pupils gazing in various directions. Shorter and messier hair, multiple thin tubes coming out of his body, and several black and red scorpion tail.
Tactical Intellect
As a skilled swordsman who has lived for nearly four centuries, He has encountered innumerable battles and perils that he has learned to conquer.
This was demonstrated during his combat with three Hashiras and Genya when he was able to quickly adapt to their specific and unique fighting styles and strategies after observing them.
Unlimited Stamina and Endurance
Kokushibo has displayed endless endurance and energy, never tired and always remaining in peak physical and mental form, as well as the ability to withstand waves of attack as if they were nothing.
Kokushibo – Fighting
Breathing Style
Moon Breathing: The first demon to use Breathing Styles was Kokushibo. His Breathing Style, in particular, is one of the most deadly and robust thus far.
He can make several chaotic crescent moon blades while slashing that vary in length and size in crescent-shaped sword strikes because of his Blood Demon Art.
Blood Demon Art
Crescent Moon Blades:
His Blood Demon Art allows him to generate and control thousands of sharp blades fashioned like traditional crescent moons from his flesh katana, complementing his combat style: Moon Breathing.
They are said to be made of his blood and can be brilliant yellow or bright blue in hue.
These crescent moon blades are incredibly chaotic. Continually shifted in size, length, and speed, rendering his attacks unpredictable and unreadable.
Techniques
- First Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace – Kokushibo uses his sword and strikes swiftly in a single horizontal motion in a crescent form, generating countless chaotic crescent blades.
- Second Form: Pearl Flower Moongazing – He performs several crescent-shaped slashes, launching a barrage of crescent blades to defend himself from incoming assaults.
- Third Form: Loathsome Moon, Chains – Kokushibo swings his sword rapidly in two massive crescent slashes, producing a storm of smaller crescents to spread, causing massive devastation in a short area.
- Fifth Form: Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy – Kokushibo creates a rising vortex of sword slashes and crescent moon blades by layering several curving slashes over one another.
- Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon – Incessant – He unleashes a flurry of crescent-shaped slashes in front of him.
- Seventh Form: Mirror of Misfortune, Moonlit – He swings his massive sword in a tremendous frontal crescent-shaped slash that makes powerful multi-directional long-ranged cuts in the earth.
- Eighth Form: Moon-Dragon Ringtail – Using the huge version of his sword, He performs a single gigantic crescent-shaped slash that gradually shrinks in size, resulting in hundreds of crescent moon blades.
- Ninth Form: Waning Moonswaths – Using his massive sword, He generates a torrent of long-ranged crescent-shaped vertical and horizontal slashes, as well as countless crescent moon blades.
- Tenth Form: Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves – Using the giant version of his sword, He crafts a long-ranged triple-layered slash twister full of crescent moon blades.
- Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon – He summons a chaotic vortex of strong very long-ranged Omni-directional slashes that kills anything trapped inside its attack radius.
- Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Half Moon – He strikes his opponents with a bombardment of downward crescent slashes from an incredibly long and broad range, resulting in a devastating six-fold cut smashing down on them.
Equipment or Weapon
Flesh Katana: Kokushibo possesses a meaty and demonically modified version of a Nichirin Katana he used as a Demon Slayer.
The katana, as its appearance suggests, is made from Kokushibo’s flesh and blood, and because of his body’s incredible endurance and hardness, his katana is as sharp, if not sharper, as a conventional Nichirin Sword.
Battles
A battle that takes place in the Infinity Castle, occurs between Demon Slayer Genya Shinazugawa and three Hashiras, Muichiro Tokito, Sanemi Shinazugawa and Gyomei Himejima from the Demon Slayer Corps against Upper Rank One Kokushibo.
He tried to convert Muichiro into a demon to spare his life with the fear of death.
Kokushibo – Appearance
Kokushibo is a tall, strong man with a pale complexion and long, spiky black hair with crimson tips, which he wore in a ponytail.
The three pairs of eyes(six eyes) on his face with yellow irises and red sclera that have black straight lines extending from each iris are his most distinguishing characteristic. The characters for “Upper Rank” and “One” appear in his middle set of eyes.
He also has red flame-like marks on the top left side of his forehead and the bottom right side of his chin.
Kokushibo donned a nagagi kimono with a purple-and-black bee-hive design and black umanori-styled hakama trousers tied with a white uwa-obi.
He wore a meaty katana with eyeballs in the area between the tsuka it wrapping around the handle of his blade.
With the exception of the number of eyes, his thick brows, and noticeably paler skin, Kokushibo’s human look was essentially identical to his demon form.
Kokushibo – Personality
Kokushibo was quiet, silent, and distant, exuding an uncanny serenity and mystery befitting his rank as Upper Moon One.
He rarely speaks, but when he does, he speaks slowly and emphatically, lending gravitas and importance to his comments.
Kokushibo had a great feeling of allegiance to Muzan Kibutsuji, with the majority of his acts being performed with the express intention of achieving Muzan’s objectives.
He was a strict rule-follower, punctual, and respectful to the Twelve Kizuki hierarchy, as seen by his attendance at the Upper Rank assembly.
Final Thoughts
Kokushibo is no doubt the one demon who is strongest among the twelve demons. He did become a demon to continue honing his abilities to be strong enough and make use of his demon powers to Beat Yoriichi.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Kokushibo eat humans?
Kokushibo’s power, Biological Absorption, allows him to absorb human and demon bodies through physical touch. Although this trait has never been demonstrated, He is said to absorb demons that fight him and are defeated.
It’s safe to suppose that he utilizes this strategy to consume humans or Demon Slayers more quickly.
Which breathing does Kokushibo use?
Kokushibo couldn’t master the Sun Breathing Technique while training for Demon Slayer Corps, so he invented his own technique known as Moon Breathing. Although this breathing style was not as powerful as Sun Breathing it was the most powerful breathing style after it.
Are Yoriichi and Kokushibo brothers?
Kokushibo who was once named Michikatsu Tsugikuni when in human form and is a twin older brother of Yoriichi Tsugikuni. As they were born in Sengoku Era, around 500 years ago, having a twin was considered a bad omen. So during their childhood, Michikatsu looked at Yoriichi as inferior to him.
Can kokushibo kill muzan?
Kokushibo is the most powerful upper moon in demon slayer. He is so powerful that it is seemingly impossible to kill him but still Muzan is the king of demons and is much more powerful than him. So He can’t kill Muzan.
When will Kokushibo appear in anime?
Before the sword smith village arc, there is a meeting of the upper moons and there you’ll see Kokushibo there as all 5 remaining upper moons are present. It’ll only be for a short time and we won’t really see him, his abilities, or his backstory until the infinity castle arc.
