demonslayedher

[demonslayedher]

FINALLY BACK TO UPDATING NOW, SORRY FOR THE BIG HIATUS, BACK TO DAILY (or near daily) UPDATES UNTIL THE END NOW

Chapters: 1/19 Fandom: 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga), 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kotetsu & Rengoku Senjurou Characters: Kotetsu, Rengoku Senjurou Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, During Canon, Post-Canon, Letters, Pen Pals, budding friendship, Friendship, Long-Distance Friendship, Character Study, Introspection, spoilers for last arc, Other characters mentioned - Freeform Summary:

Senjurou and Kotetsu become pen pals after Tanjirou suggests they have a lot in common. Their letter exchanges see them through as the world changes around them over the course of the last arcs of the manga. Short and sweet multi-chapter gen fic with a near-daily update schedule.

#my fics

[demonslayedher]

Nerdy cultural details about the Hashira

Some details can be hard to pick up without context or in translation. Here's a handful for fun: Breath names:

The "Mushi" (蟲) of "Mushibashira" (蟲 (むし) 柱) does not necessarily mean "insect." (むし).It's also not the more commonly used "mushi" kanji (虫). Kanji is often formed with many components compounding together to make new meanings, and 蟲 is a crowd of three 虫. While it might be tempting to simply say that this is a whole bunch of 虫, I've also heard this described as 蟲 being the more abstract idea of the concrete 虫, or that 蟲 went through a resurgence in popularity shortly before the Taisho Period. 虫 is preferred nowadays for its simplicity.

In either case, it's not necessarily "insects." Rather than being limited to six-legged creatures, "mushi" is a catch-all term for many kinds of creepy-crawlies that simply do not fit in other categories of animals, so spiders and centipedes and worms are all part of it. Actually, the term was originally used for snakes!

Next, what are picturing when you hear "Stone Hashira"? Something in your hands that you can throw? A big stone to lay on for warmth after training in a waterfall?

You could think even bigger than that, because the "stone" kanji used is "iwa" 岩 (いわ) . This is usually something at least as big as the boulders Himejima pushes around to train with, but it could just as well be a whole cliff.

So then how about that issue raised about how you can never refer to "Flame Breath" as "Fire Breath"? This might be a review since it gets brought up a lot, but it's worth restating because it makes a lot of sense in context. First, we have two kanji to work with: 炎 for flames, and 火 for fire. To make a long linguistic history short, Japan adopted written pictographic characters from China, smashed and smooshed them around to fit the spoken Japanese language, and eventually many kanji wound up with multiple pronunciations. Case in point, 炎 is "hono'o" in the context of Flame Breathing (Hono'o no Kokyuu), and "en" in the context of "Flame Hashira" (En-bashira).

火 likewise has multiple pronunciations, but a common one is "hi." Another simple kanji that can be read "hi" is 日, the sun.

Therefore, even if they are written differently, "Sun Breathing" and "Fire Breathing" would sound the same, as "Hi no Kokyuu." This also makes it easy for "Hinokami" to be construed as "Fire God" instead of "Sun God." But why stop there, really? If you want to get into older Japanese, sometimes phonetic "hi" was used in simple reference to the power of gods.

Symbolism:

This is still somewhat linguistic rather than symbolic, but you know how Sound Breath is derived from Thunder Breath?

It's worth pointing out that "Kaminari" (雷) in "Kaminari no Kokyuu" is in reference to the sound, as opposed to something like "Ikazuchi no Kokyuu" for "Lightning Breath" in reference to the sight. We can get really, really nerdy about Japanese words for thunder and lightning and how they relate to Kimetsu no Yaiba, so I already did that here.

What's more interesting to me in regard to Sound Breath is that it takes the "sound" concept of thunder and pushes it--this time with a bit of a firework motif, again in a way that would stress the sound instead of the dazzling light. Both Uzui and Zenitsu have exceptional hearing and are exceptional users of their Breath techniques, so this is either curious that a discerning sense of hearing might help, or ironic that they use such loud styles with their sensitive ears.

Moving on to snakes! There's really no shortage of serpent symbolism, so we'll just focus on a handful of examples. I have already written extensively about the positive associations snakes have with riches, especially white snakes. This is ironic, given Iguro's distasteful paste driven by riches.

Some of the other positive associations with snakes are that they are a water element animal on the geomancy system borrowed from China. Makes sense that this Breath would be derived from Water Breathing! There are many shrines dedicated to snakes and their gifts of rain and clean water, however, water can also be dangerous. A common interpretation of a major legend about an eight-headed giant serpent, the Yamata-no-Orochi, is that it symbolizes the destructive power of a flooded river. But hey, at least snakes are often equated to dragons for having the same water association, so that's pretty cool.

Setting aside the water association, the serpent itself can likewise be considered in negative lights. In the centuries leading up to the Taisho Period, it became commonplace in Buddhist teachings and entertainment to compare jealous women to snakes. This association with woman also adds another layer of cruel irony to Iguro's past.

On a happier note, let's move on to cherry blossoms!

Well, not always happy, seeing as they are known to scatter tragically soon (I am shaking my fist at you, Gotouge). Cherry blossoms are also heavy with all the directions you can go in with symbolism, and I don't have any particular take on why they are part of the overall motif of the Love Hashira (see here for a little commentary on why it is "Koi" 恋 and not "Ai" 愛).

However! I do want to point out something very clever Gotouge did!

You know how Mitsuri's hand guard looks like four hearts that all meet at their pointy ends? This is actually a traditional cherry blossom motif!! Not a very common one, which is why I find it so sly.

Personal Names:

Bear with me, this section will get slightly more speculative, as names are always up to interpretation. I should know, I've done a lot of that for this series.

Remember how kanji can be read in multiple ways? Here's something simple you'd see right away in Japanese but that gets lost in translation to most other languages. Both Sanemi and Genya have 弥 as the second character in their personal name (as "mi" or "ya"). This was not the case for all their siblings, but it's cute that the two of them share it anyway.

So what does it mean? In modern kanji dictionaries, it's pretty bland: "increasingly." However, this kanji has more interesting use and associations that that. It was originally 彌, which carries more of an image of a stretched bow, or how something might go wide and disperse. As a child's name, this might include some hope that they might grow big and tall and go to great places. It is also commonly used in expressing the names of Buddhist deities in Japanese, but it is used only for the "mi" sound instead of the meaning in these cases. (Still, 弥 is one of the "Namu Amida Butsu" characters all over Himejima's haori, which also adds a little cuteness to his associations with Genya.)

So how about someone else with a name that closely matches his brother's? We get a pretty good explanation of Yuichiro (有 (ゆう) 一 (いち) 郎) and Muichiro (無 (む) 一 (いち) 郎), with 有 and 無 being opposites (to exist/to not exist). While 有 might be more straightforward in wishing for Yuichiro to have all his needs met, the "mu" in "muichiro" is for "limitless/infinity/etc, etc."

But also!!

It bares distinct resemblance to a common Zen phrase, "Honraimuichimotsu" (本来無一物), with "muichimotsu" meaning "nothing exists" (and therefore, you have nothing to worry about, just be happy).

Speaking of resemblances, "Tomioka Giyuu" has two kanji in common with the name of the mangaka of Hunter x Hunter and I sometimes wonder if he was named in homage. But that is neither here nor there, and I'll just finish today by focusing on "Giyuu" (義 (ぎ) 勇). This is pretty basic and straightforward: "loyalty/justice" and "bravery/courage." Pretty lofty. Put them back together and it's basically a set term for "heroism."

However, put it together with other terms for squads or armies, and this is the now the word for "volunteer soldier" or "volunteer army." Historically, it would continue to be used a few decades after Kimetsu no Yaiba takes place, but the decades prior, there were "Giyuutai" organized volunteer troops as well. Perhaps Giyuu had ancestors who fought as volunteer soldiers? Who knows.

#I felt like doing an info-dump #kny nerdery

[demonslayedher]

This joke of a post meant I had to see what a personality transplant would look like:

As I was doodling in jet-lagged stupor I thought, "wait, I see the resemblance!" and had to try out one more:

#good night #my dumb art #tokitou muichirou #tokito muichiro #rengoku kyojuro #rengoku kyoujurou #rengoku ruka

[demonslayedher]

One last Pillar Puppet shenanigan with siblings before my flight tomorrow. Muichiro was looking a little brain dead...

...so we did a brain transplant.

So that was all well and good and then I turned my back for one moment and changes had been made.

#kny silliness #tokitou muichirou #tokito muichiro #rengoku kyojuro #rengoku kyoujurou

[demonslayedher]

"Your vase looks crappy."

"Your face looks crappy!!"

#thank you all for your ideas #goodbye Mr. Gyokko #gyokko #tokito muichiro #tokitou muichirou #kny silliness

[demonslayedher]

Goodbye, Mr. Gyokko. You were cuddly.

Ask Box is very temporarily open to collect ideas for demolishing Mr. Gyokko.

Naturally, our first idea was to take him into the sun and light him on fire, but there are a lot of good reasons for why this is not a good idea. We are playing with thinking of ways to make it fun for children (potentially very young children) to attack him, but nothing specific yet, and it would need to be safe and not that messy.

Unrealistic, funny ideas accepted as well.

#with all comments on display for commemoration #thank you all #and thank you Mr. Gyokko

[demonslayedher]

Piñata Gyokko? I might not be the only one with this idea xD that or use it on a campfire to roast marshmallows... (or fish shaped marshmallows. That would be ironic). By the way. I loooove your blog! Your analysis and all the hard work you put in your research for the series is so inspiring, interesting and useful, and I love every single post of yours. Thank you thank you thank you! You're a gem in this fandom. <3

There were not marshmallows, but there were indeed fish involved. My brother did make many attempts to light them on fire but they didn't catch.

And thank you!! Not all posts are equally inspired, but I have had many fun hours spent across the blog!

[demonslayedher]

HI HI HELLO. OK, SO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO ASK ISN'T ABOUT THE DOWNFALL OF GYOKKO. BUT. HERE ME OUT???

So at the end of season 1 of Demon Slayer Tanjiro's Kasugi Crow comes and tells them about their mission with Rengoku on the Mugen Train. But where are they? The background doesn't look like the Butterfly Estate at all so are they at a Wisteria House?? I don't know 😭 as a fanfic writer I'm clawing off my skin.

Also for your Gyokko dilemma, I think hanging him from a tree and letting small children beat him like a pinata is an excellent idea.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. PLEASE HAVE A GOOD DAY!!

I HAVE INDEED PUZZLED OVER THIS BEFORE and my conclusion is that the Butterfly Mansion has regular Japanese style guest rooms (as matches other scenes in the Japanese style mansion) where residents who don’t require medical care can stay. Gotta keep those hospital beds open!

As for Mr. Gyokko, we did use him like a pinata but hanging him from a tree would have been a fire hazard in daylight.

[demonslayedher]

Go at it pinata style, but use a cheap toy katana instead. Heck, make it a party! Face paint for Demon Slayer Marks, and all that fun stuff.

The marks would have been an excellent touch. We didn't have katana but we did have other foam swords. They don’t work as well as Nichirin blades.

[demonslayedher]

Ways to end Gyokko dearest!? Make Gyokko tempura sushi rolls. If all else fails show his art to the AP art teachers if the blades don’t rip him to shreds their commentary will.

I tried but he fought back at my own art. I am wounded. Those fish are sharp.

[demonslayedher]

slice up his head into tiny pieces just like a famous mist hashira

We're trying, styrofoam is tough

[demonslayedher]

Beat him to death with a sword while wearing a Muichiro mask

All I have is a Hyottoko mask like a swordsmith but I'm sure they'd like a few whacks too.

[demonslayedher]

Take wooden swords painted like all the characters and let kids beat him up with them. :3

We did bring him over to let a neighborhood kid get in a few whacks at him. Styrofoam went flying and she got one of his legs off.

[demonslayedher]

Do you happen to know anybody with access to a very large hydraulic press? Or, perhaps, an industrial shredder? I’m sure Gyokko would make some very satisfying asmr as he is slowly smashed💕

He did make odd tortured squeaking noises while my brother was doing something to him with a saw (no kidding)

[demonslayedher]

Obvioisly flush Gyukko down a toilet

He clogged it

[demonslayedher]

destroy the entire thing with all the other ideas then make a new art piece out of the leftovers (commemoration)

There shall be art of some kind

[demonslayedher]

Throw Mr. Gyokko out a window

He's stuck