‘Demon Slayer’: Does Tanjiro Become a Hashira?
Tanjiro Kamado is one of the best protagonists in the era of the post-“Big Three” anime series. The protagonist of the Demon Slayer series had absolutely everything you’d want from a great anime protagonist. Now, Tanijro eventually becomes one of the strongest Demon Slayers in the series, but does Tanjiro become a Hashira as well? Keep reading to find out.
Although Tanjiro reaches Hashira-level powers and completes most of the training, he never actually becomes a Hashira. The reason for that is this: when Tanjiro actually reached the necessary level of power, the final fight against Muzan had already begun, and when Muzan was defeated, the Demon Slayer Corps simply disbanded as there were no demons to fight against.
The rest of this article will elaborate further on the answer given above. We will answer some specific questions and reveal more details and information on Tanjiro’s path to (not) becoming a Hashira.
Does Tanjiro Kamado Become a Hashira in Demon Slayer?
Tanjiro Kamado doesn’t need any introduction, but the Hashira might be unknown to some readers, which is why we are going to start this section off with an introduction of the Hashira.
The Hashira are the nine most powerful swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps. As such, they are the soldiers with the highest level of the organization, most of the elites who each play a central role in their war against Muzan Kibutsu.
To become a Hashira, a Slayer must be among the strongest fighters in the Corps. There are two known methods of proving that a Slayer is worthy of becoming a Hashira: the first method is to kill at least 50 demons, and the second method is to kill a demon member of the Twelve Demonic Moons, the 12 strongest demons in the world, who serve directly under the Demon Lord, Muzan Kibutsuji.
The effort required to perform either of these methods requires almost five years of training, although the talented take only two or three years to do so. The Hashira Training is a special training session conducted by the Hashira and undertaken by many lower-rank demon slayers.
This training aims to improve the physical abilities and overall health of all Slayers, giving members of the Demon Slayer Corps a better chance of winning the war against the Demons.
Each of the Hashira oversees a different part of the training program. The known training includes basic endurance training, flexibility training, speed training, fencing training, hammering training, and strength training.
This training is extremely arduous; for this reason, the majority of Slayers view the workout as an eternal journey to hell, with a few notable exceptions who see the workout as a chance to improve.
As a rule, the Hashira should participate in the training sessions. This is seen as a win-win situation for both the Hashira and Slayers, as even Hashira get better at being constantly attacked in wave after wave of Slayers ranked lower than themselves.
Now that we know what the Hashira are and how one becomes a Hashira, we can continue with the topic at hand. So, does Tanjiro become a Hashira? Let us see a list of the known members of the Hashira (since the Hashira ended up being disbanded, all the members listed here are former members):
| Hashira | Title |
|---|---|
| Kyojuro Rengoku† | Flame Hashira |
| Tengen Uzui | Sound Hashira |
| Muichiro Tokito† | Mist Hashira |
| Shinobu Kocho† | Insect Hashira |
| Mitsuri Kanroji† | Love Hashira |
| Obanai Iguro† | Serpent Hashira |
| Gyomei Himejima† | Stone Hashira |
| Kanae Kocho† | Flower Hashira |
| Sakonji Urokodaki | Water Hashira |
| Jigoro Kuwajima† | Thunder Hashira |
| Shinjuro Rengoku | Flame Hashira |
| Giyu Tomioka | Water Hashira |
| Sanemi Shinazugawa | Wind Hashira |
As you can see, Tanjiro Kamado is not listed among the 13 Hashira that have been revealed in the manga. This means, as you might have inferred, that he never actually became a Hashira, despite actually going through with the training in the Hashira Training arc and later reaching a Hashira-level of power.
In the following section, we will give you a detailed explanation as to why Tanjiro never became a Hashira.
Why Tanjiro Never Became a Hashira?
Now, we have established that Tanjiro satisfied all the necessary prerequisites to become a Hashira. In the Hashira Training arc, we see Tanjiro attend the Hashira Training led by The Hashira, which is a special training session aimed at improving the abilities and physical health of all Demon Slayers.
The training was shared between the Hashira. First, the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, organized training on basic endurance. Then the Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, took care of the flexibility training, and the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, took care of the fast movement training.
The Serpent Hashira, Obanai Iguro, then focused on revising sword skills, followed by the Wind Pillar, Sanemi Shinazugawa, who handled the pounding training, and finally, the Stone Pillar, Gyomei Himejima, who trained muscle building.
The Insect and Water Hashira, Shinobu Kocho, and Giyu Tomioka did not participate in the training. But the latter then take part in the session thanks to the motivation of Tanjiro Kamado.
Tanjiro successfully passed this training session, but his power level was still not high enough for him to become a Hashira since his mastery of the Sun Breathing Style wasn’t that good. As time passed and the final battle with Muzan approached, Tanjiro became even stronger and soon mastered the only Breathing style directly fatal to Muzan.
After the Infinity Castle arc, Tanjiro Kamado regains consciousness and sees the night sky above him, finally back to the surface after Yushiro has worked to get them all there. Realizing that they are in the middle of the city, Tanjiro panics, and Kiriya Ubuyashiki sweats and says that they have all been thrown much further than he had imagined.
He asks his sister how much time is left before dawn, and she informs him that there is still an hour and a half until dawn Kiriya’s eyes widen, knowing that there is still so much left. A crow tells the Demon Slayers how long they have until dawn, and noting the fact, Tanjiro looks around to confirm that his comrades are okay.
Relieved that the Hashira who were with him were all safe, Tanjiro moves to try and sniff Muzan. Suddenly, the Demon Lord bursts through a pile of rubble, sending it flying in all directions. Enraged, Muzan mocks the demon slayers and challenges them to keep him there until dawn if they can even do it.
They eventually did it, although it was no easy battle. On the brink of death, Muzan tried to bond with Tanjiro to become invincible, and while he did succeed, thereby creating Demon King Tanjiro, he ultimately lost the battle as Tanjiro managed to defeat Muzan from the inside, gaining more power and slashing the Demon King from the inside, ultimately killing him.
During this battle, Tanjiro demonstrated just how good he was, proving that he was more than ready to become a Hashira. So, what happened?
We have established that Tanjiro was ready to become a Hashira, and seeing how his specialty was the Sun Breathing style, he would probably have become the Sun Hashira. Although this is the most powerful style, Tanjiro was still not as powerful as the then-current Stone and Water Hashira, but he was stronger than most Hashira. Why did he not become a Hashira, then?
Unfortunately for him, Tanjiro was ready at the wrong time. Namely, with the defeat of Muzan, the demons were effectively wiped out from existence. There were no more demons in the world.
This meant that the Demon Slayer Corps, whose sole purpose was to fight demons and protect the world from their evil deeds, was no longer needed. Because of that, the Demon Slayer Corps simply disbanded, as they had no one to fight against.
As for the Hashira, they were a group operating as part of the Demon Slayer Corps. With the Demon Slayer Corps now disbanded and unnecessary, the Hashira also disbanded and thus Tanjiro never got the opportunity to become a Hashira, although he was ready for it.
Will Tanjiro Become a Hashira in the Future?
Seeing how we know the ending of the Demon Slayer manga, we can give a straightforward answer here – Tanjiro doesn’t become a Hashira in the future. As we’ve said, the Demon Slayer Corps disbanded after Muzan’s defeat simply because there was no one to fight against anymore, and since the Hashira were a group within the Demon Slayer Corps, they also disbanded.
The world was finally free of demons, and the future shown in the controversial Chapter 205, the final chapter of the manga, revealed a future where some old faces returned, with everyone taking a new role in a modern, demon-free society. Whether you liked the ending or not, it is how the author imagined the post-Demon Slayer world; Tanjiro never becomes a Hashira.
