Demon Slayer Breathing Styles Explained – Complete Guide

From the first moment Tanjiro Kamado unleashes a torrent of swirling water from his blade, it’s clear that the combat in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is something special. These spectacular, elemental displays are not magic, but the physical manifestation of a swordsman’s pinnacle of skill: Breathing Styles. More than just flashy techniques, they are the very heart of the Demon Slayer Corps, the crucial art that allows mere humans to stand against the monstrous, regenerative power of demons.

This complete guide will delve into the intricate world of Breathing Styles, explaining their origin, the foundational principles that power them, and a detailed breakdown of every major style seen in the series, from the original Sun Breathing to its many powerful derivatives.

The Foundation of Power: Total Concentration Breathing

Before any slayer can manifest a “style,” they must first master its engine: Total Concentration Breathing (全集中呼吸, Zen Shūchū no Kokyū). This is the fundamental technique upon which all Breathing Styles are built.

At its core, Total Concentration Breathing is a highly advanced and controlled breathing method that maximizes the user’s oxygen intake. By flooding their bloodstream with oxygen, slayers can energize every cell in their body, granting them physical and mental abilities that far surpass normal human limits. This process results in:

Superhuman Strength and Speed: Muscles are pushed to their absolute peak, allowing for devastating sword strikes and movements faster than the eye can follow.
Enhanced Stamina and Durability: Slayers can fight for extended periods and withstand injuries that would otherwise be incapacitating.
Accelerated Healing: While not on par with demonic regeneration, increased oxygen flow helps staunch bleeding and mend minor wounds more quickly.
Intense Mental Focus: The technique sharpens the mind, allowing for split-second decisions and tactical clarity in the heat of battle.

The true mark of an elite slayer, however, is the ability to maintain this state at all times. This is known as Total Concentration: Constant (全集中・常中, Zen Shūchū – Jōchū). By keeping up this breathing pattern 24/7, even while sleeping, a slayer dramatically elevates their base physical attributes, creating a permanent state of superhuman readiness. This grueling training, as seen when Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke train at the Butterfly Mansion, is what separates the average slayer from the Hashira-level warriors.

The Progenitor Style: Sun Breathing (日の呼吸, Hi no Kokyū)

All Breathing Styles trace their lineage back to one legendary, primordial style: Sun Breathing. It was created by Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the strongest Demon Slayer to have ever lived, during the Sengoku Era. He developed it as the ultimate swordsmanship style specifically designed to defeat demons, including the demon king himself, Muzan Kibutsuji.

Sun Breathing is the perfect and most versatile of all the styles, containing no wasted movements and designed for maximum efficiency and power. It consists of twelve distinct forms, and a mysterious Thirteenth Form. Yoriichi taught this style to other demon slayers, but none could fully master its demanding techniques. Instead, they adapted the principles of Sun Breathing to suit their own physical strengths and weaknesses, creating the primary elemental styles that would form the basis of the Demon Slayer Corps’ combat doctrine.

For centuries, the true Sun Breathing was thought to be lost. However, it was preserved and passed down through Tanjiro Kamado’s family not as a combat art, but as a ritual ceremony known as the Hinokami Kagura (ヒノカミ神楽, “Dance of the Fire God”). Performed from sunset to sunrise every new year as a prayer to ward off threats and diseases, this dance perfectly preserved the twelve forms of Sun Breathing. Tanjiro, recalling his father’s movements, adapts this dance back into a combat style, unknowingly resurrecting the most powerful Breathing Style in existence.

The known forms of Sun Breathing include:

Dance (円舞, Enbu)
Clear Blue Sky (碧羅の天, Heki-ra no Ten)
Raging Sun (烈日紅鏡, Retsujitsu Kōkyō)
Burning Bones, Summer Sun (灼骨炎陽, Shakkotsu En’yō)
Setting Sun Transformation (斜陽転身, Shayō Tenshin)
Solar Heat Haze (陽華突, Yōkatotsu)
Beneficent Radiance (輝輝恩光, Kiki Onkō)
Sunflower Thrust (飛輪陽炎, Hirin Kagerō)
Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance (日暈の龍・頭舞い, Nichiun no Ryū Kaburimai)
Flame Waltz (炎舞, Enbu)
Fake Rainbow (幻日虹, Gen’nichi Kō)
Thirteenth Form: Revealed to be the continuous execution of all twelve forms in succession, a cycle designed to destroy all of Muzan’s twelve vital organs.

The Five Main Elemental Styles

From the foundation of Sun Breathing, the five most common and fundamental styles were developed. Most other Breathing Styles are derivatives of these core five.

1. Water Breathing (水の呼吸, Mizu no Kokyū)

Philosophy: Embodying the adaptive and fluid nature of water, this style is arguably the most common and easiest to learn for beginners. It focuses on flowing, flexible movements that allow the user to deflect, parry, and strike with grace and precision. It is a well-balanced style with strong defensive and offensive capabilities.
Notable Wielders: Giyu Tomioka (Water Hashira), Sakonji Urokodaki (Former Water Hashira), Tanjiro Kamado, Murata.
Forms: It has ten official forms, with an eleventh created by Giyu Tomioka. Key forms include First Form: Water Surface Slash, a clean, single-concentrated slash, and Eleventh Form: Dead Calm, a unique defensive state where the user ceases all movement to nullify any attack that enters their vicinity.
Derivatives: Flower Breathing, Serpent Breathing.

2. Flame Breathing (炎の呼吸, Honō no Kokyū)

Philosophy: A powerful and aggressive style that mirrors the overwhelming and destructive nature of fire. It involves powerful, single strikes delivered with immense force and a commanding presence. Flame Breathing focuses on incinerating demons with overwhelming offense. This style has been traditionally passed down through the Rengoku family.
Notable Wielders: Kyojuro Rengoku (Flame Hashira), Shinjuro Rengoku (Former Flame Hashira).
Forms: It has nine known forms. Notable techniques include First Form: Unknowing Fire, a charging dash and decapitating slash, and its ultimate technique, Ninth Form: Rengoku, a devastating attack that creates a dragon of fire and leaves the ground scorched in its wake.
Derivatives: Love Breathing.

3. Wind Breathing (風の呼吸, Kaze no Kokyū)

Philosophy: This style is defined by its erratic, whirlwind-like movements and relentless offense. Wind Breathing mimics tornadoes and razor-sharp gales, focusing on a wide range of rapid, consecutive slashes that tear demons apart. It is one of the most offensively-oriented styles, requiring a belligerent and aggressive personality to master.
Notable Wielder: Sanemi Shinazugawa (Wind Hashira).
Forms: It consists of nine forms. Techniques like First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter and Seventh Form: Gale – Sudden Gusts create cyclones of slashes that leave the opponent with no room to breathe or counterattack.
Derivatives: Mist Breathing, Beast Breathing.

4. Stone Breathing (岩の呼吸, Iwa no Kokyū)

Philosophy: Reflecting the steadfast and unyielding nature of the earth, Stone Breathing is focused on sturdiness, defense, and immense physical power. Its users are typically the most physically robust of all slayers. Unlike other styles that use a standard Nichirin Katana, Stone Breathing often employs unique weapons like a flail and axe.
Notable Wielder: Gyomei Himejima (Stone Hashira), widely regarded as the strongest of the current Hashira.
Forms: It has five forms. Gyomei utilizes his extreme physical strength and heightened sense of hearing to master techniques like Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock – Rapid Conquest, a devastating combination attack with both his axe and flail.

5. Thunder Breathing (雷の呼吸, Kaminari no Kokyū)

Philosophy: This style focuses on channeling immense power and speed into the user’s legs, allowing for attacks that are as fast and explosive as a lightning strike. Thunder Breathing users focus all their energy into a single, perfect, instantaneous strike.
Notable Wielders: Zenitsu Agatsuma, Jigoro Kuwajima (Former Thunder Hashira), Kaigaku.
Forms: There are six standard forms, though Zenitsu only ever mastered the first. However, he honed this First Form: Thunderclap and Flash to such a godlike degree—developing Sixfold, Eightfold, and Godspeed variations—that he became one of the fastest slayers. He later created his own Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami to counter his demonic former training partner.
Derivatives: Sound Breathing.

Major Derivative Breathing Styles

As slayers adapted the five main styles, new and more personalized forms of swordsmanship emerged. These derivative styles are often tailored to a wielder’s unique physiology, personality, or weaponry.

Mist Breathing (霞の呼吸, Kasumi no Kokyū)

Derived From: Wind Breathing.
Philosophy: Mist Breathing focuses on obscuring the opponent’s perception and senses, mimicking the disorienting nature of a thick mist. The user employs rapid movements and feints, often clad in loose clothing, to create an illusion of slowness when they are in fact moving at blinding speeds.
Notable Wielder: Muichiro Tokito (Mist Hashira).
Forms: It has seven forms, including the self-created Seventh Form: Obscuring Clouds, a personal technique that drastically alters the tempo of movement to completely disorient an opponent before delivering a swift strike.

Serpent Breathing (蛇の呼吸, Hebi no Kokyū)

Derived From: Water Breathing.
Philosophy: This style imitates the slithering, twisting, and venomous nature of a snake. It utilizes a special, flexible sword that bends and curves like a serpent, allowing the user to attack from unpredictable angles and bypass an opponent’s guard.
Notable Wielder: Obanai Iguro (Serpent Hashira).
Forms: It has five known forms. Techniques like Fifth Form: Slithering Serpent allow Obanai’s blade to curve and twist around obstacles to decapitate multiple targets at once.

Love Breathing (恋の呼吸, Koi no Kokyū)

Derived From: Flame Breathing.
Philosophy: A completely unique style created by Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Breathing is a product of her incredibly flexible and dense muscular structure. It combines the power of Flame Breathing with the agility and range of a whip. Her Nichirin Blade is long, thin, and malleable like a ribbon, allowing for acrobatic, long-range, whip-like attacks.
Notable Wielder: Mitsuri Kanroji (Love Hashira).
Forms: It has six forms, with names reflecting her personality, such as First Form: Shivers of First Love and Sixth Form: Cat-Legged Winds of Love.

Flower Breathing (花の呼吸, Hana no Kokyū)

Derived From: Water Breathing.
Philosophy: A graceful and swift style that mimics the beauty and elegance of flowers and fruits. It is characterized by fluid, agile movements and attacks that often appear as a flurry of floating petals. It requires exceptional vision.
Notable Wielders: Kanae Kocho (Former Flower Hashira), Kanao Tsuyuri.
Forms: It has seven forms, including the Final Form: Equinoctial Vermilion Eye, a dangerous technique that pushes the user’s kinetic vision to its absolute limit at the risk of causing blindness.

Sound Breathing (音の呼吸, Oto no Kokyū)

Derived From: Thunder Breathing.
Philosophy: Created by Tengen Uzui, Sound Breathing utilizes his heightened sense of hearing to deconstruct his opponent’s movements into a rhythm, or “score.” By analyzing this score, he can predict their actions and strike at their openings with explosive force. He combines this with dual, cleaver-like Nichirin Blades and anti-demon bombs.
Notable Wielder: Tengen Uzui (Sound Hashira).
Forms: It has five known forms, with techniques like Fourth Form: Constant Resounding Slashes and Fifth Form: String Performance creating a whirlwind of sound and destruction.

Unique and Self-Taught Styles

Some styles defy easy categorization, either being self-developed or so radically adapted they stand alone.

Beast Breathing (獣の呼吸, Kedamono no Kokyū)

Derived From: Self-taught, with influences from Wind Breathing.
Philosophy: Created by Inosuke Hashibira, who grew up in the mountains. Beast Breathing is a primal, unpredictable, and ferocious style based on the instincts of wild animals. It utilizes two serrated Nichirin katanas and Inosuke’s incredibly sensitive sense of touch, which he uses to detect minute vibrations in the air.
Notable Wielder: Inosuke Hashibira.
Forms: It has ten known “Fangs,” including Seventh Fang: Spatial Awareness, which allows him to pinpoint the location of enemies in a wide area. He also created a spontaneous technique, Throwing Slice, on the fly.

Insect Breathing (蟲の呼吸, Mushi no Kokyū)

Derived From: Flower Breathing.
Philosophy: This style was created by Shinobu Kocho to compensate for her lack of physical strength; she is the only Hashira unable to decapitate a demon. Insect Breathing focuses on impossibly fast, bee-sting-like thrusts and stabs. Her unique, needle-tipped Nichirin Blade injects a lethal, wisteria-based poison that is tailor-made to kill demons from the inside out.
Notable Wielder: Shinobu Kocho (Insect Hashira).
Forms: The forms are named after insects and focus on speed and poison delivery, such as Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter and Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag.

The Demonic Counterpart: Moon Breathing

Finally, there is one other Breathing Style that stands apart from all others, for it is used by a demon.

Moon Breathing (月の呼吸, Tsuki no Kokyū) was created by Kokushibo, Upper-Rank One of the Twelve Kizuki. In his human life, he was Michikatsu Tsugikuni, the twin brother of Yoriichi. Unable to master Sun Breathing, he created his own style, Moon Breathing. After becoming a demon, he refined it over centuries, combining his swordsmanship with his Blood Demon Art. Every swing of his flesh-katana unleashes not only a powerful slash but also a barrage of chaotic, crescent-moon-shaped blades, making his attacks incredibly difficult to predict and defend against. It is the dark, twisted reflection of the Sun Breathing it could never be.

Conclusion: A Legacy of Willpower

The Breathing Styles of Demon Slayer are far more than a simple power system. They are the thematic core of the series—a testament to human potential, ingenuity, and the unyielding will to fight back against impossible odds. Each style is a legacy, passed down from master to student, adapted and perfected by each generation. They are a reflection of the wielder’s soul: Giyu’s tranquil water, Sanemi’s chaotic wind, Shinobu’s precise poison, and Tanjiro’s compassionate sun. This beautiful and deadly art form is what makes the battles of Demon Slayer not just a visual spectacle, but a profound expression of character and the enduring strength of the human spirit.