Chapter 5

## Tanjiro's Journal, Part 2

**Tanjiro's Journal, Part 2** (炭 (たん) 治 (じ) 郎 (ろう) 日 (にっ) 記 (き)  • 後 (こう) 篇 (へん) , *Tanjirō Nikki • Kōhen*?) is the fifth chapter of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

## Summary

The boy with a fox mask challenges Tanjiro to a fight to which he declines, as the stranger is only wielding a wooden sword while Tanjiro has with him a real sword. The boy laughs at Tanjiro believing he had a chance and declares that as someone who had succeeded in splitting the boulder, he wouldn't be hurt by someone weaker. Shocked by learning the boulder can be split, Tanjiro is beaten down by the stranger's superior technique, who continues to admonish him for only remembering Total Concentration Breathing as a fact without understanding it, much less use it.

Tanjiro claims he has tried to do so but the boy tells him that trying and doing it is not the same. Ordering him to attack with all his strength, Tanjiro swings at the stranger, who dodges and strikes him in the chin, knocking him unconscious. With his opponent defeated, the masked boy turns his attention to a girl entering the forest, only telling her, "*I'll leave the rest to you*".

When Tanjiro awakens, he sees the girl and asks her if she had witnessed the fight. Tanjiro tells her he wants to be as skilled as the boy someday. The girl replies that he will indeed be able to master those techniques one day, and she will be there to witness his strength. Tanjiro requests for her name, thinking to himself that the girl is cute. She introduces herself as Makomo and the boy with the fox mask as Sabito.

Over time, Makomo acts as Tanjiro's teacher to aid him in correcting his sword postures, bad habits, and breathing techniques. When Tanjiro asks why she was willing to teach him, she only replies, "*We really like Urokodaki*", to Tanjiro's confusion. Makomo also informs Tanjiro that Sabito and her are not siblings, rather orphans taken in by Sakonji along with many children that are currently watching him.

Makomo teaches him the importance of Total Concentration Breathing. It accelerates blood flow and increases the body's temperature, enabling them to match a demon's strength. By expanding the lungs, one can force much air into the body and become stronger. Tanjiro is perplexed by this understanding; when asking Makomo how it is possible, she only says, "*You must train so hard that you could die. Basically, I don't think there's anything else you can do*". Over time, even after excessively training, to the point where his arms feels as if they may fall off and his heart and lungs burn in his chest, Tanjiro is still unable to defeat Sabito.

Six months pass since Tanjiro has met Sakonji's students, culminating in a final spar with Sabito now armed with a real blade. A determined and changed Tanjiro tells Sabito that he will win. In a simple head-on contest, the stronger and faster blade wins: Tanjiro and Sabito clash but it is Tanjiro who strikes first, cutting through Sabito's fox mask. It falls off, revealing Sabito smiling at him. A smiling Makomo tells him: "*Win Tanjiro...against them too"*.

Sabito and Makomo disappear in a haze, and Tanjiro realizes that his sword, believing had cut through Sabito's mask, has actually sliced the boulder in half.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Tanjiro Kamado
* Sabito
* Makomo

## Events

* The masked boy defeats Tanjiro in an initial spar.
* Tanjiro meets two students of Sakonji: Makomo and Sabito.
* Tanjiro's strength and technique is refined even further.
* Tanjiro defeats Sabito in a final spar, later revealing that he has sliced the boulder successfully.