Yoriichi Tsugikuni

**Yoriichi Tsugikuni** (  *Tsugikuni Yoriichi*?) is a legendary Demon Slayer who lived nearly during the Sengoku Era, as well as the strongest Demon Slayer to have ever existed. He is also the inventor of Breathing Styles, being the one who created the first ever Breathing Style, Sun Breathing.

Yoriichi is the younger twin brother of Michikatsu Tsugikuni, who later became a demon and joined the Twelve Kizuki.

## Appearance

Yoriichi is a tall man with a lean muscular built and long and spiky hair with red tips that he kept tied in a ponytail. Unlike his twin, Michikatsu, he was slightly more slender and had shorter bangs and wavier hair than him. Yoriichi is always seen with an aloof and solemn look on his face, rarely showing emotion.

Yoriichi wore a red haori over a very pale orange-colored nagagi kimono with a black umanori-styled hakama, a pair of zōri with red straps and white tabi socks, with a Nichirin Sword carried at the left side of his waist, conventional to most Demon Slayers. He sported hanafuda earrings created by his mother as charms when he was thought to be deaf; he later gave them to his friend Sumiyoshi.

## Personality

Yoriichi was a calm and respectful individual who wore a solemn and reserved expression at all times, rarely showing outbreaks of emotion. Generally, Yoriichi had a matching low and serene disposition, evident when he killed demons without changing expression.

Because of his gentle disposition and unchanging facial expression, most could not tell what he was feeling: the only person who could read his feelings without difficulty was his wife. He was also extremely humble, seeing himself as just another man and no one special despite his godly attributes; an example being the time he performed the Sun Breathing's forms for Suyako at her request and almost seemed embarrassed afterwards. Yoriichi was also noted by his brother to always have had faith in the future and was confident that despite the immense power of the Demon Slayers after they started using Breathing Styles, a generation would emerge that would surpass their own.

Despite being mostly nonchalant, he does experience strong emotions; he grieved the loss of Uta and their unborn child for ten straight days and was driven to tears seeing the joy Sumire showed at the simple act of being lifted up. He also smiled warmly and expressed gratitude to Sumiyoshi after his friend told him his life was not worthless and promised to preserve his Sun Breathing forms through his descendants. Yoriichi is also very kind, shown when he was on the way to fetch a midwife in preparation of the birth of his child, only to stop and help an old man he met along the way reach his dying son.

As a child, it was shown that Yoriichi adored and idolized his older brother, Michikatsu, even declaring that he would support his brother's dream of becoming the strongest samurai in the land, and Yoriichi himself would become the second strongest. Even in his childhood, he was also extremely reserved and quiet, even being thought deaf by his family for seven years as he never spoke.

Yoriichi is shown to love his family greatly: he cared for his ailing mother when no one else knew she was ill and protected his father by not telling anyone about how he berated him as a child. He was particularly fond of his older twin brother, evident when he kept the flute Michikatsu gave him before he ran away from home all the way till his death. When he met him after sixty years, the latter having embraced his new life as a demon. Yoriichi was deeply devastated and saddened by what his brother had become, expressing how heart-wrenching the sight of his brother was and even teared up.

## Trivia

* Yoriichi's family name is composed of the Kun'yomi reading of the kanji for "to inherit, succeed" ( *tsugi*?) and "country, kingdom" ( *kuni*?). His given name contains the Kun'yomi reading aswell and means "fate, destiny" ( *yori*?) and the traditional daiji for "one" ( *ichi*?).
* The bag in which Yoriichi carried his brother's flute may have possibly been made of the cloth of his late wife's kimono, as the cloth patterns between the bag and kimono are quite similar.
* There are times where Uta believed he was the spirit of "Kṣitigarbha/Jizō" ( *Jizō*?) (a bodhisattva known for this vows of instruction of the Six Worlds of Saṃsāra and not attaining buddhahood until all Naraka hells are empty) or "Zashiki-warashi" (?), a young-childlike yōkai who protects households.
* The relationship between Yoriichi and Michikatsu parallels the mythology of the Shintō deities Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, respectively. Amaterasu is the most sacred of Shintō deities, the sun goddess. Tsukuyomi, the moon god, is her former husband and brother. After Tsukuyomi killed Ōgetsu-hime/Ukemochi, the Shintō deity for food, Amaterasu refused to ever look upon him again, moving to another part of the sky and beginning the cycle of day and night. Like the deities, the siblings also feud and have chosen different paths (that of the Demon Slayer and the demon), developing their respective breathings of the sun and moon.
* After his mother gave him his signature Hanafuda earrings, Yoriichi realized he received them because his family had considered him deaf. His mother, Akeno, was the first person he had ever spoken to; to confirm that he wasn't deaf, he said, "I can hear you".
* Although he is normally quiet and calm in nature, he chatted frequently after getting along with the Hashira of the Sengoku Era. Despite their initial anger for his brother's transformation, some of the Hashira would continue to speak with Yoriichi after his banishment, due to their close friendship.
* In the Volume 23 extras, It is strongly implied that Yoriichi and his wife Uta reincarnated into modern time and became a very happy couple with kids.

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/RicepirateMick/status/1509236362465083393