The Baffling Inner Workings of ‘Demon Slayer’ Ranks

STAND UP STRAIGHT, MIZUNOTE.

Who gave you the right to ask about rank? How’d you ever work up the nerve? The gall? The gumption? DON’T LOOK AT ME WHILE I’M DISCIPLINING YOU.

If I even hear you so much as BREATH I’ll make sure that the only demons you ever slay here at The Corps are the ones that the Hashira leave in the LATRINES. Here at the Demon Slayer Corps, we don’t ASK useless questions, we just do what we’re told. Why? BECAUSE THAT’S HOW YOU ESTABLISH ORDER.

And why do we need order? TO SLAY DEMONS.

A maggot like you wouldn’t know it, but those demons out there are more obsessed with maintaining hierarchy than the Republican Party! They might seem lawless to your untrained eye, but those demons have a ranking system stricter than Sister Mary Alo-vicious down at the Catholic school. Being a part of Muzan’s demons is like being on a damn Navy frigate! Upper Moon One, Lower Moon 6, Upper Moon 3 … there’s a METHOD TO THE MADNESS.

So to keep up with the Joneses—or the Demonses—we here at the DCS have come up with our OWN convoluted ranking system. Mizunoto? Tsuguko? Kakushi? What does it all mean? I’LL TELL YOU WHAT IT MEANS. IT MEANS MIZUNOTO LIKE YOU WHO ARE WORTH LESS THAN THE UNIFORMS THEY PISS THEMSELVES IN. THERE’S A PECKING ORDER HERE, KID. AND YOU ARE DEAD LAST.

But you know what they say, spare the rod, spoil the child. Since you asked about the pecking order, I’ve decided to beat you over the head with a rod called KNOWLEDGE. So you never ask me brain-dead questions like this AGAIN.

The Demon Slayer Corps Ranks

It all starts with where you’re at now. The lowest of the low. Mizunoto. You’re a new recruit. I’ll give you about a week here. Maybe two until some demon is using your lower ribs as a toothpick.

After that, we’ve got quite a few more ranks. Here they are in ascending order:

• Mizunoe
• Kanoto
• Kanoe
• Tsuchinoto
• Tsuchinoe
• Hinoto
• Hinoe
• Kinoto
• Kinoe

Now … what do all these ranks mean? I HAVE NO DAMN IDEA. NO ONE DOES. THEY’RE COMPLETELY ARBITRARY.

Take Tanjiro for example. Kid started out at the Corps as a Mizunoto like you. He and his little friends Zenitsu and Inosuke got promoted after fighting that Upper Rank demon Akaza during the Mugen Train incident. Promoted all the way to Kanoe. Just skipped right over Mizunoe and Kanoto. And there is NO RHYME OR REASON FOR IT. We don’t know ANYTHING.

A person’s Demon Slayer rank just MAGICALLY CHANGES for reasons completely unrelated to the plot. And the only way to check one’s rank is by using the Wisteria Flower Engraving technique. How do you do that? All you have to do is say the password and flex your arm and *bam*, you’ll see your rank. Do it right now. I’m sure you’re still nothing but a lowly Mizunoto not even worth licking the scum off of—WAIT WHAT. YOU’RE A KANOTO NOW? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? THAT MEANS YOU … outrank me now.

Um.

Well sir, I suppose you’d like me to continue explaining to you the Demon Slayer Ranks? Excellent! Surely I will. And we can just forget about all the things that I said to you in the past right … *gulp* right?

*Ahem* so the highest ranking that a Demon Slayer can attain is the rank of Kinoe. It’s the only rank that sits below “Hashira”. The Hashira are in a different league entirely …

Hashira

I’m sure you know this already sir, but the Hashira (meaning “pillar”) are the most powerful slayers in the entire Corps. When a person reaches the rank of Hashira, it means that they have completely mastered a certain type of Breathing Technique, and often times that Breathing Technique is one that they created themselves. Take the Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji for instance. While she was still training, she used Flame Breathing, a technique mastered by the late Flame Hashira himself. Using Flame Breathing techniques as a template, she soon created the Love Breathing Technique to better compliment her natural physical abilities. Basically, to become a Hashira, you have to invent the wheel. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Tsuguko

Sitting between Kinoe and Hashira there is another rank, a special and rare rank that signifies that a highly skilled member of the Corps is being trained as an apprentice to one of the Hashira. Eventually, the Tsuguko will inherit the rank of the Hashira they apprentice. This happens when a Hashira retires or, in the case of the Flame Hashira, who inherited the rank after his father retired, or when a Hashira dies in battle. As of now, Kanao Tsuyuri is the Tsuguko of her older adoptive sister, the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho. If you ever become a Hashira, sir, I would be honored to be your Tsuguko.

Kakushi

While they aren’t combatants, the Kakushi also play an important part in the Demon Slayer Corps hierarchy. They are the medical wing of the DSC, and provide aid to Demon Slayers who become injured in the line of duty. Once again sir, I’d like to stress again how sorry I am for saying those mean things to you when I outranked you. I hope that you don’t hold a grudge, and I REALLY hope that grudge wouldn’t make you do something like tell the Kakushi not to treat me if I ever fall in battle.

Oyakata-Sama

This is the rank held by the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. They’re usually a member of the Ubuyashiki family, and they personally command the nine Hashira in their duties. The Oyakata-Sama also holds the responsibility of overseeing the Final Selection process. They are the brains of the operation, and they deploy Demon Slayers across the land in order to root out demon infestations.

So there you have it, sir! Those are all the ranks! Some make sense, some don’t! And oh! Would you look at that … seems like my detailed explanation caused me to get a PROMOTION. I’m Hinoto now, and that means YOU’RE A MAGGOT TO ME AGAIN. NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 500.

(featured image: UFOTABLE)