Demon Slayer sword guards: each character’s tsuba

A piece of metal the size of a palm, set between the blade and the hand. It cuts nothing, it strikes no one, and yet Demon Slayer fans recognise a character by their guard alone. A black wheel, and it is Tanjiro. Orange flames, and it is a Rengoku. A hexagon, and it is Giyu. The tsuba is each demon slayer’s discreet signature.

Here is what a tsuba is, who each guard belongs to, and why Kyojuro Rengoku’s ends up in Tanjiro’s hands. Our page on Nichirin swords, colours, forging and meaning presents the weapon as a whole.

What is a tsuba?

The tsuba, 鍔 in Japanese, is the guard of Japanese swords. Set between the blade and the handle, it stops the hand from sliding towards the blade during a strike, and it balances the weight of the weapon. It is often round, sometimes square, oval or cut into freer shapes.

In Japan, over the centuries, these guards became an art form in their own right. Craftsmen pierced them, engraved them, inlaid them with coloured metals, and samurai families had their own motifs put on them. The same blade could receive several guards over its lifetime, depending on the occasion.

The guard is only one piece among others. A katana also consists of a handle, the tsuka, bound with a braided cord that forms diamonds, two collars that finish it off, a small metal ring that locks the blade in the scabbard, and the scabbard itself, the saya. In Demon Slayer, these coloured diamonds on the handle also identify each character: red for Tanjiro, blue for Giyu, yellow for Zenitsu.

Demon Slayer takes up this tradition in its own way. The village swordsmiths shape for each demon slayer a guard that resembles them, and the design of this piece is enough to identify its bearer. Our article on the village swordsmiths tells of these masked craftsmen.

The guards of the main characters

The table brings together the most recognisable guards in the series, as seen in the manga and the anime.

Each shape tells something. The Kocho flowers recall their house full of butterflies, the Rengoku flames their breathing style, the absence of a guard Inosuke’s wildness. Our article on Nichirin sword colours completes this portrait with the colour of the blades.

Tanjiro’s black wheel

Tanjiro’s first sword has a round, black guard, pierced with slots that run out from the centre like the spokes of a wheel. It goes with a blade that is also black, a colour his swordsmith, Hotaru Haganezuka, never got over. Everything is dark on this weapon, like a boy who does not yet know what his blade foretells.

Tanjiro breaks several swords over the course of the series: against Rui’s threads on Mount Natagumo, then in the Entertainment District. Each time, Haganezuka flies into a memorable rage. The guard, for its part, takes on a new meaning in the Swordsmith Village, when Tanjiro receives a new sword. This blade is the old sword found inside the Yoriichi Type Zero puppet, forged several centuries ago, which Haganezuka polished relentlessly, even wounded, while Gyokko was attacking him. Our article on Tanjiro’s black sword tells of this blade.

The Rengoku flames

The Rengoku guard is a flame cut out of metal. It passes from Flame Hashira to Flame Hashira within the family, like the flame haori and the breathing style itself. Kyojuro carries it on the Mugen Train, right up to his last fight against Akaza. His father, Shinjuro, carried it before him, when he was a Hashira himself, before giving it all up for drink.

After his death, Tanjiro goes to the Rengoku home to pass on his last words. Senjuro, the younger brother, entrusts him with Kyojuro’s sword guard. In the Swordsmith Village, it is mounted on Tanjiro’s new sword. From then on, in every fight, the boy holds a piece of his mentor in his hand. Our article on Senjuro Rengoku, the younger brother tells of this gift.

Our 104 cm replica features this orange flame guard with a yellow centre, with a white scabbard striped with black. It is filed in the complete Kyojuro Rengoku collection.

The hexagon of Giyu and Sabito

Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, carries a hexagonal guard, as plain as he is. His blue blade and his haori cut from two fabrics complete a silhouette with no needless ornament. Giyu hardly speaks, and neither does his sword: nothing about him is made to attract attention. Six sides, a muted colour, a barely brighter rim: it is the guard of a man who doubts he has earned his place among the Hashira.

Sabito, Urokodaki’s pupil who died at the Final Selection, left Giyu much more than a weapon. The haori Giyu wears features, on one half, the pattern of Sabito’s, his lost friend, and on the other that of his sister. Giyu carries his dead on his back. Our portrait of Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira tells of this bond.

Our Sabito replica has a golden hexagonal guard with a burgundy centre, on a black blade with a light back. It is filed in the complete Sabito collection.

The flower guards

The most delicate guards belong to the Kocho family. Shinobu’s, like that of her elder sister Kanae, is a flower with four pointed petals, teal, with an orange centre. Kanao Tsuyuri, whom they took in and raised, carries a round guard scattered with cherry blossoms. Makomo, Urokodaki’s pupil, an oval guard with small pink flowers.

These flowers are not mere vanity. The Kocho house, the Butterfly Mansion, is a hospital, and the sisters heal there as much as they fight. Their weapons display this gentleness, even when they are used to inject a deadly poison. Kanae was killed by Doma, and ever since, Kanao has worn her adoptive elder sister’s butterfly hair clip: among the Kochos, objects pass from one sister to the next just as the Rengoku guard passes from father to son. Our portrait of Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Hashira tells of this double life.

Mitsuri Kanroji, for her part, wields a blade as supple as a whip. Our replica of her sword has a golden five-petal flower guard with a dark red centre, and is in the complete Mitsuri Kanroji collection.

Zenitsu’s guard and Genya’s

Zenitsu Agatsuma’s guard is a silver quatrefoil, with four rounded lobes, decorated with triangular reliefs and ringed with gold. The triangles echo those of his yellow haori, a gift from his master, Jigoro Kuwajima. All of Zenitsu’s gear revolves around this motif, right down to the lightning bolt running along his blade.

Genya Shinazugawa, Sanemi’s younger brother, carries a golden guard shaped like two interlocking ellipses. It is almost a detail with him: Genya cannot use breathing styles, fights mostly with a gun and eats demon flesh to borrow their powers. Even so, his sword stays at his belt to the very end. Our portrait of Genya Shinazugawa, Sanemi’s brother tells of this demon slayer apart.

Inosuke and the swords with no guard

Inosuke Hashibira does everything the wrong way round. Like the others, he receives swords forged for him, then he removes the guards and wraps the handles in bandages. He does not stop there: he chips his blades himself against stones, so that they tear instead of cutting cleanly. His swordsmith weeps with rage every time.

This choice fits the character. Raised by boars, Inosuke distrusts everything that comes from humans and reinvents every tool in his own way. He even created his own breathing style on his own, Beast Breathing. He keeps these two chipped blades all the way to the Infinity Castle, where he faces Doma, the demon who killed his mother. Our portrait of Inosuke Hashibira, the boar-headed boy tells of his childhood.

The Hashira weapons that are not katanas

Several Hashira have no guard in the classic sense, because they do not wield a katana. Gyomei Himejima fights with an axe and a spiked flail linked by a chain. Tengen Uzui whirls two large chained cleavers. Obanai Iguro wields a blade that undulates like a snake, designed to get around the opponent’s guard and strike where they do not expect it, in the image of Serpent Breathing. Mitsuri, for her part, wraps her supple blade around her enemies.

Sanemi Shinazugawa, for his part, keeps a classic katana, with a green guard bristling with points that suits his temperament. So does Muichiro Tokito, with a white blade. Our article on the Hashira’s weapons details each of these made-to-measure weapons, and our page on the Demon Slayer Hashira presents their bearers.

Our Muichiro replica has a golden guard designed like a maze, on a light blade with green characters. It is filed in the complete Muichiro Tokito collection.

Choosing a replica for its guard

For a cosplay, the guard matters as much as the colour of the blade. It is what you see up close in photos, in the foreground, when the character holds the sword in front of them. A faithful guard makes the character recognisable, even to someone who cannot see the blade.

Our LED katanas also reproduce the guards: an orange flame around a black centre for Rengoku, an openwork six-pointed star for Sanemi. Lit up in the dark, the blade catches the eye, but it is the guard that says which character you are playing.

Our 104 cm replicas feature each character’s guard and colour on a bamboo blade. Look at the guard on the product page first, then the length: our replicas measure 104 cm in total, including 75 cm of blunt blade, which gives the look of a real katana without any danger. Also think of the stand to display it between two conventions. A katana at the belt completes any demon slayer cosplay. Our article on which Demon Slayer katana to choose compares replicas, LED and LED mist katanas.

Those who like building things will also find katanas to assemble, whose guard is put together piece by piece. Our page Tanjiro Kamado, everything about the hero traces the journey of the boy whose guard changed the most over the course of the series, and the Demon Slayer katanas collection brings together all our replicas.