Kimetsu no Yaiba: Which Hashira Can Survive Demonic Poison?

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the second season of Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer, available on Funimation, Crunchyroll and more, as well as some later chapters of the manga.

Despite his incredible strength and heroic efforts, Tengen Uzui of the Pillars needed a lot of help to defeat Gyutaro. The sixth upper demon moon proved not to be easy to defeat in the Red District arc, almost claiming the life of a Hashira from beyond the grave. Gyutaro’s deadly poison came only moments away from killing Tengen before Nezuko’s bloody technique saved the Sound Hashira’s life. Had Nezuko not been there, Tengen would have been the 16th Hashira to lose his life fighting Gyutaro, and the 23rd to go to Yoshiwara and not return alive.

Although Tengen is considered one of the weaker Hashira, perhaps rightly so, there is little reason to believe that most others would have fared better against Gyutaro. After all, Tengen is a former shinobi with poison resistance and he still struggled to combat the effects of poison well enough to keep fighting effectively. Assuming none of the other Hashira are former shinobi who can resist the poison and stop their own hearts to stop its spread, that only leaves one who could have defeated Gyutaro and survived his poison without Nezuko’s help: Shinobu Kocho. She is a medical expert who could find a cure with some ease.

Shinobu Kocho, is an expert in all things poison and was shown in Kimetsu no Yaiba’s “Natagumo Mountain” arc to always carry various antidotes with her.. Considering that even Tengen’s resistance to the poison wasn’t going to save him from Gyutaro’s, any Hashira other than Shinobu who was attacked by Gyutaro would face certain death.

So even though Gyomei Himejima was the first person on Tengen’s mind when he thought of incredible warriors, and Muichiro Tokito is so talented that he became a Hashira in just two months. Even Iguro Obanai, the Serpent Hashira whom Tengen had called as backup, referred to Gyutaro as the “lower” of the upper demon moons, could have easily succumbed to this attack.

Shinobu, the hashira who could have survived the demon poison

So it stands to reason that these Hashira, who may be worlds above Tengen in strength, could have defeated Gyutaro.. However, it seems far less likely that they, or anyone else, can take him down without taking a single scratch, and that’s all it takes for his deadly venom to take hold. For example, Tengen owes his life to Nezuko’s demon blood art to make it out alive, while Shinobu is the only Hashira who wouldn’t need to bring Nezuko in the first place. Although Shinobu is physically too weak to decapitate demons, he is blindingly fast and uses his special sword to inject Wisteria poison into demons.

Wisteria poison is anathema to demons, a substance that is actually capable of killing them with a large dose. Gyutaro displayed a surprisingly low tolerance, rendering himself helpless by a small amount at the tip of a Kunai. If Shinobu and Gyutaro fought and poisoned each other, the former would most likely be able to heal himself, while a high enough dose of Wisteria would be enough to kill even a higher ranker as we’ll see in the final arcs of the anime. .

Shinobu Kocho, the insect Hashira, makes up for her lack of strength with incredible speed and a large amount of poison., so it probably would have been easier for him to fight Gyutaro and Daki than Tengen. All he would have to do is stab each of them once and wait for them to die from Wisteria’s poison. Not that this is simple: after all, they are of a higher rank. While it seems like many of the Hashira may have taken down Gyutaro easier than Tengen and the boys, poison is Shinobu’s specialty.

Related topics: demon slayer