Tengen Uzui: Sound Pillar - Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer)
Tengen Uzui (宇髄 天元 Uzui Tengen) is a part of the Demon Slayer corps and uses the Breath of Sound (音の呼吸 Oto no Kokyu) a unique breath style branched off from the Breath of Thunder (雷の呼吸 Kaminari no Kokyu) in the Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) series. He is the former Sound Pillar and retired due to injury after fighting Upper Moon Six, Daki and Gyutaro. Tengen is a very tall, muscular man with white hair and fuchsia coloured eyes. He has many ear piercings and lots of jewel decorations to be as his catchphrase ‘flamboyant’. Around his left eye he draws on fuchsia colored circles with lines leading towards his eye. When he takes off his jewels and makeup to become someone boring and not flamboyant we see that he is quite a handsome man with many of the characters blushing when around his ‘disguise’.
While he was a Pillar he wore a sleeveless version of the standard Demon Slayer uniform with a thick gold ring around both of his upper arms and two smaller gold rings around both his wrists around a wrist guard. Tengen also wears a white head wrap covering his hair as well as a large grey headband adorned with 3 large and 3 small gemstones. After retiring he is seen wearing a patterned yukata and a black haori with a black eyepatched adorned with gemstones covering his left eye.
“Then let me cut off her head flamboyantly. I’ll show that I can spray the blood more flamboyantly than anyone else. I’ll be a flamboyant flamboyance.”
—Tengen to Pillars, Demon Slayer Chapter 45
Profile
- Age: 23 years
- Height: 198cm
- Weight: 95kg
- Birthdate: October 31
- Manga Debut: Chapter 44
- Anime Debut: Episode 21
- Japanese Voice Actor: Katsuyuki Konishi
- Status: Alive
History
Tengen is one out of nine siblings from a declining Shinobi Clan. Due to the harsh training seven of his siblings died by the time he was 15, leaving only himself and a younger brother. He hated the thought of becoming like his father and younger brother who were the same, uncaring towards life and thinking of people only as tools. Instead he chooses a completely different set of values to live by and instructs his three kunoichi wives, Makio, Suma, and Hinatsuru, to value themselves more even though it was the opposite of what they were taught.
Personality
Tengen is a very eccentric person, always wanting to be flashy and 'flamboyant'. He seems to be uncaring and forceful towards many people but, we can see that he is actually kind hearted. He tells his wives to prioritise their lives first, second innocent people, and lastly himself. Despite being brought up and trained as a shinobi who value completing the mission above anything else, Tengen instead believes that one should value their lives over their mission or his own.
Skills and Abilities
- Master Swordsman: Being a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, Tengen is one of the most powerful and skilled swordsmen in the entire organization.
- Unique Weapon: Tengen uses two large Nichirin Blades, each have a notch in the sharp ends of their blades and are held together at the hilt by a metal chain. The swords also contain large amounts of explosive power, and it is stated that, until Tengen's fight with Upper Moon Six, no one had ever survived a blow from them. He also carries bombs with him. They are small but powerful anti demon bombs, made with a special gunpowder and uses his sound abilities to make sure there is no collateral damage on humans when throwing them out of his line of sight.
- Echolocation: Tengen has superhuman hearing similar to Zenitsu Agatsuma, just far more advanced. This ability allows him to easily hear noises deep underground, and he uses it to immediately figure out that there are underground tunnels and caves directly beneath him when he's looking for Tanjiro Kamado. By analyzing the sounds reflected and resonated through the air by the walls of the caverns, he can accurately locate and is even able to guess the number of people inside the tunnels by listening to the sounds bouncing from their physical bodies.
- Immense Strength: Tengen possesses great physical strength, in an arm wrestling contest between the Pillars, Tengen is ranked second with only Gyomei Himejima surpassing him.
- Enhanced Speed: Tengen possesses great speed, because of his training as a shinobi, he is able to move swiftly and silently despite his large build.
Total Concentration Breathing: Breath of Sound
- First Style: Thunder (壱ノ型 轟 Ichi no kata: Todoroki): Tengen lifts his twin swords above his head and slams them down with great force creating an explosion with his bombs, causing a loud sound resembling thunder.
- Second Style: N/A
- Third Style: N/A
- Fourth Style: Death Knells of Avici (肆ノ型 響斬無間 Shi no Kata: Kyozan Muken): Tengen holds his swords apart and spins them rapidly in conjunction with releasing his bombs, making this technique a combination of offense and defense.
- Fifth Style: Symphony of Shrill Strings (伍ノ型 鳴弦奏々 Go no Kata: Meigen Soso): Tengen holds one of his swords with a reverse grip, and spins the other using the chain that connects them.