Thread by @cactuzz4nf

yoriichi & kokushibo: the sun & the moon

demon slayer thread

the second noble truth in buddhism teaches us that because we believe we are a permanent and unchanging self we fall into clinging and craving, jealousy and hate, and all other poisons that cause unhappiness. this is kokushibo and his search for the ‘self’. +

yoriichi and kokushibo present two opposing halves, much like other siblings have throughout demon slayer. one was given the rights to the house, education, clothes etc while the other was ‘blessed’ with talent. kokushibo’s journey stems from egotism. +

he overvalued his own importance and this led to his suffering (dukkha, the endless cycle of existence in buddhism). that’s the crux, he was never able to be content with the things he had, he was never able to value them, and thus in the act of seeking more he lost what he had.+

it’s evident in their names. kokushibo was named after strength, the false ideal that we’ve seen critiqued through akaza. yoriichi was named in the hope he would instead value human connection over that. it’s the biggest theme in demon slayer, that there is nothing of more +

important than our bonds and the meaning that gives us. hence yoriichi is the sun who provides warmth and light, kokushibo uses moon breathing, a mere reflection of that. he did not travel his own path but instead became a warped imitation of his brother’s, never reaching him. +

that’s why he’s symbolically brought down by his own imitation, genya. his blood demon art was a tree and this was reflected back at him, showing his inability to escape his ‘roots’ that had kept him bound to this existence that had warped him into a monster. +

it’s shown through his disdain of yoriichis smile. yoriichi was someone with every right to curse the world, shunned and almost killed due to his mark but instead found value in the things he DID have, instead of lamenting that which he didn’t. +

kokushibo had defined himself as someone who had ‘worth’ through strength and this warped perspective was misaligned with reality. he is the representation of false enlightenment. just like the moon often symbolises enlightenment but he used crescent moon attacks (not whole). +

he could see the moves of others but could not recognise the distortion in himself and his own ugliness. this is paralleled to the truly ‘enlightened’ one, who could see through others without any prior training. they are totally opposed to one another despite being twins. +

yoriichi supported, helped, and most importantly was content with his place in the world while kokushibo could not bear to do the same. yoriichi died standing as a human and his breathing techniques were passed down throughout humanity. +

kokushibo died on the ground without even his body remaining. what remained was the flute, an object signifying their connection which yoriichi treasured while he never could. he lost everything because he couldn’t be content with ‘something’. he opposed the messages of the story

the commentary throughout demon slayer on the meaning of bonds, especially familial/sibling ones is incredibly heartwarming. these two showed the paths a human can take and did it very well. kokushibo was never able to understand, even at death. end of thread