A collage of the 6 Upper Rank demons, shown as vertical slivers of close-up images of each side-by-side, starting with Upper Rank 1 on the left and going through to Upper Rank 6 on the right.

THE TWELVE KIZUKI

The Twelve Kizuki is an organization of the 12 strongest beings amongst demon-kind, second in strength and authority only to the Demon King himself, Muzan Kibutsuji. Each member of the Twelve Kizuki has received a large portion of Muzan's blood, greater than any other demon, thus exponentially increasing their power. As a testament to this, every member of the Twelve Kizuki can use Blood Demon Arts, supernatural powers and techniques manifested through their blood that only significantly powerful demons have access to. The Twelve Kizuki are divided into two groups, the six Upper Ranks, numbered one through six, and the six Lower Ranks, also numbered one through six. The number signifies their ranking among the Twelve Kizuki, determined by each member's level of strength, Upper Rank One being the strongest and Lower Rank Six being the weakest. The Lower Ranks have their numbers and ranks engraved only into one eye, whereas the Upper Ranks have their numbers in one eye and the kanji for "Upper Rank" in the other.


Upper Ranks

Upper Rank 1: Kokushibo

Nearly five centuries ago during the Sengoku Era, Kokushibo was a human by the name of Michikatsu Tsugikuni, a former Demon Slayer, and the older twin brother of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the strongest Demon Slayer that had ever existed. Kokushibo is also the ancestor of Muichiro Tokito and Yuichiro Tokito and the one responsible for turning Zenitsu Agatsuma's senior, Kaigaku, into a demon and joining the Twelve Kizuki. As the highest-ranking member of the Twelve Kizuki, Kokushibo is an extraordinarily powerful demon, second only to the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji himself. He has battled countless Demon Slayers and has amassed vast experience and knowledge over his nearly 500-year-long life. His abilities have been refined to the highest level, as he is not only a master of Total Concentration Breathing, but also a Marked individual who has gained access to the Transparent World, as well as the demon that possesses the highest concentration of Muzan's blood amongst the Upper Ranks. Complementing his Moon Breathing, Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art allows him to create and manipulate dozens of sharp blades shaped like traditional crescent moons from his flesh katana.

A tall, muscular man with pale skin, long spiky black hair with red tips tied in a ponytail, three sets of eyes on his face, with the middle set displaying the kanji for Upper Rank One on his left eye, wearing a purple and black patterned kimono with a fleshy katana that also has eyes on its hilt and scabbard.

Upper Rank 2: Doma

Over a century ago, Doma held the position of Upper Rank Six, and during that tenure, he turned Gyutaro and Ume into demons and introduced them into the Twelve Kizuki. He is also the leader of the Eternal Paradise Faith, a cult dedicated to worshipping Doma and a place where he listens to all his followers' troubles and gives them advice. He had held this position since he was a human child. It also acts as a place for Doma to gather and kill his victims. This cult also took in Inosuke Hashibira's mother, Kotoha Hashibira, before Doma killed her after finding out that he was eating his followers. Doma's Blood Demon Art grants him extremely powerful cryokinesis. He can generate ice and frost from his flesh and blood and can spawn it anywhere in his vicinity, as well as manipulating it at will, allowing him to unleash incredibly potent ice techniques. Additionally, the ice created from his Blood Demon Art is extremely lethal to those that inhale it, causing the cells of the victim's lungs to die and rendering them unable to breathe very quickly.

A man with spiky, shoulder-length silver-gold hair, vibrant rainbow-colored eyes, and a muscular build, wearing a crown-like hat, a skin-tight red turtleneck with blood dripping patterns and loose tan pants.

Upper Rank 3: Akaza

Over a century ago, Akaza was a human by the name of Hakuji, a prodigious martial artist who trained under Keizo while nursing his daughter, Koyuki, who would later become Akaza's fianceé. Even after becoming a demon and losing his memories of his human life, parts of his human memories still influenced his decisions; he refused to eat or kill women, despite knowing it would make him stronger if he did so. Koyuki's name and hairpin influenced the shape and design of his Compass Needle technique, the martial arts style he uses as a demon was mainly inspired by the Soryu style Keizo taught him, and the naming of his attacks were based on fireworks, a reference to Akaza's promise to take Koyuki to see the fireworks after she was healed. Akaza's Blood Demon Art revolves around martial arts, merging the manipulation of destructive shockwaves and the Soryu-style martial arts he mastered as a human. The shockwaves he controls appear in a striking blue hue and can manifest in various forms, such as nigh-invisible air pressure, circular energy-like shockwaves, or cannon-shaped spikes.

A muscular, average-height man with extremely pale skin that appears almost greenish-white, covered in a network of thick blue lines resembling tattoos, with short pink hair and yellow eyes with a blue colored sclera, wearing a sleeveless and cropped light purple haori and white pants.

Upper Rank 4: Nakime

Nakime recently attained the position of Upper Rank 4 after the death of Hantengu in the Swordsmith Village battle. In the past, Nakime was an obscure amateur biwa musician struggling to make ends meet. After killing her husband, Nakime developed a disturbing habit of killing people before performing for large audiences. During a fateful day, when she had a routine appointment to perform at stage again, she randomly chose a new person to kill and the target happens to be Muzan. She tried to kill him but failed. Muzan was impressed with Nakime's searching skills and pleased with what she did, so he spared her life and offered to make her a demon. Nakime accepted his offer, became a demon and climbed the ranks quicky and became one of Muzan's top servants. Nakime's Blood Demon Art takes the form of an extra-dimensional space that houses a fortress of immense scale known as the Infinity Castle. As its owner, Nakime possesses absolute dominion over the space, being able to manipulate and alter it at will by simply strumming her biwa.

A pale woman with long, glossy black hair that falls in slight waves, obscuring her face with thick bangs, sharp blue-stained nails, and dark pink lips that contrast with her skin tone, wearing a loose black kimono and is always seen holding a four-stringed wooden biwa.

Former Upper Rank 4: Hantengu (Deceased)

Over two centuries ago, Hantengu was once a prolific thief and murderer, whose victims comprised of people who drew attention to his duplicitous actions. He was sentenced to death as an elderly man but was visited by Muzan Kibutsuji whilst awaiting execution, who transformed him into a demon and gave the criminal a new life. Hantengu's Blood Demon Art allowed him to manifest his emotions as younger clones of himself. Each clone personified a core emotion, which could be identified by a kanji on their tongue. These clones all had different appearances, abilities, and weapons, with their individual strength being at least Upper Rank caliber, and all of them seemingly resembled a younger Hantengu. The emotions shown were anger, pleasure, sorrow, joy, hatred, and resentment, with Hantengu himself having the kanji of "fear" etched onto his tongue. This Blood Demon Art was activated when Hantengu's head was cut off, making his head and body turn into two separate clones. Hantengu was killed by Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, during the Swordsmith Village battle.

A short, frail man with a very thin and skeletal body, covered with veins and wrinkles and a large bump on the top of his head, along with horns on each side, seen crouching over on the group with a look of fear on his face.

Upper Rank 5: Gyokko (Deceased)

Before becoming a demon, he was a human by the name of Managi who lived alone on the outskirts of a fishing village. He had a disturbed and violent mind, and thought his drowned parents' corpses were beautiful. He was known for collecting fish carcasses and killing and skinning animals for his art. Gyokko's Blood Demon Art revolved around his porcelain vases. He was able to spawn them anywhere within his vicinity and create multiple pots of varying sizes at once. Gyokko displayed the ability to freely teleport from one pot to another instantaneously, offsetting his lack of legs and allowing him to travel far distances with minimal effort as well as to evade attacks easily. Gyokko could also trap objects (such as people) inside his pots. If the object he wished to seal was too big, the pots could simply compress them to fit inside. Gyokko was killed by Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, during the Swordsmith Village battle.

A pale white, abstracted, grotesque humanoid figure with a muscular upper torso that has no arms and resembles that of an armless statue growing from a porcelain vase, similar to a djinn. His midsection is a vibrant red-violet color while his lower body is a black, serpentine tail with numerous small, infant-like hands protruding from various parts of his body, including his head where they replace ears. His face is highly distorted with large green-lipped mouths where eyes should be, while his actual eyes are in the mouth area and his forehead. He also has thin, purple-blue fins on his head resembling hair.

Upper Rank 6: Gyutaro (Deceased)

Over a century ago, Gyutaro was born into poverty in the Entertainment District's lowest class. His mother was a prostitute who beat and tried to kill him before he was born. She was mentally unstable and unable to afford to feed him. Gyutaro was likely unnamed at birth, and named himself after his brief job as a gyu, or barker, in the Entertainment District. He and his sister were turned into demons by Upper Rank 6 demon, Doma. Gyutaro's Blood Demon Art allowed him to manipulate his own body's blood in various ways. He was shown to generate them from his flesh Kama or from open wounds on his body or release blood at will from his veins. In combat, he usually created barrages of solidified sickle-shaped blood as sharp as blades that could travel at immensely fast speeds to attack his opponents. Gyutaro was capable of freely manipulating these blood slashes at will, altering their movements until they hit his opponent, or shaping them however he pleased. Furthermore, his blood sickles were coated in deadly poison. Gyutaro was defeated by Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, and Hashira, Tengen Uzui, during the Entertainment District battle.

A large, extremely skinny man with pale grey skin and black dots and mist shaped marks appearing all over his body. He has messy, unruly black hair that transitions to a bright lime green at the crown and a set of sharp interlocking teeth. Wearing only baggy blue pants and holding blood-made sickles at his sides.

Upper Rank 6: Daki (Deceased)

Over a century ago, Daki was born in Rashoumongashi, a low-caste area of the Red Light District, during the Edo period. She was given the name Ume and was raised by her older brother Gyutaro. Ume was a beautiful girl who was scouted to work in a prestigious brothel. She was taught how to become an oiran, but her success ended at age 12 when she stabbed a samurai's eye. She was then tied up and burned alive in a ditch. Ume and Gyutaro were found by Doma, the Upper Rank Six at the time, who offered to turn them into demons. Daki's Blood Demon Art allowed her to create flower-patterned obi sashes from her flesh, as well as freely manipulat them at will. Daki often created these sashes from her back and retracted them back into her body when not in use. Her sashes were soft like silk yet as sharp as a Nichirin Sword. In combat, Daki used her obi sashes as powerful and fast tendril-like whips to unleash long-ranged interweaving attacks while also being able to use it to form a shield around her body if need be, making her Blood Demon Art an extremely effective blend of offense and defense. Daki was defeated by Demon Slayers, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira, during the Entertainment District battle.

A tall, curvaceous women, with pale skin and long white hair with three hairpins on each side of her head, wearing pink and black panties with a pink and orange patterned obi wrapped around her stomach and billowing out in different directions around her.

Lower Ranks

A pale young man wearing a white button-down shirt, a long black coat, grey pinstriped pants, and plain grey shoes. He has black shoulder-length hair, that fades into red and blue near his neck. Visible veins appear on his head, and yellow markings appear under his blue eyes. His left hand has a mouth on the back of it.

Lower Rank 1: Enmu (Deceased)

During his life as a human, Enmu had a tendency since childhood to not be able to distinguish the difference between dreams and reality, and this caused many problems for the people around him. As an adult, he pretended to be a doctor. Under the guise of treatments, he misused procedures like hypnotic therapies, as well as convincing patients who did not have long to live that they had recovered their health. One night, Muzan encountered and wanted to completely devour Enmu. His intestines were eaten by the demon and he was not supposed to turn into a demon at first, but because he felt no pain from the fatal wound, he envied and praised Muzan. With those last words, his heart and brain stopped working, eventually leading Muzan to turn him into a demon. Enmu's Blood Demon Art granted him the ability to force anyone into a deep sleep. The slumber induced was very potent and it took considerable effort to wake the victim up. However, his state of sleep was not perfect, as Enmu carefully preferred to stay away from Demon Slayers out of fear that his bloodlust could awaken them, although he was far less cautious against normal human targets. Enmu was killed by Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, during a battle on a moving train.

An older man with a stocky build and pale skin decorated with black vein-like patterns down his face, arms and legs. He has long dark purple hair and a short, japped beard and wears a dark cyan version of a typical karate gi.

Lower Rank 2: Rokuro (Deceased)

Rokuro feared and respected Muzan as his leader. Following the death of Rui, Lower Rank Five, Rokuro was summoned to the Infinity Castle by Nakime. After witnessing Muzan destroy almost every Lower Rank, Rokuro became terrified that the same would happen to him. Rokuro begged Muzan for more blood to increase his strength and avoid being killed. Rokuro was confident in his abilities as a demon and believed that with more of Muzan's blood, he could become a strong fighter in the Twelve Kizuki. Upon hearing this, Muzan angrily asks how he can make such an "order", denouncing the demon as shameless. Rokuro begs for forgiveness and claims he misunderstood his intentions, but Muzan only tells him that his word is absolute, telling the Lower Two that he deserved to die before killing him.

A pale man of average stature, with three large cross-shaped scars cut into his cheeks and center of his forehead, and elf-like pointed ears. He wears a dotted, bamboo-colored yukata with a pinstripe pattern.

Lower Rank 3: Wakuraba (Deceased)

Wakuraba was very loyal to Muzan Kibutsuji, but he also believed in self-preservation. Nakime summoned Wakuraba to the Infinity Castle along with the other remaining Lower Ranks after the death of Lower Rank Five, Rui. Muzan angrily retorted that it has been a hundred years since the Upper Ranks were last replaced, yet the Lower Ranks are replaced continuously. When Muzan executed two of his fellow Lower Ranks, Wakuraba wanted to improve himself to win Muzan's support. But, realizing that their minds could be read and their situation was hopeless with Muzan's lack of mercy, Wakuraba noticed that Muzan was busy absorbing the remains of Lower Rank Four and had no intention of sparing anyone. In a desperate attempt to survive, Wakuraba tried to flee the Infinity Castle with his life, only for Muzan to effortlessly decapitate him from a distance and completely nullify his regeneration, killing Wakuraba soon after.

A short, pale woman of slight stature with medium lenght white hair, two dark red stripes across each of her cheeks, and a pair of horns protruding from either side of her forehead. She wears a plan red kimono with a black and white fur-line collar tied up at the back with a large, dark purple bow.

Lower Rank 4: Mukago (Deceased)

Mukago was shown to be the most cowardly of the Lower Ranks. As stated by Muzan through reading her thoughts, Mukago had no intention of battling the Demon Slayer Corps' Hashira and planned to flee at the mere mention of one, noted to have done so numerous times. When Muzan learned of this, Mukago attempted to deny her thoughts in an attempt to appease him. Muzan went on to ask the Lower Ranks if they are more afraid of the Demon Slayers than of him. Upon hearing this, Mukago spoke up and stated that she is not. Muzan challenged her and claimed that all she thought about was fleeing whenever she encountered a Hashira. Under immense pressure and the threat of death, Mukago broke down in tears and said that she would put her life in peril for him. However, Muzan showed no gratitude to her loyalty and simply dismissed her pleas as contradicting his statement. Mukago watched as Muzan brought his monstrous arm down onto her body as she was instantly killed.

A young boy with pure white skin with red dots appearing at several spots on his face. His hair was white and resembled spider legs and his right eye bore three pupils. He wore a white, oversized kimono with spider webs etched on the sleeves and bottom.

Lower Rank 5: Rui (Deceased)

Rui was born into a wealthy family but had a fragile body that made it difficult to walk and breathe. Muzan Kibutsuji offered to "save" Rui by turning him into a demon. As a demon, Rui killed a man in his own home. His parents discovered the body, were horrified and tried to kill Rui in his sleep to prevent him from committing more atrocities. After killing them both, he came to realize that his parents did indeed love him and simply tried to stop him from fully becoming a monster. Muzan appeared shortly afterwards and told the young demon that it was his parents' fault for refusing to accept his new form. Unable to bear the weight of his actions, Rui pushed Muzan's words as the truth and believed them. Muzan gave Rui special permission to create his own "family" of demons, which became known as the Spider Family. Rui's primary Blood Demon Art allowed him to create thin threads indiscernible from silk from his own flesh and manipulate them however he pleased. He typically extended the threads from his fingertips like a puppet master. Due to his own body's durability, the threads Rui manipulated were extremely durable and sharp, capable of cutting as well as Nichirin Swords and blocking strikes from them as well. Rui could further amplify their strength and durability by infusing his blood through them, giving them a blood red color. After a long fight with Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, Rui was defeated by Hashira, Giyu Tomioka.

A short young man with dark brown hari with bright orange tips. His face decorated by a thick line of dark green under both eyes and across his nose going up vertically into a shorter horizontal line on his forehead. Four large dots were also placed at the far ends of the line on his cheeks, the middle of his forehead, and below his upper lip.

Lower Rank 6: Kamanue (Deceased)

After being summoned to the Infinity Castle by Nakime, Kamanue wore a frightened expression and was visibly nervous. Muzan lectured them about how being in the ranks of the Twelve Kizuki isn’t the end; it was only the beginning of what is to come. He continued explaining that it had been over a century and the Upper Ranks have remained unchanged, and it had always been them who have disposed of the Hashira, yet the Lower Ranks were replaced frequently if not constantly. When he heard this, Kamanue scoffed at how it seems easy for Muzan to talk about, only for Muzan to repeat the phrase aloud. Capable of reading the minds of his demons, Muzan asked Kamanue why he couldn’t be told that. When he realized he is in trouble, he heard as Muzan angrily demanded him to continue his words, before expanding and extending his arm into a tentacle to grab the Lower Rank by his body. Kamanue tearfully attempted to apologize, but was promptly devoured by Muzan.

A tall, muscular, humanoid demon with sharp markings on his forehead, black hair, razor sharp teeth, pointy ears, and blood red sclera. His stomach, shoulders, hips, front chest and back all have drums protruding from them.

Former Lower Rank 6: Kyogai (Deceased)

Kyogai harbored 6 Tsuzumi Drums imbedded in different parts of his body and each one of them, when played, enacted a certain effect on his surroundings. However, the range his drum's affect was limited to the interior of his mansion. Kyogai himself was unaffected by the room rotation caused by his Blood Demon Art. Sometime after becoming a demon, Kyogai was lectured by an unknown individual over the quality of his writings. This person noted that he had become boring, only beating his drum and not leaving his house, and didn't have the skills to teach people. As he left, the individual stepped on one of the demon's papers, causing an irate Kyogai to kill him. While still a member of the Twelve Kizuki, Kyogai slowly lost the ability to eat humans. He was visited by Muzan Kibutsuji, who removed his number due to the Drum Demon having reached his limit. Because of this, Kyogai obsessively began his quest to rejoin the Twelve Kizuki. Kyogai was killed by Demon Slayer, Tanjiro Kamado, during Kamado's attempt to save a young boy from the demon's mansion.

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