Kanao Tsuyuri is Tanjiro’s wife and one of the major supporting characters from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. While her relationship with Tanjiro Kamado started as friends, she later became the wife of the demon slayer.
Kanao’s cool demeanor, enigmatic smile, and intriguing story arc in the critically acclaimed anime series made her one of the most celebrated characters amongst fans of the series. Before she became Tanjiro’s wife, much water passed under the bridge. To fully understand and appreciate who Kanao Tsuyuri is, it is vital to explore all there is to know about her, including her origin story. Read on to find out more about this much-liked supporting character.
Kanao Tsuyuri Has a Checkered Past
Before adopting her enigmatic smile and cool personality, Kanao Tsuyuri was a troubled girl who was raised in a poor, and abusive household. She was eventually sold as a slave, and her ordeal in slavery gave birth to a girl who shut down her emotions as a way to cope. She was later rescued from that ordeal by her adoptive sisters Shinobu and Kanae Kocho.
Prior to being rescued by the Kocho sisters, a lot of damage had already been done to Kanao’s psyche, and part of the fallout from that damage was that she lost all confidence in her ability to make decisions, and would never act without being given an order.
Kanae gave her a lucky coin to cure her of that malaise, symbolizing making choices and assuming control of her destiny. Her adoptive sister told her that she could flip the coin whenever she had trouble making a decision. She shifted from acting only on orders to acting out the results of her coin toss whenever she was faced with a dilemma, and the ability to rely on herself transformed her from a shy little girl to a courageous one.
It must be stated that Kanao’s heavy reliance on the coin to make decisions for her was sort of a band-aid over a bullet wound. It was a situation that persisted until she met Tanjiro Kamado, one of the demon slayers. Her subsequent interactions with him further brought down the walls she had unconsciously erected over her emotions and free will leading to less reliance on the coin and more reliance on her intuition.
Who Does Tanjiro Marry?
Even though it is not directly depicted in the anime series, Tanjiro ends up marrying Kanao and starting a family. The reality of their relationship as a married couple is conveyed through the existence of their grandsons Kanata Kamado and Sumihiko Kamado in a futuristic Japan in the issue World Without Demons.
Kanata is depicted as the grandchild who closely resembles Kanao not just through facial features but through his cool personality. The younger sibling Sumihiko takes after Tanjiro both facially and personality-wise.
To fully unravel the mystery of Tanjiro’s marriage to Kanao, it is vital to explore the evolution of the relationship between the couple. Their story begins at the final selection of a new batch of Demon Slayer Corps members which they both scale successfully. Despite locking eyes momentarily, there was little to no interaction between the pair.
That aspect of their relationship changed when they were both on a mission at the Ntatagumo mountain as Kanao knocked out Tanjiro while he was trying to protect his sister from the Hashira, the most powerful members of the Demon Slayer Corps. He wakes up in recovery at the Butterfly Mansion, and immediately recognized Kanao as the lady who he locked eyes with at the final selection but not as the lady who knocked him out.
They spend the next few weeks training together, and in the process, they develop a crush on each other. Those crushes turn to real emotions of love on both sides as the series progress, and although we never got to see the scene where the actual marriage ceremony takes place, the existence of their grandsons surely confirms the theory that they ended up as a married couple.
Tanjiro Kamado Is Demon Slayer’s Main Protagonist
Just to clarify matters, Tanjiro Kamado is the main protagonist of this anime manga series. The story of his character revolves around the fact that he is the oldest son of a charcoal seller named Tanjuro Kamado. His mother was a woman called Kie Kamado.
Aside from Tanjiro, his parents also gave birth to three other sons named Takeo Kamado, Shigeru Kamado, and Rokuta Kamado, as well as two daughters named Nezuko Kamado and Hanako Kamado, a fact that indicates that he had five siblings.
The first chapter of the manga series depicts the near annihilation of Tanjiro’s family by a demon named Muzan Kibutsuji. The only survivors of that traumatic event were Tanjiro himself, and his sister Nezuko, who only became a demon herself.
Following the devastation that was meted out to his family by the demon Muzan, Tanjiro becomes single-minded in his determination to rescue his sister and avenge his family by slaying the demon responsible. To buttress his resolve he made a vow about essentially tracking Muzan to the ends of the earth and hell, and that his blade would be the last thing the demon would see.
To achieve his aim, Tanjiro trains his body for a couple of years and also learns swordsmanship from ghosts in the same time frame. Not long after his training, Tanjiro has an encounter with Giyu Tomioka, a demon slayer, and the encounter leads to a test that Tanjiro passes with flying colors.
He is subsequently recruited into the Demon Slayer Corps, and begins his journey of salvation, for his sister, and vengeance, for other members of his birth family who were not as fortunate as he or Nezuko was.
What is Kanao Tsuyuri’s Age Compared to Tanjiro?
Kanao Tsuyuri is portrayed as one year older than Tanjiro, the man she married. At this juncture, it becomes imperative to point out that both characters were relatively introduced into the series simultaneously.
Kanao was introduced as a 16-year-old girl while Tanjiro was introduced as a 15-year-old boy. With the progression of the series and the time jumps that occurred throughout the series, it is safe to say that they both aged as the manga series progressed but it also suggests that Kanao remained a year older than Tanjiro for the duration of the series.
Does Kanao Tsuyuri Die?
Kanao Tsuyuri eventually died, but because of old age, and not from any of the events that transpired during the course of the series. To put things in perspective, she is one of only five survivors from the final battle that eventually led to the annihilation of the demons.
She fought alongside Shinobu and Inosuke to defeat the Doma, and subsequently with Tanjiro and the rest of the Hajira to defeat Muzan. In the end, she survives the battle, alongside five Hajiras to live to a good old age.
