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Hotaru Haganezuka is a recurring character in the first two seasons ofDemon Slayer. He is Tanjiro’s extremely passionate and zealous swordsmith who doesn’t take kindly to his swords being ruined. He is always depicted wearing a mask, and we’ve yet to see his actual face in the show.
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After arriving at the Swordsmith Village, Tanjiro notices that all of the villagers, who are also wordsmiths, wear the same type of mask, covering their entire faces. These masks may seem like a sort of uniform for the swordsmiths, but thereason behind them always wearing their masks is a lot deeper than simply uniformity.
**** This Article Contains Spoilers For The Swordsmith Village Arc ****
The Swordsmith Village
While Demons Slayers and their breathing forms are powerful, they require nichirin blades to be able to cut a demon’s neck.Knowing this, Muzansees the nichirin blades as a constant target to be able to cripple the demon slayers and stop them from growing any further. Nichirin blades and those who know how to properly create them are not a common occurrence, making both theblades and their smiths incredibly valuable to the Corp. So, it’s no wonder they have to stay hidden in the Swordsmith village.
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The swordsmith village has existed for almost 300 years, with the demons unable to find it. The village is hidden deep in the mountains and forests, and itsexact location is only known to a select few members of the Demon Slayer Corp. Many of the swordsmiths will live much of their lives within the village, staying hidden where it’s safe, with a few smiths traveling outside of the village to deliver swords to the demon slayers.
Going To And Leaving The Village
For a demon slayer to go to the village, they must wear blindfolds, ear plugs, and nose plugs; in Tanjiro’s case, being handed off and carried between different Kakushi, led by different crows.The Kakushi and crows are constantly switched out to keep anyone from knowing the full path to the village. As guides to the village, even Kakushis, who carry the person to the village, are not supposed to tell their name to the passengers. The location of the village is kept hidden to protect the swordsmiths, which is why they wear their masks.
Now, to conceal their identity, the swordsmiths must always wear their masks while traveling, even within the village, to ensure they are not followed back to the village. For the most part, swordsmiths never show their faces without the masks to keep their identity a secret from even the Demon Slayer Corp, with them never showing their faces by choice to anyone, even to the other swordsmiths. All swordsmiths wear a slightly different variation of a Hyottoko mask, making them seem like a sort of uniform or mark of being a nichirin swordsmith to those who know about their swords.
