Talk:Nichirin Sword/@comment-33759241-20200101172827/@comment-44763576-20200102142420

Demon Hunter Q&A (Volume 11 extras)

Nobuo-kun: If I snatch a Nichirin Blade whose color changed, will it change to my color?

Gotouge: First, please don't snatch them. And once it changes color, it will stay that color.

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There's also two instances where this is demonstrated in the series. Firstly, Inosuke's original set of blades were taken from another demon slayer and it wasn't until he got new blades forged after they broke that we found out what color his blades were meant to be. Second instance is in Chapter 185 - Giyu thinks about how he needs to take a sword from a fallen Breath of Water user specifically (if a blade would could change color twice he could just use any blade on the ground).

It also raises some questions for me - like in Chapter 129 when Tanjirou receives the reforged blade from the Swordsmith Village's training robot. Did the sword change colour again? The sword was already black so we probably couldn't tell even if it did, but Tanjirou notes that the sword has a different tone of black. The sword itself had a flame pattern that wasn't present on Tanjirou's previous blades - a holdover from the previous owner unsheathing the blade first or was the blade forged to have a pattern?

Chapter 129 also reveals that the kanji inscribed on a Nichirin Blade denotes rank: Tanjirou's new sword has the character metsu (destruction) because it was forged prior to the establishment of the Demon Slayer Corps' hierarchy. Haganezuka says that this is why only Pillars get the characters akki messatsu (Destroy All Evil Demons) on their swords.