Stone Breathing

Stone Breathing mirrors rock and earth, folding their heaviness into the user's stance and attacks. Its forms plant the wielder firmly on the ground and lean on the bulk of heavy arms rather than ordinary swords, yielding strikes that hit hard and hold strong on both offense and defense. The user pictures surges of soil and stone rising as the techniques go off.

The style began with one of Yoriichi Tsugikuni's pupils who set out to learn Sun Breathing. Lacking Yoriichi's natural gift, he could not master the original art and was instead guided toward a personalized method suited to his own strengths and limits, which gradually split off entirely into Stone Breathing. Judging by its two known users, Gyomei Himejima and the founder glimpsed in Kokushibo's memory, the style needs a large, weighty weapon such as a custom kusarigama or an oversized kama with a long shaft.

Stone Breathing carries at least five recorded forms, all of them shown in the story, performed by Gyomei with a spiked flail and an axe joined by a chain. The First Form, Serpentinite Bipolar, hurls both weapons forward and spins the chain so the axe and flail bore through a target. The Third Form, Stone Skin (Episode 63), whirls the chain rapidly in every direction for an all-around flurry that doubles as a block and counter against attacks from any side. The Fourth Form, Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest, swings both ends of the chain at once for a two-pronged, wide-reaching assault. The Fifth Form, Arcs of Justice, lands a heavy barrage with the axe striking first and the flail looping in from the opposite side.

Gyomei Himejima is the only confirmed practitioner in the present day. Stone Breathing is the single one among the five foundational styles from which no further style ever branched, and it carries notably fewer flashy visual effects than its peers, the elemental imagery vanishing entirely in the manga. Since Gyomei and the founder used very different weapons for the same art, its forms can apparently be performed with a range of heavy arms. According to the second databook, defeated demons recalled trembling in fear, with Kokushibo likening the wielder to the Nio guardian statues.