Tetsuido

Tetsuido is plainly aged, his thin frame and lined skin marking his years. Long white hair falls past his neck. As a Swordsmith Village resident he keeps a Hyottoko mask over his face. His outfit is a long dark-green haori, loose black trousers tied above the ankles, white socks, and pale gray slippers, and he is frequently depicted with a pipe.

Gentle, perceptive, and warm, Tetsuido was among the rare few, Kagaya Ubuyashiki included, who saw through the flat composure Muichiro wore. He sensed the boy was burying his troubles behind a brave front and pressed him not to carry such weight alone. He took deep pride in forging for the Mist Hashira and admitted that watching his blade in use brought him to tears.

Appointed as Muichiro's original smith, Tetsuido recognized that the quiet, curt young Hashira was hiding something and urged him to confide in someone so his burdens would not rest on him alone. In a final meeting shortly before his death, he voiced fear that no one could ease Muichiro's hardships unless the boy spoke of them, and said that at his age he no longer feared his own end yet could not stop worrying for the young man.

During the Swordsmith Village arc, while Muichiro battles Gyokko, he receives a freshly forged Nichirin sword from Kozo Kanamori and uses it to cut the tentacles binding him. Kanamori notes he merely followed the forging guidelines Tetsuido had left behind. Steeling himself for Gyokko again, Muichiro recalls that last conversation, silently apologizing for the worry he caused and assuring his late smith that he is now well. As an ordinary man Tetsuido held no special physical gifts, but the trust placed in him to arm a Hashira, and the fact that his notes let Kanamori recreate the blade, mark him as a master of his craft.