Woodland Demon

The Woodland Demon is a tall, heavily built figure. His skin is a pale blue-gray, his hair short and dark, and a single triangular marking sits on each shoulder. The ends of his arms turn black and split into three large, pointed fingers on either hand. He dresses in a brown sleeveless yukata decorated with dark oval shapes, paired with black hakama trousers held in place by a gray sash.

True to his kind, the Woodland Demon is heartless and takes pleasure in suffering, even that of children. He laughs as Yuichiro screams from a severed arm, then grows annoyed when the frightened twins begin to cry and snaps at them to be silent. He sneers that lumbermen like them are worthless and insists their lives carry no meaning at all.

On a sweltering summer night, the demon forces its way into the forest dwelling of the Tokito twins, Muichiro and Yuichiro, both eleven years old. Dismissing them as mere children, he moves to kill Muichiro, but Yuichiro throws himself in the way and loses his left arm to the strike. As the brothers weep, the demon mocks them and tells them no one will come to their aid.

Muichiro then erupts into a furious rage, attacking with whatever implements lie within reach: shears, a mallet, an axe, stakes, and a rake. He pins the demon to the ground outside and crushes its skull with a stone, yet without a Nichirin blade the creature cannot be slain by such wounds. It writhes in agony until the rising sun finally reduces it to ash.

The trauma robs Muichiro of his memories for much of his later life, and Yuichiro eventually dies of his injuries, leaving his brother alone. Years afterward, while battling the Upper Rank Gyokko during the Swordsmith Village campaign, Muichiro hears words almost identical to the demon's taunts. The memory floods back, helping him awaken his Demon Slayer Mark. The Woodland Demon debuts in Chapter 118 and Episode 52.