Kimetsu tips | Meaning of Nichirin sword and its engraved word

Every demon slayers have his/her own sword, called Nichirin sword.
Probably you may have noticed the word on the sword of Hashira. In the comic book, it is explained as “Destroyer of Demons” but it’s actually not…

Demon slayers and swordsmith are both proud of their job and cherish their own sword, and throughout the stories we can see that. (Didn’t you see that swordsmith made swords with incredible enthusiasm and motivation? Like Haganezuka!)

The aim is only one, just to destroy demons!

Check the meaning of Nichirin swords and its engraved words on them, then please commit yourself to the world of Kimetsu no yaiba deeply again!

Lesson 1

JPN	日輪刀（にちりんとう）
JPN ♪	nichirintō
ENG	Nichirin sword

WORD	JPN♪	MEANING
日輪(にちりん)	nichirin	the sun *For the sun, a word “太陽たいよう (Taiyo)” is used normally. 日 means the sun, 輪 means ring 日(hi) is used as the sun as well.
刀(とう)	tō	sword (when “刀” is used alone, it is read “katana”)

Nichirinto is a sword of “sun” which is the demons’ most enemy. To kill demons, slayers use a sword made by a special iron that includes the sun element… good plot!

Why using “Nichirin” instead of “Taiyo”?

Even Japanese don’t use the word Nichirin in a daily life. I haven’t actually used this word.

As same as other cultures, people have worshipped the sun since the early era in Japan. So when you want the sun to have a special / spiritual meaning, using this unusual word works well for the purpose and it sounds more poetic and turgid.
It makes us feel respectful to the sun too. Selection of word is really important, isn’t it?

Lesson2

There are four engraved words on Nichirin swords of Hashira.

JPN	悪鬼滅殺（あっきめっさつ）
JPN ♪	akki messatsu
ENG	evil demon destruction

WORD	JPN♪	MEANING
悪鬼（あっき）	akki	Evil Demon 悪: evil, bad things 鬼: demon
滅殺（めっさつ）	messatsu	destruction 滅: to destroy, 殺: to kill. 滅殺 is a very strong idiom for killing.

This word is engraved on the swords of Hashira.
Why? It’s neither a name of their own nor a corps name, but only “Demon destruction”.

I suppose it’s a kind of declaration of their inherited fighting spirit.

In one episode, an important concept of Demon Slayer is told; inheritance of human mind.
If demons die, nothing is left, however if people die, their spirits are inherited by people left behind.

So 悪鬼滅殺 itself is a very short and simple word but it’s strong enough to take over their spirit to the next hashira.

This word might have vitalized the demon slayers, even most of them were going to be killed by demons. (hmm, it’s sad!)

That’s all!

Nichirin sword and its engraved word are the iconic features of this story so I wanted global fans to know its meaning correctly!
By the way, there are many Japanese idioms made with four Chinese characters (kanji).
Akki messatsu is not a traditional idiom but it sounds very encouraging.