Why does Muichiro's sword have a rectangular tsuba?
Updated Mar 2026
In the Demon Slayer source material, Muichiro Tokito's Nichirin katana is designed with a rectangular tsuba featuring hollowed rectangular cutouts at each corner — a deliberate departure from the rounded guards traditionally associated with Japanese sword aesthetics. This geometric choice reflects Muichiro's character archetype: precise, minimalist, and unclouded by excess. From a design language standpoint, the rectangular form evokes a sense of structured calm, consistent with the Mist Breathing style he employs. The replicas in this collection faithfully reproduce this tsuba shape in cast zinc alloy, finished to match the overall tonal composition of the sword. For collectors who pay close attention to canonical accuracy, the tsuba is often one of the first details used to distinguish a well-made replica from a generic approximation.