How powerful is Tengen Uzui from Demon Slayer? The flamboyant, musclebound, nunchaku cleaver-wielding Tengen Uzui is the former Sound Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. In the anime series, Tengen is introduced as a seemingly overpowered character in the follow-up to Mugen Train, Demon Slayer season 2.
Tengen Uzui's powers are tested to their limits by Gyutaro and Daki - demon siblings who share the position of Upper Rank Six within the Twelve Kizuki. Assisted by the younger Demon Slayers and Hinatsuru, one of his three wives, Tengen not only carries the fight against Gyutaro and Daki, but also uses echolocation to save people as the Entertainment District gets leveled. Though Tengen loses his left eye and hand to Gyutaro, the Sound Hashira eventually completes his Musical Score, giving Tanjiro the opening to sever Gyutaro's head. Simultaneously, Zenitsu and Inosuke behead Daki as well, finally killing the Upper Rank Kizuki - causing an explosion of poisonous demon blood. In the finale of Demon Slayer's Entertainment District Arc, Nezuko's Blood Demon Art burns away the poison and saves Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Tengen. Later, Serpent Hashira Obanai Iguro arrives late to the scene and pays Tengen a backhanded compliment for killing the weakest Upper Rank Kizuki. After witnessing Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu at work, Tengen Uzui decides to retire, convinced that humanity's future is secure with the younger generation.
Demon Slayer's Tengen Uzui is considered to be one of the weakest Hashira due to almost losing this fight, but the fact is that Tengen only looks weak when compared to the most overpowered Hashira. Tengen Uzui himself has noted that he is no better than Hashira like Muichiro, the only known Hashira to ever overpower and kill an Upper Rank Kizuki alone, and Gyomei, the strongest Hashira in Demon Slayer. While these estimates are accurate, Tengen has only been a Hashira for a relatively short time. Had he stuck around long enough to receive his own Demon Slayer Mark, Tengen Uzui's unique set of abilities gives him the potential to match and surpass even the most powerful Hashira and Twelve Kizuki.
Tengen Uzui Power Level/Abilities Explained
As the former Sound Hashira's Musical Score technique reveals, Tengen's true power lies in his ability to overcome adversity. Tengen's extreme toughness and indomitable will were developed early on during his childhood training as a Shinobi, which not only allows him to run faster than any Hashira, but also to do it without being seen, making any noise, or disturbing the air. The fact that Tengen's speed was matched by the Upper Rank Six Kizuki betrays the real danger posed by Upper Rank Two Kizuki Doma, Gyutaro and Daki's creator. Tengen Uzui's Shinobi training also gives him the ability to ignore fatigue and extreme pain, and the muscle control to stop and start his own heart. In terms of raw physical strengh, Tengen is second only to Gyomei, which is how Tengen wields twin nunchaku-like Nichirin Cleavers at blistering speeds.
Tengen Uzui's lifelong mental and physical training has also resulted in superhuman hearing, which allows him to perform Musical Score, the deadliest form of Sound Breathing, a Breathing Style that Tengen created and derived from Thunder Breathing. Completing Musical Score allows Tengen to read and deconstruct his opponents' movements like sheet music - similar to how Record of Ragnarok's Sasaki Kojiro memorizes his opponent's actions. Just like the legendary swordsman Sasaki, Tengen can only complete Musical Score after having enough 0pportunities to analyze his enemy's rhythm, which in his last fight entailed losing an eye and a hand. That said, Tengen Uzui simply ignored these severe injuries and completed Musical Score so Tajiro could land the final blow.
Though Demon Slayer's Tengen Uzui may be retired, the mutilation he suffered against Gyutaro only makes him a smarter and even more dangerous fighter. The Demon Slayer season 2 finale definitely wont be the last time for the flamboyantly flamboyant Tengen Uzui to appear onscreen. As Master Kagaya notes upon sensing Tengen, Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu's victory, it was the first time in a hundred years for an Upper Rank Demon to be slain, marking a dramatic shift in the fate of humanity in the Demon Slayer anime/manga.