Are you fan of Kimetsu No Yaiba (Demon Slayer)?
You need to watch this video about in real-life locations seen in Demon Slayer!
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Or, if you prefer, you can read the video transcript here:
It’s Kirstie here again, and today I’m going to take you guys on a tour of some Kimetsu no Yaiba real-life locations, including locations from the “Entertainment District Arc,” or more commonly known as the “Red-Light District Arc”. Let’s go! So, as you guys may have seen in some of our other videos, there are certain anime and manga that actually use perfectly real-life locations. They look exactly the same.
You can see this in, for example, our Haikyu!! video or Jujutsu Kaisen video, where we go and we can tell that this location is the exact spot that the author has used, and it is confirmed. Kimetsu no Yaiba is a little bit different. It’s actually set in the Taisho era in Japan. So, it is set in a real period. You might think that we would be able to go around and actually still find these locations today. But, most of the locations are only places that fans think that the author has drawn inspiration from.
They’re not confirmed, but we can kind of explore that a little further, and I think a lot of them are pretty close. Most people are pretty confident that this might be where the author got their inspiration from. However, there are three locations that are mentioned and confirmed. So, in this video, I’ll show you those three confirmed locations as well as many other real-life inspiration locations for Kimetsu no Yaiba in Japan.
So, let’s start off talking about Kamado Shrine. Kamado Shrine is a shrine that does exist in real life in Fukuoka, but it does not exist in the anime or the manga. Why people think this is connected is because the author is actually from Fukuoka. They think that potentially this shrine is where they got the inspiration for Tanjiro’s last name, Kamado Shrine, Tanjiro Kamado. Makes sense.
Because of this, people actually go and visit the shrine dressed up as some of the characters. So, if you wanted to dress up as Tanjiro and then go visit Kamado Shrine, you won’t be alone. You can join everyone. And this actually isn’t the only temple where we see this kind of inspiration coming from. There’s another temple in Wakayama, that is called Kanroji Temple. People think that maybe this one goes with Mitsui, the love Hashira. Mitsuri Kanroji. Makes sense.
Also, this temple actually has a tree that is said to bring luck to your love life. It’s kind of all connected. Because of this, fans also go and visit this temple cosplaying as Mitsuri. So, if you do want to go there, you can check that out as well, because the connection is kind of too close to think that maybe there isn’t inspiration coming from here. Another location I want to talk to you guys about is Mount Kumotori. This is an official location as it’s actually listed in the official fan book as where Tanjiro and his family are from.
It appears in Episode 1, and then also in the movie [Mugen Train] when Tanjiro is dreaming about what his life would have been like if his family was never attacked. And it should look pretty identical because it’s actually said that the anime production team actually visited the mountain to be able to draw it better. So, you can visit this mountain yourself as well. But it’s a pretty difficult climb. I’d only recommend it if you’re an experienced hiker and coming well-prepared. But it’s also really easy to just Google and check out pictures, or you could check it out and not climb it if you’re not as confident in your hiking skills.
Another one of the locations we want to show you guys is the rock that Tanjiro cuts at the beginning of the series. This is another one that is not confirmed but the [manga and anime] inspiration might have come from. This rock is actually located at Amenoiwatate Shrine, I think. It’s a long word and we’ll show it here. This is actually located in Nara.
You guys can go check this one out as well. It’s essentially a big rock that has a slice down the middle. So, it looks like maybe Tanjiro could have done it. Next, I want to talk about Ashikaga Flower Park. This one is actually a park that is really famous for the wisteria. And these can also be seen when Tanjiro was walking into “final selection”. So, he walks in and there’s this beautiful purple wisteria kind of hanging all around him.
If you want to have a similar kind of moment, you can head to Ashikaga Flower Park. These bloom usually in, like, kind of mid, end April, maybe they’re still going to be there at the beginning of May. But, if you want to be sure to catch some, definitely come from mid to end April. And if you’re around Tokyo, it’s not that hard to get to. It’s maybe, like, a little over an hour and it’s absolutely beautiful. And this is thought to be the inspiration for this scene for Kimetsu no Yaiba.
So, you can go and walk through the wisteria just like Tanjiro did. This is a place that you guys actually can visit that is a confirmed location for Kimetsu no Yaiba. And it is Asakusa. This place you can see it in the anime in Episode 7 and 8. This is where Tanjiro first sees Muzan and also when he first meets Tamayo and Yushiro. So, I really like this scene because the animation was beautiful, and I really liked Tamayo.
She’s one of my favorite characters. So, coming here is extra fun and it’s also a really touristy spot in Tokyo. This is kind of a place that you will probably visit anyways. And it’s kind of cool if you also get to see some Kimetsu no Yaiba locations while you’re here. Of course, nowadays it doesn’t look exactly the same as it did in the anime. But, if you look at photos from Tokyo during that time and what Asakusa looked like at that time, it does look, like, the same.
For those of you guys who are a fan of Shinobu, you might be interested to go to Museum Meiji-mura. there is a location in here that was actually also featured on Japanese news that shows potential inspiration for the butterfly room. So, this happens in the scene after Tanjiro, and Inosuke, and Zenitusu have just fought with the spider guy, Rui, and then they end up going to the Butterfly Mansion to receive treatment. And the room where they have all the beds, you can actually see this in the museum. So, if you guys want to check it out, that’s another one that’s available.
Another location is the Ubuyashiki mansion. This one is featured in Episode 22 when all the Hashiras kind of come and gather. And the place that they think the author might have drawn some inspiration for this is the Niigata branch of the Northern Culture Museum. We’ll show a picture of it right here, maybe, and you guys can see that it does look kind of similar. So, maybe this is a place, another place that the author got some inspiration. One of my favorite episodes from Season 1 of Kimetsu no Yaiba was Episode 26. And this is because of the Infinity Castle. I thought that the animation was unbelievable. It was so well done. And it just looked so cool and kind of like a place, despite being evil, of course, that I wanted to visit.
So, if you guys are like me, this is actually possible. Another place where we think that the author might have gotten some inspiration for the Infinity Castle is actually Ashinomaki Onsen. There is a room here that looks very similar. And if you do want to check it out, that is available. And for those of you guys who are manga readers, you also know that this castle actually is going to have more relevance in the coming arcs.
So, this is something that is extra exciting if you want to see something that is going to come up again in the series. As we said earlier, a lot of these locations are not confirmed locations. They are locations that we think that the author has drawn inspiration from. Because of this, some of them are a little controversial, like our next one. So, for The Movie: Mugen Train, what train is this? Maybe we don’t know.
There are several Japanese blogs that kind of go back and forth on what train this might be. Some people are claiming that it’s in Nagoya or Kyoto. There are all these kinds of different trains that possibly have the same look and that could be modeled for this arc. But the one that’s kind of accepted as official was one that ran a special kind of event in November 2020.
They put “Mugen” on the front, you could buy Demon Slayer stuff, and it was this old-style train that would have existed in that time. This train ran from Kumamoto Station to Hakata Station and it was for this event. It was only running from November 1st to November 23rd, I believe, 2020. I don’t have any information right now if we can still visit this train, but it is kind of the train that is accepted as official, and it is the same kind of old-style train that you would have seen during this time.
Another real-life location that you guys can actually visit is Yoshiwara. So, this location is actually from the recent arc, which is the “Entertainment District Arc.” Or, if you guys are looking for a more accurate translation, it is the “Red-Light District Arc”. So, Yoshiwara was actually one of the three licensed red-light districts from the 1600s in Japan, and it moved to its current location in about the 1650s– 1656, I think, something like this.
And this has been a red-light district. So, this was where, like, prostitution would take place. You could come and do that here legally. While prostitution was outlawed after World War II, this location kind of changed a little bit. If you look at what it looked like at the time, during the Taisho era, it actually looked very similar. It’s really well done actually, if you compare the manga to what it currently looks like today.
So, I’m here actually now at Yoshiwara Shrine. According to some Japanese blogs, people think that this might be where maybe Koinatsu actually danced as an oiran. So, this is kind of cool. And for those who are wondering what this word might mean, “oiran” is like a courtesan during this time. So, someone who would have worked in Yoshiwara. Nowadays, Yoshiwara is just kind of a normal neighborhood. There is still some kind of sex work that happens here.
But it’s not necessarily like full prostitution brothels. It’s more kind of, so bland, like, kind of, sort of, different things, right? Because the law here is a little bit wishy-washy on what you’re allowed to do and what you’re not allowed to do. It was kind of cracked down on a couple years ago. But there is still kind of that connotation of this area that lasts today. But it doesn’t really look the same. It just kind of looks like a neighborhood now.
So, Yoshiwara in the manga and the anime, it looked very similar to how it actually would have looked during the time in Tokyo. But nowadays, it looks just kind of like a normal neighborhood. It’s not actually called “Yoshiwara” anymore. There is some still kind of sex work that happens here, but it’s not what it was in the day. And prostitution is now illegal in Japan as well, which was kind of the end of this sort of thing that would have happened here.
So, if you show up now it is just kind of a normal neighborhood, but it’s really close to Asakusa. So, it’s about a 15-20 minute walk. If you do want to walk up here and check it out, it could be worth your time. Another fun fact for anyone who is actually also a fan of Rurouni Kenshin, I am a huge fan of Kenshin so I was really excited when I found this out. But it turns out that in “To Rule Flame”, one of the kinds of side chapters of Rurouni Kenshin, Shishio meets Yumi actually in Yoshiwara because she was working as a really high-ranking oiran at the time.
So, you can actually check out two different manga if you come here and see Yoshiwara. This building right behind me is something also interesting to check out if you guys are in the Yoshiwara area anyway. This restaurant is one of the only buildings left from the Taisho era, which is where Kimetsu no Yaiba took place. So, it’s kind of exciting to get to see something that actually did exist during that time and is still standing here today.
And, because it’s a Japanese restaurant, you guys can go and check it out, have some food while you’re here. That’s all our locations for today guys. If you guys like this video, please, let us know in the comments and also, as always, like and subscribe if you enjoyed our video and enjoy our content. We like making stuff for you guys and we love reading your comments. But that’s all for today. So, I’ll see you guys next time. The inspiration for Tanjiro’s last name.
[inaudible] visit from the series. Okay. This is going to be challenging. There’s people walking down the sidewalk, like, I’ll just let this…