Akaza’s Backstory: What Circumstances Turned Akaza into Demon? Know about Akaza’s Complete Backstory here.

Demon Slayer, or Kimetsu no Yaiba, is the most popular anime series of recent times.

Written by Koyoharu Gotouge and based on the manga series of the same name, the anime series is about the tragic story of Tanjiro Kamado and his little sister Nezuko.

If you have watched the anime series and the movie Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, you will probably be aware of the character called Akaza.

Akaza is the upper rank 3 Demon of Muzan Kibutsuji‘s 12-moon demon army.

Expert in martial artist Akaza, too, like the other demons in the upper moon 12 ranks, had heart-wrenching backstories.

He was previously known as Hakuji before transforming into a demon.

In this article, we will discuss all the details related to the backstory of Akaza, his early life, how he was transformed into a Demon and his love story with Koyuki.

Every detail related to Akaza will be discussed in this article. So without further ado, let’s discuss the details.

Akaza’s Backstory: The Love Story between Akaza and Koyuki

Akaza’s early name was Hakuji Soyama; he was born and raised in slums in his early childhood and had difficulties managing his family.

Hakuji’s father had a serious ailment. To provide for his father’s medicine, Hakuji did unethical work such as pickpocketing and stealing from the townspeople.

For this, even he was caught could of times, and the magistrate beat him up, marked his head with tattoos, and called him names such as Demon Child.

One day Hakuji’s father hanged himself because some villagers told him that his son got arrested again for stealing and pickpocketing.

Hakuji’s father wanted his son to live a straight life, but the circumstances for Hakuji were such that in order to provide for his father’s medicine, he had to steal.

Hakuji’s father left the last letter to Hakuji; he told his son that he wanted him to live a straight life and earn by honest means, not by pickpocketing or stealing.

After his father was gone, Hakuji now had no one and no place to live, and devasted by his father’s loss, he became very angry with the people of the village.

He started beating people and even killed several men in the village; then, he was approached by Keizo, who used to run a loco dojo centre in the village.

Keizo saw something in Hakuji, but Hakuji, on the other hand, was annoyed with Keizo and challenged him to a fight.

Keizo defeated Hakuji with ease and then told him he would give him shelter to live in and food every day, but he will have to take care of his daughter, who is currently sick.

Hakuji previously cared for his father, so he knew how to take care of Keizo’s daughter.

Although Hakuji was an expert in taking care of ill patients, this wasn’t a problem because, in the past, he had taken care of his father, but Koyuki wasn’t like most other girls. She used to burst into tears for tiny things.

But Hakuji knew how to motivate her; he once promised to take her to a local firework once she recovered from her ill health.

One day Hakuji discovered that Koyuki was forced outside and was left by the nearby Dojo owner. The nearby dojo owner had always been eyeing Soryuu dojo and was always jealous as they used to get more students.

But Hakuji prevented them, fought them, defeated nine people, and eventually made them apologize to Keizo and told them never to look back to this Soryuu dojo or Koyuki again.

After that, the rivals apologized for letting Soryuu Dojo in peace and promised they would never harm Koyuki.

Hakuji’s Tragedy which turned him into Akaza: How did Akaza become a Demon? 

After this, two years passed, and Koyuki’s health improved significantly. The love blossomed between Hakuji and Koyuki.

Hakuji was now teaching the students in the Soryuu dojo, and it became popular locally, and more and more students eventually visited the Soryuu dojo to learn skills from Hakuji.

Then one day, Keizo offered Hakuji the proposal he said to Hakuji to take over his Dojo and marry Koyuki.

Hakuji agreed and promised him that he would take care of Koyuki for the rest of his life.

Then at the festival, Koyuki told Hakuji about her past and asked him if he was ok with the proposal, and he also reaffirmed his vows to her and promised her that he would protect her with all his life.

Then rival Dojo heard about Hakuji’s marriage to Koyuki, and he was furious; he gathered some students from his Dojo and tried to fight Hakuji, but they lost.

Then starts the sad part of the entire story; after the whole incident with the rival Dojo, a few days later, he visits his father’s grave to get his blessings and show him that he has chosen a good life and is about to be married with the love of his life Koyuki.

Then soon after returning to the village, he sensed something wrong.

He could feel that something must have happened while he was gone then one of his students told him that the rival Dojo that he had defeated had poisoned the well from where Koyuki and Keizo used to drink water. Both of them were now dead.

This all happened while Hakuji was out of the village.

Hakuji, after hearing this was heartbroken.

The person who gave him a good life and the girl he loved with all his life was no more. 

Hakuji was no longer normal at that time.

Maddened by the whole situation, he killed all 67 members of the rival Dojo, including the owner, with his bare hands.

He made sure all of their corpses were also not recognizable; this news caught the attention of Muzan Kibutsuji, whom we all know is the main antagonist of Demon Slayer.

He soon goes to the scene and witnesses what havoc Hakuji has caused and decides to make him one of the Twelve Kizuki.

Hakuji now had no one to protect. The love of his life was gone, and his father figure Keizo was also no more, so he accepted Muzan’s offer and became one of the strongest demons of all time, the Upper Rank 3 Akaza.

This is how Hakuji turned from a normal human being to a demon.

The Most Powerful Demon Moons Ranked in Demon Slayer

Who Beats Akaza in Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba?

Tanjiro and Giyo beat Akaza at the much later stages of the manga; during the “Final Battle Arc,” Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka, also known as the Water Hashira, meet Akaza within the Infinite Castle.

This final battle was one of the most memorable battles in Demon Slayer.

In this battle, Giyu was able to awaken his Demon Slayer mark, and Tanjiro used Hinokami Kagura (the dance of the fire god, which is only known to the Kamado family).

The powerful technique was used with Tanjiro’s Transparent World technique; through this, they cut off Akaza’s head in half.

But despite all of that, Akaza fought on with only his head, but while he was attacking Tanjiro and Giyu, he started recalling memory before he was turned into Demon by Muzan.

He started to recall his real name Hakuji the struggle he did to provide medicine for his sick father.

He remembered the violent beatings he took from the magistrate and the unfortunate death of his father.

He remembered how he met Keizo, then Keizo gave him shelter and food while he was asked to take care of his ill daughter. He recalled the moments he spent with Koyuki and how both of them fell in love with her.

He recalled all the moments they spent with each other in the local firework show, the time they reaffirmed their vows to one another, and then, at last, he remembered the horrifying death of his lover when he went to his father’s grave to get the blessing for the new chapter he was about to start with Koyuki.

When he returned to the village, he remembered that he was given the news that his loved ones were no more and how the rival dojo owner poisoned Koyuki and Keizo. 

Also, he remembered how he took his revenge on the 67 members responsible for the death of his loved ones; he also recalled the moments with Muzan when he was turned into a demon by him.

Akaza finally realizes that all this hatred was because he couldn’t protect his loved ones, and fate was cruel to him; he lost everyone he had ever loved.

He was not able to be by their side at crucial times when it was needed. In the fight’s final moments, we see Akaza acknowledging the defeat and starts attacking himself while Muzan urges him to fight with his demon side.

Finally, Akaza listens to his humanity and meets his father, Keizo, and the love of his life Koyuki.

His loved ones meet him and welcome him to join them in hell, and then with flames swirling Akaza, now finally he becomes Hakuji and dies. His demon body also crumbles away.

Why did Akaza kill himself? 

During the fight with Tanjiro in the Final Battle Arc of Demon Slayer, we witnessed Tanjiro awaken his Transparent World technique, and Giyu Tomioka also awakened his demon slayer mark with that both Tanjiro and Giyu used their powers to decapitate the head of Akaza.

Once that was done, Akaza had a flashback of his past life, how his father committed suicide as he couldn’t see his son earn by dishonest means.

Then how he met Keizo, who gave Akaza a chance to better himself, and how he eventually, while taking care of Keizo’s daughter Koyuki fell in love with her.

Then the time when Keizo gave Akaza a proposal to marry her daughter Koyuki and then the time they reaffirmed their vows. 

Akaza then sees Koyuki from a distance; he also recalls the moments the rival dojo had poisoned the lake from which Koyuki and her father, Keizo, used to drink water from. 

Akaza was outside the village during that time. 

Then he remembered his interaction with Muzan after he killed all the enemies who had killed Keizo and Koyuki. 

Akaza finally saw Keizo in the afterlife, just like Daki and Gyutaro had interacted with each other in their afterlife. 

He couldn’t stop his tears after seeing her.

He remembered how all this hatred and the guilt of not being able to protect his loved ones had turned him into a demon, 

Akaza finally acknowledged that fate had been cruel to him, and for the last time.

Hakuji thought of doing the right thing and started attacking his own body and tried to kill himself. 

Although Muzan was urging him to fight, Hakuji had a brief moment with Keizo, Koyuki and his father.

He thanked them and apologies for all the devastation he had caused.

Therefore he kills himself by attacking his body, and then we see his loved ones welcoming him, and a black flame swirls, and Akaza (Hakuji) dies.

What chapter is Akaza’s backstory? 

Akaza’s backstory is part of Infinite Castle Arc. 

As of now, the Demon Slayer Season 2 just completed the Entertainment district Arc. 

The Demon Slayer Season 3 will be going to follow the Swordsmith Village Arc.

After that, there will be two more arcs Hashira Training Arc and Final Battle Arc. 

The Final Battle Arc is divided into two parts. Part 1 is Infinite Castle Arc, and Part 2 is Sunrise Countdown Arc. 

Akaza’s backstory part will be part of Infinite Castle Arc. 

So this was the tragic past of Akaza; I hope you enjoyed this article; for more such articles, stay tuned to MediaScrolls. 

Frequently asked questions: 

Here are a few frequently asked questions that the fans still have about Akaza. Below is our explanation for the same. 

You can read it in detail in this portion of our article

Who is Keizo? and How did Keizo die?

When Akaza’s father died, Akaza was clueless about his life, and Keizo approached him to join his local Dojo as a trainer.

Keizo saw the goodness in Hakuji and instructed him to take care of his daughter Koyuki and work as a trainer in his Soryuu Dojo.

At first, Keizo was unaware of Akaza’s real name, but when he got to know the real name of Hakuji, he told him that Haku in Hakuji reminisced to “Koma” in Komainu, which means guarding a shrine.

He told Hakuji that he was destined to be the protector of his daughter and his Dojo. Hakuji’s upbringing was similar to Keizo’s because he was sympathetic to Akaza.

At an early age, Keizo learned the Soryuu technique, a bare-fist martial arts fighting style, and fell in love with it.

He became fascinated by the technique and ended up learning it.

One day Keizo saved a man from bandits, who gave him his lands and Dojo as a gift.

He then also married that man’s daughter and had a daughter Koyuki who was ill.

Keizo wanted to pass his knowledge to Akaza (Hakuji) as he had no successor.

He wanted Hakuji to take over the Dojo and also marry his daughter Koyuki.

The Kenjutsu Dojo owners who had killed Koyuki were always jealous of Soryuu Dojo owner Keizo.

Because Akaza the Soryuu Dojo got more students, they became cruel and killed both Keizo and Hakuji’s lover Koyuki out of jealousy.

It is tragic what happened to Hakuji and how he became Akaza. Keizo gave him a better life, and Koyuki gave his life meaning, but their dead indeed turned Hakuji relentless after their deaths, and he ended up killing all 67 members of the rival Dojo Kenjutsu.

This attracted Muzan, who offered Hakuji to give up his life and turn into a powerful demon. Hakuji agreed to Muzan’s terms and turned into the demon Akaza.