일본풍 스팀펑크 장르로서의 『귀멸의 칼날』󰡕

Abstract

While Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has often been interpreted as a conventional Japanese fantasy narrative grounded in swordsmanship, demon folklore, and premodern values, this paper contends that the series also embeds a distinct steampunk aesthetic, reconfigured through a culturally specific Japanese lens. By examining three key elements—the Mugen Train, the urban spaces of Asakusa and Yoshiwara, and the Nichirin swords wielded by members of the Demon Slayer Corps—this study investigates how the anime negotiates the tension between the rationality of modern technology and the mysticism of premodern belief systems. The Mugen Train, emblematic of Japan’s early industrialization, paradoxically functions as a liminal site of psychological entrapment and supernatural confrontation. The depictions of Asakusa and Yoshiwara further illustrate transitional urban spaces wherein tradition and modernity collide, mirroring the socio-cultural flux characteristic of the Taishō period. Meanwhile, the Nichirin swords—crafted from mythologized ores and attuned to the spiritual dispositions of their users—operate as “out-of-place artifacts” that fuse emotional resonance with technological imagination. Through these motifs, Demon Slayer articulates a mode of “Japanese steampunk” in which modernity is not opposed to mysticism but rather reinterpreted through it, thereby generating a hybrid symbolic system where rational progress and irrational wonder coexist in a culturally resonant aesthetic.