Shinobu is a petite young woman with a slender and short build and a fairly pale complexion. She has large eyes that lack pupils, only a haze of gradient purple, making her eyes appear similar to those of insects. She has very short raven-black wavy hair that fades into dark purple at the ends, styled at the back of her head into a flat yakai-maki bun, fastened with a white, turquoise and light purple butterfly ornament. She has center-split, ear-length, voluminous curtain bangs that flow down to frame the sides of her face, with two slightly thinner chin-length locks of hair in front of her ears below them. She stands out among the more physically imposing Hashira due to her diminutive stature and small frame, which is later reinforced by her mentioning that she does not possess enough physical strength to decapitate a demon as the others do. According to Zenitsu, Shinobu is so cute that she could make a living on her looks alone. Shinobu wears a dark purple tinted standard Demon Slayer uniform, consisting of a button-up jacket with golden buttons, stand collar, and long sleeves, having the kanji for "Destroy" engraved on the back, a shirt pocket on top of the left breast, matching the dark purple color of her tabi socks and her long saggy tattsuke hakama pants, that is wrapped by a pair of white butterfly-patterned Kyahan fading into a pale turquoise to pink shade around her lower legs, fastened with white ribbons. Over her uniform, she wears a white haori that previously belonged to her older sister, which has a butterfly wing pattern, specially that of a Monarch Butterfly, that fades into a pale turquoise then pink color gradient on the sleeves and hem which are cuffed with a black and white dotted trim. She wears white zōri sandals with purple straps for footwear she conceals a hidden blade in the right sandal. Shinobu carries a Stinger Nichirin Katana, forged by Tecchin Tecchikawahara.