Character Profile: InuYasha

InuYasha is a half-human, half-demon that eventually works with Kagome to help find and collect all the shards of the Shikon Jewel. He wants the Shikon Jewel so that he can use it to make himself a full demon. Unfortunately, his brother, Sesshoumaru, keeps getting in his way.

InuYasha holds his father's grave in the small dot (a black pearl) in his right eye. (Note that in the US version of the manga, the pages were all flipped for reading left-to-right, thus making the black pearl appear in his left eye.) His sword is called Tetsusaiga, which was made from his father's left fang. InuYasha sometimes acts like a jerk to Kagome, but it's only because he is hiding his own insecurities and bad memories. He really does care for her.

Incidentally, his name does not mean "female dog-demon" like many people believe. Rumiko Takahashi explained in an interview that the meaning of his name broke down as dog (inu) and forest spirit (yasha).

Editor’s Note:

The heights of some of the other character are estimated based on InuYasha's height (of 167 cm that was apparently specified in some Japanese magazine) and Sesshoumaru's height (of 178 cm from InuYasha Anime Magazine, 2006 Edition, 7th Version, Volume 4, back page), using the image you see below as the relative reference. If you have any additional information about these characters' heights, please contact me.

InuYasha's half brother, Sesshomaru, is looking for his fathers grave. His only hint is a riddle, which says "the grave can see but cannot be seen". He also finds another strange hint: "the right black pearl", and realizes that the grave is in InuYasha's right eye. Sesshomaru uses a green ray from his right hand and pulls it out of InuYasha's eye. Jaken (the little green toad dude that's Sesshomaru's servant) uses the staff of heads to open the portal. InuYasha, Sesshomaru, and Kagome get sucked into the portal along with Jaken.

The Tetsusaiga repels both Sesshomaru and InuYasha, and soon Kagome starts crying because of InuYasha's smart mouth. He then says "I meant let me protect you idiot!", and rather than the Tetsusaiga repelling InuYasha, it transforms into a bigger, more powerful form. After InuYasha defeats Sesshomaru, Kagome explains that InuYasha can wield it because he wanted to protect a human with it, and the reason Sesshomaru couldn't was because he had no place for humans in his heart.

So although many people think that the Tetsusaiga is only supposed to be able to be used by InuYasha, this doesn't quite seem to be the case. As point of fact, in the episode called "The Woman That Loved Sesshomaru, Part 2", Sesshomaru used the Tetsusaiga to protect the princess that fell in love with him. Also, in the third movie, InuTaishou is seen weilding it more than once.

InuTaisho (Sesshomaru's and InuYasha's father) was going to die (he and everyone else knew it), so he went to Toutousai and asked him to make two swords, and he set the specifications. One sword was for Sesshomaru and one sword was for InuYasha. Sesshomaru would recieve his sword, the Tenseiga, on his father's death. InuYasha's sword, the Tetsusaiga, would be put into their father's grave. Sesshomaru's sword was for reviving souls from the dead (the recently dead ones) with good intentions in mind. Inuyasha's sword was a saving sword only to be used with good intentions of saving people.

Sesshomaru, being old enough to understand that he wouldn't be able to yield his sword for his purposes, went in search of InuYasha's. But when he found it, he was unable to touch it, for his father only allowed the sword to be touched by someone with human blood running through their veins. After Sesshomaru lost his left arm, he aquired a human arm with a shikon jewel in it so he could use the arm to weild the Tetsuiga and show the swords true powers. But as time went on and Sesshomaru repeatedly lost battles against InuYasha, he went to an ex-pupil of Toutousai's, Kajinbo. Well, Kajinbo made Sesshomaru a sword, but Kajinbo became possessed by the sword and ended up getting killed. When Sesshomaru picked up the sword, he (Sesshomaru) being the greater evil, was able to wield it.

InuYasha is forced to wear a mystic necklace around his neck (courtesy of Kaede). He can't take it off or break it, and it's keyed to Kagome so that every time she yells "Sit!" ["Osuwari!"], InuYasha is forcefully pulled downward. Timely "Sit!" commands have left him with headaches, backaches, and other forms of general misery.

It's pretty well known that on a new moon, InuYasha assumes a full human form where his hair becomes black, his eyes brown (violet in the manga), and his Tetsusaiga will no longer transform for him. But few realize that the opposite is true: that under the right conditions InuYasha can assume a full youkai form. This is because of Tetsusaiga. Since it can supposedly only be held by someone with human blood, it acts as a restraint against InuYasha assuming his youkai form. But when Tetsusaiga is broken by Goshinki, that form comes uncorked…and to see InuYasha in that rampaging form is absolutely scary. In this form, the white part of his eyes turn red.

Inuyasha is the main character along with Kagome, and is the namesake of the series. His name translates into "Dog Demon", and is one of two sons of the Lord Inuyoukai. Inuyasha is a demi-youkai, meaning he is half-demon and half-human. His brother, on the other hand, is full youkai and despises his brother for being a half-breed.

Because of his bloodline, Inuyasha inherited the powers of a demon and some of his fathers characteristics, including his eyes, fangs, claws, dog ears, and hair. He also has the ability to heal incredibly fast in his demon state. He is as strong as most full-youkai, but he does have weaknesses due to his human heritage. On the night of a new moon, his demon powers vanish and he becomes human.

Fifty years ago, Inuyasha was in love with the priestess Kikyou who was the guardian of the Shikon Jewel [Shikon no Tama]. An evil demon known as Naraku turned them against each other, and Kikyou pined Inuyasha to a tree with a sacred arrow. She died then after.

In his quest for the Shikon Jewel, Inuyasha meets Shippo, Miroku, and Sango. Everyone but Kagome has reason to hate Naraku.

There is some controversy about how old InuYasha is. First off, it is known that he was pinned to the tree for 50 years, but he was basically in suspended animation for this time. So any age given should indicate whether or not that 50 years is included, otherwise it could be unclear and cause even more confusion that already exists.

Now, for how old he actually is. Apparently, in an issue of the magazine Anime Insider, it was stated that InuYasha was 68 years old including the time he was sealed away, so that would make him 18 years old (plus 50 years in stasis). And then in the third movie it apparently states that InuYasha's dad, InuTaisho, died 200 years ago on the day InuYasha was born (which includes the time he was pinned to the tree), which would make him about 200 years old, or 150 years old plus 50 years pinned to the tree.

In the "InuYasha Profiles" book, Rumiko Takahashi, creator of InuYasha, reveals that InuYasha's appearance is supposed to be that of a 15 year old boy. Note that this is appearance only, not his actual physical age. Since he's half demon, he most likely ages differently that humans. Someone also mentioned that an all-exclusive member's newsletter from Takahashi's anime studio listed InuYasha as being 252 years old, though I have yet to get confirmation of this.

Another individual, who receives an official members-only newsletter from Takahashi, says that InuYasha's age is listed as being 17 years old, and 250 in demon years. This doesn't make much sense to me, and I think it's actually supposed to be the other way around, with him living 250 human years but physically being equivalent to the age of a 17 year old boy. Like dog years. A dog who has lived for 4 human years would be 29 in dog years, meaning it would be equivalent in age to a 29 year old human. Make sense? And we still don't know if that age includes the time he was pinned to the tree.

So now you can see why there is so much controversy on the subject. I think I would have to go with what's stated in the third movie, because something being specified in the actual anime should take precedence over any other official publications, such as website, newsletters, and magazines, except when the offical publication specifically addresses a statement that's made in the anime. So InuYasha's age is 200 years old including the time pinned to the tree, or 150 years old not including the time pinned to the tree.

Editor's Note: I've gotten a few e-mails about my "improper" conversion of human years to dog years, saying that my multiplication is wrong because 7 dog years are supposed to equal 1 human year. In actuality, that 7-to-1 conversion is just supposed to be used for quickly estimating on-the-fly, because the real conversion is a bit more complicated. There are 10.5 dog years for each 1 human year for the first 2 years, and then 4 dog years per 1 human year after that.