This page is mainly terms that are used in Inu Yasha that I thought was important ^-^ I was going to just put the description of the items they have, but this is so much better. Anywayz I got most of these from Round the Campfire Just to give credit where it's due and all ^_~

Shikon no Tama: "the Jewel of Four Souls". A magical jewel formed of the soul of a powerful miko named Midoriko and the countless souls of youkai who were trying to slay her. It possesses the power to grant nearly any wish when whole, and even fragments can enormously boost a youkai's strength, speed and healing and magical abilities. Humans can use the shards this way as well, but they have a way of making their users more demonic over time. The jewel indeed has a tendency of corrupting the hearts of those who use it, due to the youkai souls it is made of. The jewel was given to Kikyou so she would protect and purify it, but it later passed on to Kagome who accidentally shattered it into, well, quite numerous shards that Inuyasha & co. are now trying to gather.

katana: the Japanese long sword, upward of 2 ft in length. Also called o-dachi or daitou. The hilt can be grasped with one or two hands, and the blade is made of special layered steel the preparation of which was and is a secret of the swordsmiths, making katana one of the sharpest blades anywhere in the world. Note that katana also refers to swords of Japanese make at large. It was only some time later than the IY series takes place that katana started being worn with the wakizashi (=short sword) as the symbol of a samurai.

fuda: strips of paper enscribed with Buddhist or Shinto scriptures. Fuda are often used by monks in exorcism or to ward away evil.

houshi: a low-ranked Buddhist monk; often a wandering one, with combat training

hakama: wide skirt-pants, a traditional Japanese garment. The garment has slits down the sides from waist to mid-thigh to facilitate movement, and it's tied with a sash at the waist.

jinja: Shinto shrine

kakera: shard, fragment

haori: a wide-sleeved shirt-like Japanese garment. Open at the front, tied with a sash or tucked into the pants or hakama. A white haori is a part of the traditional attire of a miko.

shakujou: the staff of a wandering Buddhist monk. The jangling metal rings that top the staff are meant to warn all living creatures of the monk's approach so that he will not accidentally step on even the tiniest of insects.

kami: god, deity or a spirit of nature. According to the animistic (or pantheistic) Shinto religion, everything in nature has a kami, or spirit. Among the most prominent kami in Japanese mythology are Amaterasu, the sun goddess, Susano-o, the rogue storm god, and the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami who birthed the islands of Japan, but Japan is said to have eight million kami, so there should be no shortage

kehai: the aura or "feeling" of an object, place or person.

kekkai: literally, "barrier". The term generally refers to a magically created shield, composed of spiritual energy and maintained through concentration by its creator.

kenatsu: approximately, "sword-force". A characteristic of magical (demonic) swords in the series that manifests in various ways

kesa: the outer part of the attire of a Buddhist monk, a large scarf that is wrapped over the inner robe.

Sengoku Jidai: the Era of the Warring States, AD 1467-1568. The Sengoku Jidai was a period of political unrest and civil wars, hence the name "Warring States". The IY series takes place well into the 1500's, near to the end of the era.

taiyoukai: great youkai. The highest ones of all youkai, though I am not entirely sure whether it is by virtue of age or breed. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father, Inutaishou, was a taiyoukai and the Lord of the Western Lands, assumed to refer to Kyuushuu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands.

Hiraikotsu: A large boomerang used by Sango to kill youkai.

tera: Buddhist temple