Family: half-brother, Sesshoumaru

Age: unknown. Takahashi-sensei has said that he is like a 16 or 17-year old, and presumably he is young for a youkai.

Hair: in hanyou form white, with silver/blue highlights; in human form black, generally wild and tangled

Eyes: in hanyou form golden with slit pupils; in human form purple in the manga, brown in the anime

Appearance: Inuyasha, being a hanyou (half demon) has taloned hands, fangs and white dog ears on top of his head. His build is deceptively slender; he is very strong. He wears loose pants and a wide-sleeved Japanese coat that are made of the fur of a fire rat. They function as armour, turning aside normal swords but not most youkai weapons (or even claws or fangs). Their official colour is probably bright red, despite some early manga issues where they were drawn pink.

Appellations: Inuyasha, Inuyasha-sama, inu no niichan, inukkoro ("dog turd")

Meaning of Name: "Inuyasha" is written with the kanji (ideograms) for "dog", "night" and "witch". "Yasha" actually means female demon or witch, but the name can be loosely translated as "dog-demon".

Impressions: Inuyasha is rash, loud-mouthed, headstrong and short-tempered, but also honest, emotional, devoted and loyal to a fault. He will trust his instincts rather than the voice of reason. He is the half-blooded son of a dog-demon father and a human mother, and his divided blood marks him deeply. Due to his outcast nature, he also has some heavy-duty issues about trusting people. He has had to live by strength all his life, and thus has some difficulty with letting his softer emotions to the fore. Ever since he met Kagome, however, he has been slowly opening to friendship and caring.

Quote: "I don't suppose I can have both of them."

History (spoilers!): Very little is known about Inuyasha's past. His father was a taiyoukai (great demon) who reigned over the western lands of Japan. His mother was a human woman who died when he was very young, so he has been alone most of his life. He has an older half-brother, Sesshoumaru, but there is little brotherly love lost between them.

Fifty years before the point when the series begins, Inuyasha was chasing after the Shikon no Tama in order to become a full-blooded youkai. He then met the jewel's guardian, a priestess named Kikyou. The two slowly fell in love, and Kikyou told Inuyasha that he could also become a human with the power of the jewel and they could spend their lives together. Inuyasha agreed, but through deceit and manipulation by outside forces (Naraku), Kikyou ended up sealing Inuyasha into sleep with her enchanted arrow before dying from her own injuries. The Shikon no Tama was burned with Kikyou's body, and Inuyasha remained aslumber, pinned to the sacred tree for fifty years... until Kagome fell into feudal Japan through the Bone-Eater's Well and broke the enchantment.At first, he didn't like Kagome and was very rude to her because she resembling Kikyou. Later he starts to develop feeling for her and is very protective of her. He gets every jealous when Kouga is around Kagome. After Kikyou was brought back to life, he got mix feeling for them both and couldn't decide between Kikyou or Kagome. Besides his love life problem, he also has problem with his older brother, Sesshoumaru, who goal was to take the Tetsusaiga away from Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru wouldn't hesitate to kill Inuyasha and is totally offended by Inuyasha's existent. And of course, there is Naraku. If there is one person Inuyasha wouldn't hesitate to kill, it would be Naraku. He turned Kikyou and Inuyasha against each other, and tried to kill Inuyasha numerous of times. Inuyasha also hated the fact that Naraku is in love with Kikyou. It makes him angry just to think about it.

Weapons & Attacks: Inuyasha's general strategy seems to be "hack at it until it doesn't move any more". He has bare-handed combat down to an art, however, and as the series progresses, he becomes frighteningly effective with his heirloom sword, the Tetsusaiga. In addition, he has superhuman speed and strength, as well as the regenerative abilities of a youkai, so he heals from seemingly fatal injuries at an amazing rate.

Sankon Tetsusou ("Soul Scattering Iron Claw", or "Claws of Steel"): A bare-handed attack, can be anything from blades of ki to simply tearing up an opponent.

Hijin Ketsusou ("Airborne Blood Blade Claw" or "Claws of Blood"): Inuyasha uses his own blood to form blades to hurl at his enemies.

The Tetsusaiga ("Steel-Cleaving Fang"): This is a magical blade forged from one of his father's fangs, and laid to rest inside his dead body for Inuyasha to find when the time came, or when Sesshomaru beat the crap out of him to find their father's grave so the he could get the sword. Inuyasha doesn't really care about the sword, all he wants to do is to prove that he's not some "half-breed weakling" in front of his full youkai brother. However, upon a recitation of how the sword can help Inuyasha win from Myouga, he gains intrest in it just for that fact. But they are both mislead, for it seems that Inuyasha's father had a sense of homor; the sword can only be used if its intentions are to save the life of a human or is weilded by a human. After all of this is discovered, Inuyasha now gets the sword to save Kagome. It normally looks like a pretty rusty and notched Japanese sword, but in Inuyasha's hands it takes on its true form, that of a huge, fang-like blade.

Kaze no Kizu ("The Cutting Wind"): This is a special attack of the Tetsusaiga with which the wielder can "cut down a hundred youkai in one swing". This is accomplished by aiming a strike at the collision point of the youki (demon energy) of the wielder and his opponent, and thus turning the youki full-force at the opponent. Inuyasha learns this in vol. 12 of the manga (anime ep. 32?).

Bakuryuuha: Once Toutousai repaired it using one of Inuyasha's fangs, the blade was unimaginable heavy. In order to make it lighter, he had to learn the ultimate technique on Ryuukossei, the youkai that gave his father a the wound which killed him. The ougi (succession technique) of the Tetsusaiga, this is a variation of the Kaze no Kizu that takes further the idea of turning the opponent's youki on him by enveloping the opponent's youki in the Kaze no Kizu. A pretty sure-fire way to blast away most youkai. This first comes into play in manga vol. 20 (anime ep. 54).

The Red Tetsusaiga: The Steel-Cleaving Fang can also shatter kekkai (magical wards or barriers). The blade turns red and shears through the protective energies of the barrier. The sword acquired this ability in manga vol. 22 (anime ep. 74). When Myouga tells him that if he ca defeat the leafer of the "bat" youkai, which are known for their strong barriers, he will be able to get past Naraku's. After defeating Taigokumaru, the bat demon leader, the Tetsusaiga turns red as it has learned how to slice through barriers.

Claw of Exorcism, Demon Begone, etc.: Uh... these are the abominable Viz translations for Sankon Tetsusou in some of the early issues. Pay them no mind. Viz seems to have caught the hint, however, since these have disappeared (for good, one hopes).
(On a side note, in the anime they do indeed say "Tessaiga", instead of "Tetsusaiga" so that the "tsu" syllable becomes a mere "s" sound. This merging of syllables is a very common characteristic of spoken [and to an extent written] Japanese. "Tessaiga" refers to the selfsame sword as "Tetsusaiga", and you may bicker about the correct translitteration at your leisure.)

Things of Note (spoilers!): Being a hanyou, Inuyasha loses his demon powers periodically, namely on the night of the new moon. He then turns into a human in every aspect, and remains that way from dusk to dawn. He has a full youkai form, too, but because of his hybrid blood he cannot control himself while transformed into that form, and has thus far only gone on killing rampages on these occasions. The Tetsusaiga acts as a seal on his demon powers, so he better not lose the sword... He also wears a prayer bead necklace around his neck, imbued with a subduing spell that causes him to splat to the ground whenever Kagome says "Sit!" ("Osuwari!").

Love Life: Inuyasha fell for Kagome pretty early on and his feelings seem to have got stronger, if anything. However, his old (and once dead) love, Kikyou, is also around again, and frequently causes friction since Inuyasha seems unable to decide...

First Appearance: manga act 1, anime episode 1

Seiyuu (Japanese): Yamaguchi Kappei

Voice Actor (English): Richard Cox