Inu no Taishou
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| Inu no Taishou 犬の大将 |
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| Alternate Name(s) | InuTaisho, Inu no Taisho, Dog General, The Great Dog Demon, Touga-ou |
| Age | Deceased, appears to be in late thirties |
| Race | Inugami Daiyōkai |
| Weapons | Tenseiga,Tessaiga, and So'unga |
| First Appearance (Anime) | Episode 5 |
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Inu no Taishou (犬の大将 Inunotaishō?) is a fictional character from the InuYasha series. He was a great and powerful demon lord who was known throughout Japan. He fathered Sesshomaru with another dog demon (Sesshomaru's Mother) and InuYasha, with a human woman, Izayoi. While he is often known as Inutaisho by fans, that is not the demon lord's name, since he has no offical name. Inu no Taishou is merely the Japanese term for his title of Dog General. He is also known as The Great Dog Demon, which is a looser translation of the term used in the English version of the series.
Despite never appearing outright, his will has been one of the most influential driving forces in the series. Possessing forethought bordering on clairvoyance, much of his sons' acquisition of power has come as a direct result of trials he set in place before his death. Yet despite having so much influence, very little is known about him.
Contents |
[edit] Manga
These are pieces of information about Inu no Taishou that appear in the manga (and, in the earlier cases, the anime as well), and are therefore the most canonical as they were written by Rumiko Takahashi herself.
[edit] Tessaiga and the Tomb
Inu no Taishou was first mentioned in chapter 12 of the manga, revealing that he was InuYasha's father and "a demon dog that prowled the lands of the west". In this chapter, Inuyasha's elder full-demon brother, Sesshomaru, was also introduced. Sesshomaru was searching for the heirloom sword Tessaiga, which was supposed to be enshrined in his father's tomb. However, the gateway to the tomb had been hidden in a black pearl in Inuyasha's right eye, supposedly by Inu no Taishou himself.
The black pearl was a mystical gem that Inu no Taishou obtained from Hosenki in order to create a path to where he hid his grave, in the boundary between this world and the next. However, the origin of the pearl and the precise location of the grave were not revealed until much later in the story, chapters 298 and 297, respectively.
Inu no Taishou's tomb was first depicted in chapter 15, and was in the form of an enormous dog skeleton adorned in a suit of armor. Myōga revealed that the Inu no Taishou had died with a considerable number of years behind him, and that he was now displayed as his true form free of any transformation.
Within the skeleton was entombed the sword Tessaiga, forged from Inu no Taishou's own fang. However, the sword had a barrier on it that prevented anyone nonhuman that has malevolence towards humans from touching it, which prevented Sesshomaru from claiming the sword as his own. Tessaiga also had the property of not being unable to unleash its true power unless it was done for the benefit of humans. Because of these qualities, it was InuYasha who inherited the sword rather than Sesshomaru.
[edit] Tenseiga
Sesshomaru was not empty-handed in his father's inheritence, though. Sesshomaru had already received the sword Tenseiga, as revealed in chapter 126. However, Tenseiga wasn't a sword for battle, but rather a sword for healing. It had the power to slay beings not of the world of the living, thus had the ability to prevent someone from being taken to the afterlife, thereby resurrecting them.
However, it turned out that Tenseiga had merely been "locked" until Sesshomaru was emotionally mature enough to handle its destructive capabilities. In chapter 410, Tenseiga was reforged to enable its offensive technique, Meidou Zangetsuha. Meidou Zangetsuha was described as "a technique that cuts open the path to the underworld and dispatches an enemy directly into Hell". In its perfected form, the technique would render a circular cut, but Sesshomaru initially was only able to manage a crescent.
Inu no Taishou had set a trial in place should Sesshomaru ever wish to strengthen Meidou Zangetsuha. Sesshomaru visited his mother, who presented him with the Meidou-stone which Inu no Taishou had left her. The stone transported Sesshomaru and his companions into Hell, which soon sapped Rin of her life and killed her. Sesshomaru became distraught at her death upon realizing that Tenseiga can only restore a life once, and was not meant to be an unlimited free ticket out of death. The reaction of his heart enabled Tenseiga to purify the tormented souls in Hell, and cut open a now gibbous-shaped path for their escape. To ease her son's heart, Sesshomaru's mother used her Meidou-seki to restore Rin to life when he could not.
Inu no Taishou's will became somewhat muddled in chapter 491, when it was revealed that Tenseiga was, in fact, simply a discarded piece of Tessaiga. Inu no Taishou had acquired abilities on Tessaiga that he no longer needed, so had cut off the part of the sword that contained them and forged Tenseiga with that discarded piece. Moreover, Tenseiga and Tessaiga were required to resonate with each other in order for Meidou Zangetsuha to work perfectly. Because of this, Sesshomaru likened Tessaiga to the master and Tenseiga to the servant. (It should be noted that the explanation for the relationship between Tessaiga and Tenseiga will likely be changed at a later date once it is clarified more in the manga). However, it should be noted that when the Meidou Zangetsu Ha was fired at Tōtōsai at his home when Sesshomaru inquired about the intention of Tenseiga being reabsorbed into Tessaiga in chapter 495, it was a perfect circle, and Tenseiga was not near Tessaiga.
[edit] Foes
Inu no Taishou's major foe in the manga was the dragon Ryūkotsusei, by whom he met his end. He could not completely kill Ryūkotsusei, and was only able to seal him to a cliff face with his claw before he died. The manga makes no mention of precisely how quickly Inu no Taishou died following this altercation, but Myōga called the battle the "cause" of his death.
The only other person in the manga with a battle history with Inu no Taishou is the demon Shishinki. Shishinki was the originator of the Meidou Zangetsha technique, which Inu no Taishou stole from him using Tessaiga's ability to absorb a defeated enemy's powers. Shishinki was left for dead, having been dealt a blow that took off the entire left side of his head, but he survived and returned to challenge Sesshomaru later.
[edit] Anime
These are additional pieces of information about Inu no Taishou that were invented by the anime writers in order to flesh out his story a little.
[edit] TV Series
Episodes 75 through 77 tell an anime-original story of a tribe of panther demons who once fought against Inu no Taishou. They were led by an enormous cat demon simply referred to as "Oyakata" ("the master"). Inu no Taishou defeated Oyakata and saved many lesser demons from his rule. After Inu no Taishou's death, Oyakata's followers staged another attack on their own, but were narrowly defeated by Sesshomaru. Fifty years later, the panthers tried again, this time attempting to resurrect their fallen leader to aid them, but InuYasha and Sesshomaru defeated them.
[edit] Movie 1: Affections Touching Across Time
A demon from China called Hyoga attempted to invade Japan, but was defeated and sealed away by Inu no Taishou. Hyoga's son, Menomaru, was revived and wished to inherit Hyoga's sealed power for himself. Inu no Taishou himself was needed to undo the seal, but since Tessaiga came from his fang, it was sufficient, and Hyoga tricked InuYasha into undoing the seal. Menomaru, even with Hyoga's power, was later defeated by InuYasha.
[edit] Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
This movie gives the most daring look into Inu no Taishou's side of the story, going so far as actually depicting him in human form, albeit with his face obscured.
Inu no Taishou finished his fight with Ryukotsusei mortally wounded and rushed to Izayoi's side, in order to be present at the birth of his second son, InuYasha. When he arrived he found Izayoi dead, but saved her with the Tenseiga. During (or possibly after) the battle with Setsuna no Takemaru (Takemaru of Setsuna), who had killed Izayoi for consorting with a demon and intended to slay the demon who had sullied her, Inu no Taishou died. Izayoi, revived by the sword Tenseiga, escapes the burning castle as the battle between Takemaru and Inu no Taishou is engaged, and she watches the building collapse upon them with her infant son in her arms, unable to see what becomes of him. However, before she left, a dark purple spiraling dragon appeared from the Inu no Taishou's sword So'unga, a precursor of the Goukuryuuha attack.
So'unga was sealed by Saya in its sheath for seven hundred years (two hundred years of actual sealing on Saya's behalf, but a relative acceleration of an additional 500 years in fuedal time; due to the well's temporal gap) and cast into the Bone-Eater's Well; from there, it was guarded by the Higurashi family until the modern era, when Saya's magic weakened and the evil spirit of the sword sought to destroy the world. Only through InuYasha and Sesshomaru using their swords in concert were they able to defeat So'unga, and the spirit of the Inu no Taishou took the sword into the underworld with him, where it could no longer harm anyone. It was his last lesson to his sons that they must work together; the lesson, so far as the series has demonstrated, did not take easily.
[edit] Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island
Inu no Taishou is mentioned briefly in this movie to serve as a catalyst in getting Sesshomaru involved. It was said that Inu no Taishou once fought the Four War Gods and intended for Sesshomaru to help finish the job.
[edit] Conflicts with Identity
There has been a great deal of conflict over his true name. Many fans refer to him as "InuTaisho", an incorrect way of saying Inu no Taishou. During the production of the third movie, the name used to identify his character was "Togaou/闘牙王" for convenience, but has never been given as his name officially, likely because Rumiko Takahashi did not approve of it. The Japanese cast and a large part of the fandom call him 'Inu-papa'. Rumiko Takahashi never gave a official name, however he is called 'Inu no Taishou', meaning leader of dogs.
There has also been much controversy about his appearance. The creator of the series never revealed his human form in canon, but provided the design for him for the third movie staff, under the direction that his face never clearly be shown. It is technically canon despite the fact the manga contradicts the movie.
As of recently, many people have heard him called 'Sugimi' from a quote by Myōga from the third InuYasha movie. This is possibly, as with "InuTaisho", a misrepresentation of the term "Chichi-gimi", which Myōga uses to refer to him, meaning "your honorable father".
[edit] Voice actors
- Japanese Seiyu - Akio Otsuka
- English Voice Actor - Don Brown
