Inu no Taishou

Infobox animanga character
name = Inu no Taishou
series = InuYasha


caption =
first = Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshomaru
last = Swords of an Honorable Ruler
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
voiced by = Akio Otsuka (Japanese)
Don Brown (English)
alias =
age =
species = Inugami Chōyōkai
born =
relatives = Sesshomaru's Mother (mate)
Izayoi (lover, deceased)
Sesshomaru (son)
InuYasha (son)

aux1 name = Weapon
aux1 = Tenseiga,Tetsusaiga, and So'unga

nihongo|Inu no Taishou|犬の大将|Inu no Taishō is a fictional character from the anime and manga series, "InuYasha". He was a great and powerful yōkai lord who was known throughout Japan. He fathered Sesshomaru with another dog yōkai (Sesshomaru's Mother), and InuYasha with a human woman, Izayoi. While he is often known as "Inutaisho" by fans, the yōkai lord has no official 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 translation of the term used in the English version of the series.

Despite never appearing outright (except in the intro of the third movie), 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.

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.

Tetsusaiga 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-yōkai brother, Sesshomaru, was also introduced. Sesshomaru was searching for the heirloom sword Tetsusaiga, 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 by Myoga the flea (revealed in the third movie).

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 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 Tetsusaiga, forged from Inu no Taishou's own fang. However, the sword had a barrier on it that prevented any non-human that has malevolence towards humans from touching it, which prevented Sesshomaru from claiming the sword as his own. Tetsusaiga 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, after Kagome had pulled the sword from its resting place. Its sheath has a barrier of its own that can protect the one holding it from almost any attack.

Tenseiga

Sesshomaru was not empty-handed in his father's inheritance, 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 Tetsusaiga. Inu no Taishou had acquired abilities on Tetsusaiga 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 Tetsusaiga were required to resonate with each other in order for Meidou Zangetsuha to work perfectly. Because of this, Sesshomaru likened Tetsusaiga to the master and Tenseiga to the servant. (The explanation for the relationship between Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga may be changed at a later date once it is further clarified in the manga.) However, it should be noted that when the Meidou Zangetsuha was fired at Tōtōsai at his home when Sesshomaru inquired about the intention of Tenseiga being reabsorbed into Tetsusaiga in chapter 495, it was a perfect circle, and Tenseiga was not near Tetsusaiga.

Tenseiga reverted to its original form of a purely healing sword in chapter 504 when Sesshomaru appeared to willingly break Tenseiga against Tetsusaiga in order to bequeath its Meidou Zangetsuha power upon it. The purpose of this was to force Sesshomaru to find a weapon that was purely his own instead of relying on powers handed down to him by his father.

Foes

Inu no Taishou's major foe in the manga was the dragon Ryūkotsusei. 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. However, in the third movie, it was revealed that after Inu no Taishou came back after defeating Ryūkotsusei, he left to confront a man who kidnapped Izayoi. The two men began to duel but later both died in a fire.

Another person in the manga with a battle history with Inu no Taishou is the yōkai Shishinki. Shishinki was the originator of the Meidou Zangetsuha technique, which Inu no Taishou stole from him using Tetsusaiga'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.

Anime

Below 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.

TV Series

Inu no Taishou first appears in Episode 5 of the Anime, which is also Sesshomaru's debut appearance.

While Sesshomaru searches for his father's grave, the flea yōkai Myouga informs InuYasha of his plans. Ino no Taisho is said to be "a demon among demons"and that the "Western lands were his domain. Myouga adds that his blood was "especially delicious". He is shown as a large dog yōkai, and in the manga he appears to have a large bull in his jaws.

Episodes 75–77 tell an anime-only story in which a tribe of panther yōkai has once fought against Inu no Taishou many years ago. They were led by an enormous panther yōkai simply referred to as "Oyakata". Inu no Taishou defeated Oyakata and saved many lesser yōkai 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 defeat them once more. They vow not to try an attack again.

A yōkai 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 Tetsusaiga 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 with the Sacred Backlash Wave (a combined effort between InuYasha and Kagome that consists of Kagome firing one of her Sacred Arrows into the center of InuYasha's Backlash Wave before it connects).

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 somewhat obscured But, from What we can see he bares a strong resemblance to Sesshomaru in human form and has the same jagged purple marks as Inu Yashas' demon form.

The story begins with Inu no Taishou speaking with his son, Sesshomaru. He is gravely injured after just finishing his fight with Ryukotsusei, but he has no time to tend to his injuries for his human lover is about to give birth to his second son. When the Dog Lord arrives, he finds the castle in which Izayoi is staying heavily fortified. Inu no Taishou blasts his way through to Izayoi's chamber, only to find her dead. He takes out the sword Tenseiga, and pleads with it to revive the young woman, which it does. She is given the Robe of the Fire Rat in order to protect her from the flames. Outside the castle, the samurai Setsuna no Takemaru (Takemaru of Setsuna), who had been in love with Izayoi, yet had killed her for consorting with a yōkai, has ordered the castle to be set aflame. He enters the building to kill Inu no Taisho, the yōkai who had defiled his beloved princess. Izayoi, along with the newborn InuYasha, is ordered to escape the burning castle as his battle between Takemaru is engaged. As she leaves, Inu no Taishou uses the sword So'unga, and a dark purple spiraling dragon appeared from it, a precursor of the Goukuryuuha attack.

Now safely away from the battle, Izayoi watches the building collapse upon them with her infant son in her arms, unable to see what becomes of him. Inu no Taishou's voice can be heard, asking her to live on.

After Inu no Taishou's death, the sword 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 feudal 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.

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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.

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 an official name, however he is popularly called "Inu no Taishou".

As of recently, many people have heard him called "Sugimi" from a quote by Myoga from the third InuYasha movie, . This is possibly, as with "InuTaisho", a misrepresentation of the term "Chichi-gimi", which Myoga uses to refer to him, meaning "your honorable father".