Izayoi

Infobox animanga character
name = Izayoi
series = InuYasha


caption =
first = "Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshomaru"
last = "Swords of an Honorable Ruler"
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
age =
alias =
voiced by = Kikuko Inoue, (Japanese)
Alaina Burnett (English)
species = Human
born =
relatives = Inu no Taishou (lover, deceased)
InuYasha (son)
aux1 name = Weapon
aux1 = none

is a fictional character in the manga and anime series "InuYasha" and the mother of the title character. While she remains unnamed in the manga and anime, the name Izayoi was given to her in third InuYasha movie where her character was also expanded.

She is said to be the daughter of a feudal lord and thus a human of noble status. She is depicted as a gentle, beautiful, and sad young woman, possibly in her late teens or early twenties. However, her exact age and human family ties are unknown. It has never been specified how or when Izayoi died, although according to InuYasha she died "a long time ago" and that it "wasn't her fault". It is also unknown as to how old InuYasha was when she died, but his memories of her in the series are always from his early childhood. It could also be that InuYasha simply outlived his mother because he is a hanyō.

After her death, InuYasha is left but two things: the Robe of the Fire Rat and a small shell containing red lip coloring. The robe is far more useful to InuYasha and can protect him from fire and to some extent blades. It is woven from the legendary Fire Rat's (Hinezumi) hair and was actually given to Izayoi by InuYasha's father in order to protect her on the night of InuYasha's birth. [] The shell containing his mother's lip coloring was given to Kikyo who wore it secretly at night. [Episode 147-148: The Fateful Love Song of before we First Met ("Meguriau Mae no Sadame no Koiuta")]

Early references

Izayoi's first appearance is near the very beginning of the series and occurs only in InuYasha's memory. He recalls her sadness as she cries while hugging him when he asked her what a half breed was. The children from the village constantly called him that and would stop playing some kind of ball game and walk away if InuYasha came near. At the time he had little idea as to why his mother was crying, but in retrospect he realizes his mother's tears were for him, knowing that he would suffer discrimination throughout his life by humans because he was only half human, and therefore not welcome by demons for only being half demon.

In the series Sesshomaru uses a demon known as the Un-mother to impersonate Izayoi. The Un-mother uses an illusion which makes her seem like Izayoi to InuYasha. She does this so Sesshomaru can discover the location of his father's tomb, since he assumed InuYasha knew where it was. After Kagome Higurashi helps InuYasha break the spell the Un-mother has over him, Sesshomaru decides to kill InuYasha after using an alternative method to find their father's tomb. However, the Un-mother, believing that even if she was not his true mother, she still loves him as son, and sacrifices herself in order to save InuYasha.

Expanded character information

In "", the character of Izayoi is given much more depth. Izayoi is first seen residing in a castle, which may or may not have been her family's home. The complex is guarded by Setsuna no Takemaru and his samurai. On the night she was about to give birth to InuYasha, both Takemaru and Izayoi knew that Inu no Taishou, the father of the unborn child, was coming to be with her during the birth. Takemaru has intentionally put the castle under heavy guard because of this and soon visits Izayoi's birthing room against the protests of the midwife.

Izayoi urges Takemaru to take the samurai and leave before Inu no Taishou arrives and kills them in a territorial rage; ignoring her pleas, Takemaru professes his deep love for her before stabbing her in the chest with a spear. In his mind this brutal act was justified in that, because she has defiled herself by becoming a demon's lover, Izayoi would now be free in death. However, her body, already in the process labor, delivered InuYasha shortly before dying. By using the last of her strength, she pulled him close to her in an embrace before dying. Inu no Taishou, seriously injured after his battle with Ryūkotsusei, reaches the castle after battling his way through Takemaru and his forces. After Inu no Taishou enters the castle to find his lover, Takemaru orders his archers to set fire to the building, hoping to destroy both Izayoi's body and Inu no Taishou. It is likely that he did not know InuYasha had been delivered alive until after he entered the burning building to confront Inu no Taishou; it is also unlikely, given that InuYasha is hanyō, that Takemaru would have cared whether or not the newborn was alive or not when he ordered the building be fired. Destroying the product of Izayoi's defilement by a demon would have been incidental.

Pushing through the inflamed building, Inu no Taishou finally reached his beloved, who lies motionless on the floor with their new child. He pulls out his Tenseiga and pleas to the sword to enable her revival; in which it does. Once awakened, Izayoi is given the fire-rat cloak by Inu no Taishou in order to protect her from the burning building. Before ordering her to run to safety, he names their son InuYasha. While she leaves, he engages Takemaru in a fight to the death as the castle burns around them, killing them both. Thus, Izayoi was left to raise her hanyō son alone, and face the stigma of bearing and raising the child of a demon.

After her eventual death, InuYasha, according to the movie, now visits and tends to her grave periodically.

Notes and References