InuYasha, full title InuYasha, a Feudal Fairy Tale (Sengoku Otogi Zoshi
InuYasha) (also romanized as Inuyasha), is a popular manga series written
by Rumiko Takahashi. The story centers around a time-traveling middle
school student, a hanyou (half-demon), a lecherous monk, a young fox
demon, a demon slayer, and a nekomata during the Sengoku Period who
seek to restore the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls) and to keep
it out of the hands of the evil Naraku.
Plot overview
The story begins in Feudal Japan with Inuyasha, a hanyou (half-demon)
stealing the Shikon no Tama, a jewel that can increase anyone's powers
enormously, from a village. He does not get far before Kikyou, the young
miko of the village, shoots Inuyasha with a sacred arrow, sealing him
forever to Goshinboku, a tree in the nearby forest. Mortally wounded,
Kikyou tells her younger sister, Kaede, to burn the jewel with her body
to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
In modern Tokyo, a junior high-school girl named Kagome Higurashi
is on her way to school. She stops in the well house of her family's
Shinto shrine to retrieve her cat, Buyo, when a centipede demon bursts
forth and pulls her into the Sengoku period of Japan.
Not knowing where she is, Kagome wanders around a forest near the
well. She spots Goshinboku off in the distance and proceeds towards
it. When she reaches the tree, she finds Inuyasha, who is still sealed
with an arrow to the tree, asleep. Villagers seize her and take her
to the old miko, Kaede. Recognizing that Kagome is the re-incarnation
of her sister Kikyou, Kaede tells the story of Kikyou and Inuyasha.
The centipede attacks again, and Kagome is forced to release Inuyasha
to kill it. After defeating the centipede, in order to prevent Inuyasha
from taking the Jewel of Four Souls, Kaede casts magical prayer beads
around Inuyasha's neck so Kagome can subdue him.
Then the jewel attracts more demons. In a battle against a carrion
crow demon, the jewel is shattered into numerous shards.
Kagome and Inuyasha set out to collect the shards and restore the
Shikon no Tama. Along the way they befriend Shippo, a fox demon, Miroku,
a cursed monk, and Sango, a demon-slayer whose brother was tricked into
slaughtering the rest of their village. The group often encounters:
Inuyasha's older half-brother, Sesshoumaru; Kikyou who was brought back
from the grave with part of Kagome's soul; Naraku who tricked Kikyou
and Inuyasha into turning against each other; and a wolf demon, Kouga,
who is in love with Kagome and wants to make her "his woman".
