Some Inuyasha questions

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Some Inuyasha questions

Postby SpaceKnight of Chaos » Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:28 pm

Just got the first season collection, and I've known about the series in general for a while, so I thought I'd ask some questions that've been nagging me.

*Does the portal in the Bone-Eater's Well transport Kagome back in time explicitly, or is it possible that the 'feudal era' Inuyasha and the others inhabit is actually a parallel dimension that resembles a more fantasic version of feudal Japan?

*Can only Kagome and Inuyasha use the Bone-Eater's Well, or can others also travel between places with it? If only the first two, why is that?

*Is it known how many pieces the Shikon Jewel broke into when Kagome first shattered it?

*In one of the episodes, a painter learns he can create living images by using a Shikon shard in his inkwell, the ink of which is mixed with human blood and pulped human liver. Could other shards also be used to create similar 'magic items'?

*Is Inuyasha's physical capabilities (claws, strength, speed, healing factor, hearing, scent) the sole area in which he has any demonic advantage, or does he have other powers as well?

*Speaking of which, what abilities will Shippo eventually have when he's grown older/learned how to use them?

*Miroku's Wind Tunnel will eventually draw him in unless he defeats Naraku... but what would happen if he simply cut off the affected hand? Also, would the Wind Tunnel pass on to Miroku's daughters (if he had them), or only his (firstborn?) son?

*How does Kagome manage to travel back and forth between worlds so easily if she is roaming so far abroad from the village near the Bone-Eater's Well in search of the Shikon shards? Does she and the others use Kaede's Village as a 'base camp' and leave only in pursuit of rumors or something?
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Drowned ones cast bad spell and out come pig, girl, duck, panda!
Swirl, swirl, slithery pond, and join with magic spring!
Swirl, swirl, dirty pond, and rid the cursed sting!
Here my prayer, I beg you please!
Now turn these curses BACK!

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Postby Comartemis » Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:57 pm

Can only Kagome and Inuyasha use the Bone-Eater's Well, or can others also travel between places with it? If only the first two, why is that?

The BEW seems to require the presence of the Shikon Jewel in order for Inuyasha and Kagome to travel through it, and nobody else seems to be able to do so. Shippo and Shingo (or whatever Kagome's kid brother is called) both failed to cross through the well early in the series and Kagome was blocked out shortly before the gang's first encounter with Naraku. She was only able to get back because Shippo dropped either a shard or a chunk of the jewel down the well on his side, allowing Kagome through on hers. I'm not sure if there are any other instances of people besides Kag and 'yasha using the well, as there are large chunks of the anime and manga that I've never seen.

In one of the episodes, a painter learns he can create living images by using a Shikon shard in his inkwell, the ink of which is mixed with human blood and pulped human liver. Could other shards also be used to create similar 'magic items'?

I don't know about making magic items but I do know that magic items can be powered up with a shard of the Jewel; Inuyasha does this with Tetsusaiga and gains his 'Diamond Spear Explosion' technique late in the series. Might've been the last season or even the last battle with Naraku, I'm not sure.

Is Inuyasha's physical capabilities (claws, strength, speed, healing factor, hearing, scent) the sole area in which he has any demonic advantage, or does he have other powers as well?

He also has a small degree of Youki manipulation, which he uses with his claws to create the Iron Reaver Soul Stealer and Blades of Blood techniques (Damn Wikipedia for deleting the translations and forcing me to use the dub names....). There's also his Youkai form which he gains after the Tetsusaiga breaks the first time, and I believe he gets an enhanced Youkai form around the same time he gains the Diamond Spear Explosion technique. Any other abilities he has come from Tetsusaiga and its' many powerups.

Speaking of which, what abilities will Shippo eventually have when he's grown older/learned how to use them?

Presumably once Shippo turns into a full-grown Kitsune he'll have access to advanced fox magic and more powerful shapeshifting techniques. What exactly advanced fox magic will allow him to do remains to be seen, as I don't believe there's ever been an adult kitsune seen in the series, even Shippo's deceased father.
Last edited by Comartemis on Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Spokavriel » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:05 pm

I think the only reason the Bone Eaters well works at all is because the Shikon Jewel had a part to play in Inuyasha's time frame. And the reason it works for him and Kagome is because they have a destiny created by Inuyasha's love of Kikyo. Pre-destined temporal incursion.

It has to be the past because a Jewel shard was found in the wood of a Noh-mask that was stored at Kagome's temple.

The first two have the Kikyo connection one being the love the other being the reincarnation. Without the connection to each other through her or their home times I don't think the well would work. And for Kagome it didn't work when the Jewel was taken by Inuyasha and kept in the past seperate from her that one time.

The number of Jewel shards was left deliberately vague so that people couldn't run a tally to keep track of when the final confrontation would have to happen due to there being no more shards. Then later on they ended up defeating that purpose anyway making it so all but X shards were in Naraku's posession.

Not commenting on the abilities. The vortex in the hand would instantly lose it's binding and suck in anything near by if the hand got severed.

If you look at a topographical map of the Tokyo area you can get an idea of the lay of the land. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to keep all their searching on the same side of the mountains as Kaede's village.
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Postby SpaceKnight of Chaos » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:14 pm

The shard being embedded in the flesh-eating Noh Mask doesn't neccessarily mean that Inuyasha's world is Kagome's past, because if it is another dimension the whole jewel was able to cross over when Kikyo was reincarnated as Kagome. I will admit that it's a very damn strong indicator that Inuyasha and Kagome are from two different times, not different worlds.

On the subject of the Shikon shards and Inuyasha's powers; the Shikon shards can empower demons that embed them in their flesh even in their broken state. So why doesn't Inuyasha ever try embedding them into his own flesh to make himself stronger? Will it only work for fully fledged demons? Or is it simply that Kagome and the others would never let him try such a thing, in case it cause 'problems'?
Water, water, everywhere, and all was cursed and black!
Drowned ones cast bad spell and out come pig, girl, duck, panda!
Swirl, swirl, slithery pond, and join with magic spring!
Swirl, swirl, dirty pond, and rid the cursed sting!
Here my prayer, I beg you please!
Now turn these curses BACK!

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Postby Comartemis » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:22 pm

On the subject of the Shikon shards and Inuyasha's powers; the Shikon shards can empower demons that embed them in their flesh even in their broken state. So why doesn't Inuyasha ever try embedding them into his own flesh to make himself stronger? Will it only work for fully fledged demons? Or is it simply that Kagome and the others would never let him try such a thing, in case it cause 'problems'?

Said demons also have a tendency to turn violently homicidal and run rampant and generally make a big nuisance of themselves. 'yasha may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to interpersonal skills, but I imagine he knows better than try using the Jewel's fragments on himself even before he gained his Full Youkai state and had to worry about unstoppable berserker rages. That might also explain why he waited so long to use a shard on the Tetsusaiga; using a shard on himself would probably boost his power at the cost of locking him into Full Youkai mode until it was removed, but using one on Tetsusaiga, which is linked to Inuyasha's youki, would enhance both Inuyasha and Tetsusaiga's ability to suppress his Youkai form, making it safer to use but still dangerous enough to be a last-resort tactic.
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Postby Drawde » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:01 pm

Koga used two shards to increase his speed. But I don't think he was using their full power. During the fight with the demon that looked like a spider web, they had to kill him before he fully absorbed the shard. And I think the final battle with Naraku, Kagome mentioned that he still had the whole jewel instead of absorbing it, because even he didn't trust it fully.

I think Inuyasha not only didn't trust it, but, at first, he wanted to get by on his own power.

As for Kagome going to a different dimension, it's never even suggested, so I doubt it.

The number of shards was never mentioned, so that Takahashi could keep writing the story as long as it was popular. Then she added Naraku, and an entire plot not involving Kagome and friends searching for individual shards popped up.

On how far Kagome travels, it's never mentioned, so that things could happen (including getting back to her time quickly) whenever Takahashi wanted. It limits things if you have a map, and the next chapter you're writing needs to be on the other side of it in a day or so.
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Postby Makoto » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:09 am

Hmm... wonder how much of the video games would be considered canon.

There are at least three (to my knowledge) Inu-Yasha games where you play a character who's transported to Inu-Yasha's time. I've played through quite a bit of the PS2 game (The Secret of the Cursed Mask; there are one or two others, but I think they're mostly just fighters, etc.), and a little of the DS and Gameboy Advance games. I believe Takahashi had a hand in designing the player-characters for the PS2 and DS games, though, so maybe they might have some bearing, somewhere.

Anyway, the DS game does have your character using the Well to go to the past. She apparently has some sort of important connection to someone in that era, though, (but isn't carrying or influenced by the Shikon jewel/shards, as far as I can tell) so that could also be a factor.

The Secret of the Cursed Mask just has your character falling into a portal, or something like that, on your family's property (during a festival)... if I remember correctly. I don't remember how you end up in the past on the Advance game.
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Postby windstorm » Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:43 pm

I've only seen the english version of the anime and that was a while ago, but I remember most of the details.

I'm pretty sure that the bone eater's well does take Kagome back in time, rather than a parallel dimension of feudal japan (it is a possibility, especially if you want to think for stuff like fanon, but highly unlikely). There is some evidence of this in the anime like:

-The Tree of Ages of whatever it translates to is still at her shrine as well as the bone eater's well. Transport between two dimensions, rather than time travel would not always mean the exact same landmarks would be there.
-The legend of the shikon jewel existed at the Higurashi shrine and it is unlikely the jewel could exist or at least the myth of it could exist in both supposed dimensions. Even more so since the jewel was created as a result of the fusing of a miko Midoriko and several demon souls. So it would likely have had to exist in the past at some point for the tale to even exist in the present, either that or someone else was able to travel through the well or something.
-The stuff with Hojo's ancestor showing up in the feudal era later in the series when Kagome and co met up with him. Also Hojo tracing his lineage back to that time period and that ancestor specifically.
-May not count since it was not in the anime, but in one of the movies there is a sword sounga that was used to belong to Inuyasha's father and was sealed after his death that appeared in Kagome's time. Her grandfather found it in the shed at the shrine.
-The noh mask demon that appears in Kagome's time suggests that demons do exist in her world, though they clearly are not very common anymore.
-The soul piper with the ghosts of kids appears in both times as well so supernatural things appear in the present era without passing through the well.

My best guess as to why demons do not seem to exist and appear very rarely in her time is that something happened to either seal most away, kill them off or both and after a couple hundred years of not seeing any they became mere myths. There are beliefs in things like a demon world (makai) in Japanese mythology if I'm not mistaken. Some of the more intelligent ones could either isolate and hide themselves and some of the humanoid ones like Koga or Sesshomaru might even be able to masquerade as human.


Only Kagome and Inuyasha do seem to be able to use the well for some reason. There was that one hair demon Yura or whatever near the start of the series that could send her hair through the well though. As for why those two, Kagome probably because of some bizarre mix of having the shikon jewel, being Kikyo's reincarnation or her miko abilities and Inuyasha supposedly for having the necklace that connects him to Kagome. At least that is the most popular theory.


It is unknown how many pieces the shikon jewel broke into. I imagine the only reason it even came close to completion was because of all of the people and demons who found and sought out the shards. Naraku probably duped and/or killed several hundred people and demons to get the majority of the jewel later in the series.


I'd say it is possible to use Shikon fragments to create other 'magic items' like that painter did. There was an enemy called Bankotsu later on in the series who used Shikon shards to repair and increase the durability and strength of his sword.


Inuyahsa's main attributes are be his increased abilities from his demonic heritage. He also has that 'blades of blood' ability though where he covers his claws with blood and shoots out three red energy slashes from them. The ability to use tetsusaiga is actually because he has demon blood. He can touch it since he is part human due to the spell preventing pure blooded demons from touching it, but he can only actually use the sword in its transformed state because he is part demon. The sword tetsusaiga also has some abilities later on which Inyasha is able to use, but again only because he is part demon.


I have no idea what Shippo will be able to do when he is older and it is never hinted or shown to my knowledge. He will probably gain powers similar to kitsune in legends as they age, and maybe even gain more tails overtime to. He will probably get a lot stronger with his already existing abilities though as he ages, so he'll be able to use larger amounts of foxfire and use transformations and illusion for longer periods of time and ones that will be harder to break. None of this occurs in the series though.


Miroku's wind tunnel is hereditary so it would affect anyone of his offspring not just his first born son. It is merely a coincidence that both his father and grandfather only had one male child. As for what would happen if he simply cut off his hand I have no idea, they never mention it in the anime. It could potentially cause the wind tunnel to increase and devour him prematurely since any injury to his hand around the wind tunnel seems to increase it.


Kagome and the group go to the village a lot in between shard hunts, but I think near mainly because it is familiar and also the only place where Kagome can travel home from. I think Kagome is actually away for several days to a even a few weeks at a time between her trips back home, we just do not see all of the passage of time. Also it is not too ridiculous (especially for an anime) to be able to travel as far as they seem to if they walk for entire days at a time, especially with Inuyasha and Miroku's speed if they decide to run part of the way.
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Postby SpaceKnight of Chaos » Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:51 am

The dimension theory was just that, and it's been pretty much disproven now.

My new question; how is it Kagome survived when Urasuae resurrected Kikyo? And how did Kikyo manage to keep existing after Kagome somehow drew her soul back in? Is the 'reborn' Kikyo merely animated by Kikyo's intense hatred for Inuyasha and a faint 'ghost' of Kikyo's essence, thus leaving the soul-proper to Kagome, or is there some other explanation?

I haven't seen the episode yet, but I've heard that Sesshomaru gets a sword that is effectively Tetsusaiga's counterpart, capable of tremendous healing magic. What is the name of this sword and what was it made from?
Last edited by SpaceKnight of Chaos on Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Water, water, everywhere, and all was cursed and black!
Drowned ones cast bad spell and out come pig, girl, duck, panda!
Swirl, swirl, slithery pond, and join with magic spring!
Swirl, swirl, dirty pond, and rid the cursed sting!
Here my prayer, I beg you please!
Now turn these curses BACK!

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Postby Heaven's Deamon » Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:58 am

Tennseiga (I may have misspelled it slightly) Is the "sibling" of Inuyasha's Tetsuiga. It was also made from a fang of their father, and both swords were made at around the same time. Know traits of Tennseiga are that it can not harm the living, it will protect Seshoumaru from otherwise lethal attacks such as point blank Wind Scar, and it can allow the wielder to see and destroy the "gremlins" that take a person's soul to the afterlife, thus reviving whatever it cuts, demostrated on Rin, who becomes Seshoumaru's ward, and on the head of the demon that once broke Tetsuiga, reviving it long enough for a fang to be removed to create a new sword. Whether Tennseiga can heal someone who hasn't died or not is unknown to my knowledge, but some fics assume that it can.
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Postby Dorin » Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:19 am

Heaven's Deamon wrote:Tennseiga (I may have misspelled it slightly) Is the "sibling" of Inuyasha's Tetsuiga. It was also made from a fang of their father, and both swords were made at around the same time. Know traits of Tennseiga are that it can not harm the living, it will protect Seshoumaru from otherwise lethal attacks such as point blank Wind Scar, and it can allow the wielder to see and destroy the "gremlins" that take a person's soul to the afterlife, thus reviving whatever it cuts, demostrated on Rin, who becomes Seshoumaru's ward, and on the head of the demon that once broke Tetsuiga, reviving it long enough for a fang to be removed to create a new sword. Whether Tennseiga can heal someone who hasn't died or not is unknown to my knowledge, but some fics assume that it can.


I believe it's more reviving the dead than healing the living, but there are good ground for both. So long as the soul hasn't departed to the afterlife, Tenseiga can restore them. To my knowledge anyway. It's established in later chapters of the manga that Tenseiga can only do it once on a person, so if Ren were to get killed again, the sword would be powerless to restore her.

And, there's a bit of a lie to the story the tenseiga and tessaiga were forged at the same time. Actually, tenseiga was discarded from the tessaiga, along with an ability called Meidô Zangetsuha, which creates portals in Hell, or something to that effect. Basically rips in reality which suck the target inside, never to be seen again. Their father didn't think Inuyasha could handle the ability, so he had Totosai cast off that part, and make tenseiga; supposedly with the intention of Inuyasha eventually taking the power back and making tessaiga complete.

Which, at the later arcs of the manga, the sword can now do. The "Black Bladed Tessaiga"

sad adddendum: The manga really started to turn into a run of DBZ; starting with the Red Tessaiga and the ability to break through Naraku's barrier, going on to a back and forth between Naraku (or one of his incarnations) getting some incredible new power, and then Inuyasha finding the counter, and back and forth, and back and forth.
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Postby Heaven's Deamon » Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:08 am

Yeah. Inuyasha seems like it was "fly by the seat of the pants" writing, with things being made up as they went along with little consideration to any overarcing purpose or final intent. That kind of style did fairly well for a comedic series like Ranma, but was not a good idea for a more action based one like Inuyasha. It gave a good start, but then started to create a downward spiral.
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Postby Spokavriel » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:46 am

Well the writer is in her what 2nd or 3rd requested extension of the series after she was first asked to come up with a definitive ending and has had to make up adventures to fill up in between the requested years and when she finally gets to use the final arc that has been decided for a long while.

Edit: When Kikyo was revived Kagome's soul was split. In the Manga there is a point where Kikyo effectively dies again joining with the Shikon jewel to keep a spark of purity to fight Naraku with and Kagome gets back that portion of her soul when it happens.
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Postby Drawde » Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:59 pm

Heaven's Deamon wrote:Yeah. Inuyasha seems like it was "fly by the seat of the pants" writing, with things being made up as they went along with little consideration to any overarcing purpose or final intent. That kind of style did fairly well for a comedic series like Ranma, but was not a good idea for a more action based one like Inuyasha. It gave a good start, but then started to create a downward spiral.

Given that the series had a successful run of 11-12 years, Takahashi can't be doing too bad with her writing. The series started sometime in 1996 (can't find the date) and ended mid-June 2008. Any series that lasts that long is probably doing something right.
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Postby SpaceKnight of Chaos » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:24 pm

I was just wondering; does Kagome/Inuyasha ever explain (as much as that's possible) to Shippo, Miroku and Sango that Kagome comes from "somewhere else" reachable through the Bone-Eater's Well in the Forest of Inuyasha? If the other members of the group do know about Kagome coming from 'elsewhere', when/how was this likely explained to them?
Water, water, everywhere, and all was cursed and black!
Drowned ones cast bad spell and out come pig, girl, duck, panda!
Swirl, swirl, slithery pond, and join with magic spring!
Swirl, swirl, dirty pond, and rid the cursed sting!
Here my prayer, I beg you please!
Now turn these curses BACK!

http://www.issendai.com/rpgs/japanese-boys-names.shtml
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