# Inuyasha (犬夜叉)
**Inuyasha** (犬夜叉) is a Japanese manga series by [Rumiko Takahashi](https://www.edgepedia.org/rumiko-takahashi), serialized in Shogakukan's *Weekly Shonen Sunday* from November 13, 1996 to June 15, 2008 and collected in 56 volumes, about a modern schoolgirl who travels to Japan's Sengoku period (Japan's civil-war era, roughly 1467–1603, of constant military conflict) and joins a half-demon to recover the shards of a shattered magical jewel.[1](https://bessatsu.com/zh-tw/articles/inuyasha/) It is Takahashi's longest serialized work, running for twelve years, and it won the 47th [Shogakukan Manga Award](https://www.edgepedia.org/shogakukan-manga-award) in the shonen category.[2](https://book.asahi.com/article/12737726) • [3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8A%AC%E5%A4%9C%E5%8F%89-695042) The Sunrise television adaptation ran for 167 episodes from 2000 to 2004, followed by a 26-episode concluding series in 2009 and 2010 and four theatrical films.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) • [5](https://reviewne.jp/contents/10433) • [6](https://www.shopro.co.jp/license/title/204/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manga run | *Weekly Shonen Sunday*, November 13, 1996 to June 15, 2008; 558 chapters, 56 collected volumes[1](https://bessatsu.com/zh-tw/articles/inuyasha/) |
| Author | Rumiko Takahashi; her fifth long-running serial and her longest at twelve years[7](https://adpocket.shogakukan.co.jp/mangaplanning/detail/da3270018b712b8a4b1841f92c26ff067a088a391dc6031610e6300ee261df15/) • [2](https://book.asahi.com/article/12737726) |
| Award | 47th Shogakukan Manga Award, shonen category (2001)[3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8A%AC%E5%A4%9C%E5%8F%89-695042) |
| TV anime | Sunrise, 167 episodes, October 16, 2000 to September 13, 2004, Yomiuri TV/Nippon TV network[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) |
| Concluding anime | *Inuyasha: Final Act* (完結編), 26 episodes, October 3, 2009 to March 29, 2010[5](https://reviewne.jp/contents/10433) |
| Films | Four theatrical films, 2001 to 2004[6](https://www.shopro.co.jp/license/title/204/) |
| English edition | Viz Media; the VIZBIG omnibus format collects the 56 Japanese volumes into 18 oversized volumes[8](https://darkfantasymanga.com/2026/10/18/inuyasha-manga-volumes/) |
## Story and premise
The story begins when Kagome Higurashi, a third-year junior high school student and the daughter of a shrine family, falls into a hidden well on her family's grounds on her fifteenth birthday and travels 500 years back to the [Sengoku period](https://www.edgepedia.org/sengoku-period).[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) She is the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo and carries within her the Shikon Jewel (四魂の玉), a jewel said to grant any wish and to increase a demon's power.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) When demons attack her, she unseals Inuyasha, a half-demon (半妖, born of a demon father and a human mother) whom Kikyo had pinned to a tree fifty years earlier; he had sought the jewel to become a full demon.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php)
Kagome's arrow shatters the jewel during a demon attack, scattering it across the country as shards, and she and Inuyasha set out to recover the pieces.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) Along the way they gather companions: Miroku, a monk whose right hand bears a cursed void called the Wind Tunnel (風穴) that sucks in anything; Sango, a demon slayer who wields the giant boomerang Hiraikotsu and lost her family to Naraku's schemes; and Shippo, a young fox demon.[5](https://reviewne.jp/contents/10433) • [9](https://e-comi.shogakukan.co.jp/books/091256460000d0000000)
The central antagonist is Naraku, a demon born when many demons devoured the bandit Onigumo, whose obsessive feelings for Kikyo drew them to him; he manipulates humans and demons alike to collect the shards.[9](https://e-comi.shogakukan.co.jp/books/091256460000d0000000) Inuyasha's half-brother Sesshomaru, a full demon who despises Inuyasha's mixed blood, repeatedly pursues Tessaiga, the sword their father left to Inuyasha, said to fell a hundred demons in one swing.[9](https://e-comi.shogakukan.co.jp/books/091256460000d0000000) [Shogakukan](https://www.edgepedia.org/shogakukan) describes the work as a Japanese-style adventure fantasy combining battle and romance, and the license holder calls it a "Sengoku fairy tale" packed with love and adventure.[7](https://adpocket.shogakukan.co.jp/mangaplanning/detail/da3270018b712b8a4b1841f92c26ff067a088a391dc6031610e6300ee261df15/) • [6](https://www.shopro.co.jp/license/title/204/)
## The manga
Takahashi began the serialization in November 1996 and ended it with chapter 558 in June 2008, after twelve years of weekly publication.[1](https://bessatsu.com/zh-tw/articles/inuyasha/) It was her fifth long-running serial, following *Urusei Yatsura*, *[Maison Ikkoku](https://www.edgepedia.org/maison-ikkoku)*, *Ranma ½*, and others, and it is the longest of her career.[7](https://adpocket.shogakukan.co.jp/mangaplanning/detail/da3270018b712b8a4b1841f92c26ff067a088a391dc6031610e6300ee261df15/) • [2](https://book.asahi.com/article/12737726) The series won the 47th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shonen category for 2001.[3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8A%AC%E5%A4%9C%E5%8F%89-695042) VIZ notes that this was Takahashi's second Shogakukan Manga Award, after one for *Urusei Yatsura* in 1981.[10](https://www.viz.com/inuyasha)
In North America, Viz Media publishes the English edition. Early volumes were printed flipped to read left to right in the American manner, a practice later abandoned, and the VIZBIG omnibus line reprints the series unflipped in 18 oversized volumes, each collecting roughly three Japanese volumes.[8](https://darkfantasymanga.com/2026/10/18/inuyasha-manga-volumes/) • [11](https://inuyasha.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_published_media) The VIZBIG editions were released as e-books on December 15, 2020, making the series officially available digitally in North America for the first time.[11](https://inuyasha.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_published_media)
## The anime
Sunrise adapted the manga into a television series that premiered on October 16, 2000 and ran to September 13, 2004 on the Yomiuri TV and Nippon TV network, totaling 167 episodes.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) Masashi Ikeda directed episodes 1 through 44 and Yasunao Aoki directed the remainder; Katsuji Arazawa handled series composition, Yoshihito Hishinuma designed the characters, and Kaoru Wada composed the music.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) The opening and ending themes drew on prominent pop acts of the period, including V6, Do As Infinity, hitomi, [Every Little Thing](https://www.edgepedia.org/every-little-thing), Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, and [Namie Amuro](https://www.edgepedia.org/namie-amuro).[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php)
Because the manga was still running when the first series ended, the adaptation concluded without finishing the story. The 26-episode *Inuyasha: Final Act* (犬夜叉 完結編) aired from October 3, 2009 to March 29, 2010 and adapted the manga's conclusion.[5](https://reviewne.jp/contents/10433) • [12](https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=29) Four theatrical films were released between 2001 and 2004: *Affections Touching Across Time* (2001), *The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass* (2002), *Swords of an Honorable Ruler* (2003), and *Fire on the Mystic Island* (2004).[6](https://www.shopro.co.jp/license/title/204/) • [13](https://www.animehistory.org/anime/inuyasha/lore/fansub-scanlation-history/)
The anime was broadcast nationwide in the United States and Canada and distributed across [East Asia](https://www.edgepedia.org/east-asia) and Western and [Eastern Europe](https://www.edgepedia.org/eastern-europe); Sunrise credits it with helping to internationalize anime.[4](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php) In the English localization, [Viz Media](https://www.edgepedia.org/viz-media) kept the term "half-demon" for the Japanese *hanyō* rather than adopting the now-common "youkai" vocabulary, for continuity with the original series.[14](https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/bitstreams/33f17002-9ecf-4544-ae79-99545d7a8817/download)
## Place in Takahashi's work and legacy
Commentators treat *Inuyasha* as the decisive work of Takahashi's career: the literary critic Hiroki Azuma, in *Imagining the 2000s*, called it both the longest of her works and the one that defines her as an author.[15](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/p-library/books/57b113c81525ac3a70262a25afdab588.pdf) Its keywords, a boy with superhuman power, a third-year junior high heroine, demon slaying, and time travel, overlap with her earlier *Ranma ½*, but the Sengoku setting and the quest structure gave the formula a new frame.[2](https://book.asahi.com/article/12737726)
The series also left marks on how later fantasy manga are built. A scholarly study of Japanese-style high fantasy argues that the pattern of a party traveling while slaying demons, staying in a Sengoku-era setting, owes something to *Inuyasha*'s influence.[16](https://glim-re.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/3606/files/joshidaigaku_19_1_27.pdf) Its villain Naraku ranked third in a 2026 fan poll of fantasy-villain characters, with 1,513 votes, cited for emotions of loneliness and craving that make him more than a simple villain.[17](https://www.nttsolmare.com/press/.assets/260212.pdf)
The franchise continued after the manga ended. A sequel anime, *Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon* (半妖の夜叉姫), following the daughters of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, aired from October 2020 in 24 episodes.[12](https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=29) Takahashi herself moved on to *MAO*, serialized in *Weekly Shonen Sunday* from 2019 and animated by Sunrise, the studio that handled the *Inuyasha* series.[18](https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/pr20260515_inuyasha_MAO_ART_g.pdf)
## References
1. [《犬夜叉》：越過一口井去到戰國的女中學生，與半妖的十二年, 別冊](https://bessatsu.com/zh-tw/articles/inuyasha/)
2. [「少年サンデー」の女王、今なお健在！ 高橋留美子「MAO」, 好書好日 (朝日新聞出版)](https://book.asahi.com/article/12737726)
3. [犬夜叉とは？ 意味や使い方, コトバンク](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8A%AC%E5%A4%9C%E5%8F%89-695042)
4. [犬夜叉 - サンライズワールド](https://www.sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_029.php)
5. [犬夜叉のあらすじ/作品解説, レビューンアニメ](https://reviewne.jp/contents/10433)
6. [犬夜叉｜小学館集英社プロダクション ライセンスビジネスサイト](https://www.shopro.co.jp/license/title/204/)
7. [犬夜叉〔SSC〕｜マンガIPチャンネル｜小学館AD POCKET](https://adpocket.shogakukan.co.jp/mangaplanning/detail/da3270018b712b8a4b1841f92c26ff067a088a391dc6031610e6300ee261df15/)
8. [Inuyasha Manga Volumes: All 56 Books Explained, Dark Fantasy Manga](https://darkfantasymanga.com/2026/10/18/inuyasha-manga-volumes/)
9. [犬夜叉 26｜小学館eコミックストア](https://e-comi.shogakukan.co.jp/books/091256460000d0000000)
10. [Inuyasha, VIZ Media official site](https://www.viz.com/inuyasha)
11. [List of published media, InuYasha Fandom wiki](https://inuyasha.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_published_media)
12. [犬夜叉｜作品紹介｜サンライズ](https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=29)
13. [Fansub & Scanlation History - Inuyasha, AnimeHistory.org](https://www.animehistory.org/anime/inuyasha/lore/fansub-scanlation-history/)
14. [Localization of youkai in Inuyasha and Yashahime, University of Nevada, Reno thesis](https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/bitstreams/33f17002-9ecf-4544-ae79-99545d7a8817/download)
15. [ゼロ年代の想像力 (Hiroki Azuma), PDF](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/p-library/books/57b113c81525ac3a70262a25afdab588.pdf)
16. [学習院女子大学紀要 第十九号](https://glim-re.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/3606/files/joshidaigaku_19_1_27.pdf)
17. [ファンタジー作品に登場する"奈落"投票, NTTSolmare press release](https://www.nttsolmare.com/press/.assets/260212.pdf)
18. [TVアニメMAO press release, Bandai Namco Filmworks](https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/pr20260515_inuyasha_MAO_ART_g.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Manga titles, publishers, and magazines › Shōnen manga titles › Action, adventure, and fantasy titles*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license