Inuyasha followed the adventures of high school student Kagome Higurashi and the half-demon Inuyasha as they searched for shards of the Shikon Jewel.
With the last installation, i.e., Inuyasha: The Final Act, the series secured its place as one of the most beloved cult classics in the Shonen genre.
With around 200 episodes, it is host to a large number of stunning battles, unique setting, complex backstories, and quirky characters.
Among them, the main character, Inuyasha, and his brother, Sesshomaru, spend most of the series figuring out the never-ending powers of their swords.
This makes us wonder about the history of the sword that managed to make two of the strongest characters in the series desire it so much.
As it turns out, the weapon was made out of the fang of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s father – the Great Dog General.
With a father as strong as him, it was a surprise to find out that he died. How exactly did that happen? Let’s find out!
1. Who Killed Inuyasha’s Father?
Inuyasha’s father, Toga, was a powerful dog demon who served as the Ruler of the Western Lands. To defend his territory from the threat of dragon demon Ryukotsusei, he confronted and engaged him in battle.
Ryukotsusei was one of the strongest demons of his time, and not even Toga could defeat or seal him easily. In a final effort, the latter used one of his fangs to pierce Rhyukotsusei right above the heart and succeeded in sealing him.
Unfortunately, despite winning, and sealing the demon, Toga was fatally wounded.
There was another event that occurred while Toga was busy defeating the draconic demon. Takemaru, one of the servants who served in Izayoi’s (Toga’s human wife) palace, was in love with her.
After learning about her pregnancy, he sought to prevent the half-demon from being born, which he succeeded in by killing both her and the unborn child.
Despite being fatally injured due to his fight with Ryukotsusei, after hearing about this, Toga took his true form and went to save his wife and son.
Arriving at the mansion, he easily overpowered the enemy troops with Tessaiga. However, after being informed about his wife and son’s death, grief-stricken, Toga sliced off Takemaru’s left arm and raced into the castle, while Takemaru ordered his troops to burn it down.
After locating Izayoi and Inuyasha’s body, the Great Dog General resurrected them with Tenseiga as the castle burned around them.
He covered them both with the Robe of the Fire Rat and told them to flee as he remained to fight Takemaru.
After telling his family to live long, and well, Toga died along with Takemaru as the burning mansion collapsed.
While he held on long enough to save his wife and son, the dog demon succumbed to his injuries and died.
While not directly, the blame for killing Inuyasha’s father rests on the dragon demon, Ryukotsusei.
I. How strong was Inuyasha’s father?
Toga was a powerful dog demon who served as the Ruler of the Western Lands and was feared throughout feudal Japan as being the strongest of his kind.
He fathered two sons, Sesshomaru, and Inuyasha, the main protagonist of our series.
He was initially stronger than his sons and was stated to be one of the most powerful yokai.
Toga had defeated extremely powerful Daiyokai, such as Shishinki, the Panther King, Hyoga, as well as Ryukotsusei.
Despite having great physical strength in both human and dog form, Toga was mainly known for his powerful swordsmanship.
He commanded the three great swords of Supreme conquest: So’unga, Tessaiga, and Tenseiga, each having their own unique powers.
While he gave the latter two to his sons, So’unga, also known as the sword of hell, could only be wielded by the dog demon, and therefore wasn’t passed down to anyone.
While Toga’s exact strength is unknown, just the fact that he possessed three great swords, and that Sesshomaru wished to replicate his power, makes him one of the strongest characters in the series.
II. Has Inuyasha Surpassed his Father?
Since the start of the series, Inuyasha has become incredibly powerful. However, has he surpassed his father? The answer is yes.
While many argue that by using Tessaiga, a sword of his father’s design, Inuyasha is relying on him, what they fail to understand is that a weapon in the end, despite what it is made of, is only an object.
How the user wields, it makes all the difference. In this case, due to his love for Kagome, as well adding his own fang to Tessaiga, Inuyasha has been able to push the sword’s power to new heights and truly make it his own.
Even if Inuyasha isn’t stronger than his father in raw power, he has a larger pool of abilities that he can utilize and adapt according to different situations.
Furthermore, he beat Ryukotsusei, and while Toga managed to do it too, as a distinguishing factor, the former managed to stay alive.
All in all, we can say that Inuyasha definitely surpassed his father by the end of the series.
2. Does Inuyasha Ever Meet his Father?
Inuyasha never met his father as the latter died moments after the half-demon was born.
However, he did see his father’s spirit at the end of the third movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler.
3. About Inuyasha
Inuyasha, also known as Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi.
Inuyasha premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996, and concluded on June 18, 2008, with the chapters collected into 56 tankōbon volumes by Shogakukan.
Kagome Higurashi, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, gets transported to the Sengoku period of Japan after falling into a well in her family shrine. There she meets the half dog-demon, Inuyasha.
Kagome possesses a powerful magical Shikon Jewel. When a monster from that era tries to take the Jewel, Kagome shatters the Jewel into many pieces.
Now, Kagome and Inuyasha must retrieve the shards before the evil half spider-demon Naraku finds them.
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