 |
 |
What at first sounds like a story line that's been beaten to DEATH in manga
and anime (the Young School Girl Transported To A Strange Realm) turns out
to be absolutely refreshing in Inuyasha. But then again, this IS Rumiko
Takahashi we're talking about. The heroine, 15 year old Kagome is far from
helpless and her super-cute hanyou [half-demon] foil, Inuyasha [dog-demon]
is actually at first a bad guy. In the second chapter, he is forced to play
nice with Kagome who unwittingly possesses amazing powers. She only has
to say the word osuwari [sit] and she can subdue the hanyou.Kagome also unwittingly possesses something called the Shikon no Tama [Jewel of the Four Souls]: a mysterious round jewel which can give both youkai [demons] and ningen [humans] who find it a huge power-up. Accidentally, the jewel is splintered into numerous shards. It is up to Kagome (the only person who can see them glowing) and Inuyasha (who kicks some serious demon ass!) to find all the pieces before it falls into the wrong hands as well as defeat the super-evil Naraku who pisses off just about every one he comes in contact with.
Before buying Inuyasha manga, I was told by reviewers and people familiar with Takahashi's other works (Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, etc.) that this, her most recent work, was dark and serious. Yes, it is that, but it is also well spiced with Ms. Takahashi's famous humor. This coupled with the obvious romantic implications of a teenage girl and a cute bad-boy as the main characters makes for a great manga series.
The
anime plays down the romance, in my opinion to keep viewers pining for more.
It's created by Sunrise, the same company that makes Gundam and Cowboy Bebop,
so the animation style is dark, high contrast and swift, a change from the
bright, almost pastel look Kitty gave Ranma 1/2 and befitting such a dark
subject. The 'strange realm' into which Kagome is drawn is actually feudal 16th century Japan. This era [Sengoku Jidai or 'warlord era'] is filled with violence, poverty, and real demons that can kill people. It is a demon which drags Kagome into Sengoku Jidai, sensing the presence of the Shikon no Tama. It isn't long before various demons come after her for the same purpose. Takahashi-san has done her homework on this one. Instead of a fantasy world, this is a mythological world. I know very little about Japanese mythology, and I have a feeling I will learn a lot from this series, not only be very entertained.
-aks
The first time we see the Shikon no Tama [Jewel of the Four Souls], it is being fought over by two people: Kikyo and Inuyasha, who both die for it. On the very next page, still in the first chapter of this manga, Higurashi Kagome ignores a lesson about the Tama from her grandfather. She would have done well to pay attention, as the 'marble' which she wonders why anyone would pay for is to become the focal point of her life.
This semblance of article is a collection of information I’ve gathered about the Shikon no Tama, its origins, its power and its tragedy.
Almost 500 years ago, when the Shikon no Tama was under the protection of the Miko [priestess], Kikyo, a hanyou [half demon] named Naraku secretly caused Kikyo and Inuyasha to think that each had betrayed the other. Inuyasha had gone to wait for Kikyo to bring the Tama to him. When she didn’t show, he ransacked the temple, stealing the Tama. Kikyo had been waylaid by Naraku, disguised as Inuyasha, who mortally wounded her, leading her to believe that Inuyasha had betrayed her. She found and shot him with her arrow, placing him under a sealing spell and affixing him to the goshinboku [god tree]. Kikyo had the Tama burned with her remains and it disappeared.
500 some odd years later, on the day before her 15th birthday, Higurashi Kagome learned of the Shikon no Tama from her grandfather. He only said that it would bring ‘safety and prosperity’ to a person’s home. He was speaking of a plastic key chain, not of the real Tama, of which he didn’t seem to know about at all. Kagome wasn’t listening, anyway.
The next evening, after she found herself in the Sengoku Jidai [Warring States Era, a time period in Japanese history], the Shikon no Tama returned to the world of Inuyasha as it was ripped out of the young girl’s side by a centipede youkai [demon]. Kagome was saved when she awakened Inuyasha from his 50 year sleep, but quickly learned that while the Tama by itself is harmless, in the hands of a youkai or someone wishing evil, it can grant the user amazing amounts of power. As Kaede says, “not only monsters, but also men, who are sometimes worse” will be looking for the Tama now that it has returned. In the Sengoku Jidai, it “can make any ambition a reality.”
If protecting it seemed a daunting task to the young, inexperience miko, collecting its shards would soon be her quest.
In order to catch a crow demon who had swallowed the Shikon no Tama whole only a day after she had subdued Inuyasha with her ‘Osuwari” [‘Sit’] spell, Kagome accidentally splintered the Shikon no Tama into countless shards [or Shikon no Kakera]. For the rest of the story (so far, as of this writing, the manga has not ended) Kagome and her friends fight to collect Shikon no Kakera before they fall into the wrong hands.
The first person they battle for control of a Shikon no Kakera is Kikaki Kami no Yura [Inverted Hair Yura] for whom even a tiny sliver of the original Tama means more power. Kagome destroys her by breaking the comb she was hiding her soul in.
Inuyasha and Kagome begin their search for more shards. Along the way, they meet like-minded individuals who have either suffered tragedy because of the Tama or at the hands of Naraku. The quest to collect all the shards and the quest to defeat Naraku become one as Shippou, young Kitsune [fox] youkai, the Buddhist Monk Miroku and Taijiya [Exterminator] Sango join the party.
It’s Sango who enlightens the group as to the Tama’s origin.
Her village is close to its birthplace. A hundreds of years before Inuyasha
and Kagome’s search, a Miko named Midoriko
fought a huge group of youkai that had formed their bodies together.
She had the power to extract the soul of any living thing and cleanse
it of its evil. The four aspects of her soul were balanced. If one is
evil, their aspects are unbalanced. As the story goes, there was a man
who wanted Midoriko so the youkai went into
his unbalanced soul. The two fought to a draw. In the last moment when
the youkai went to eat her soul, she used the last of her power to draw
the youkai’s soul into her own. She expelled it form her body, creating
a crystal with both the good Miko’s soul and
the evil youkai’s soul in it: the Shikon no Tama. The battle wages on
inside with the good fighting the evil for balance. If an evil person
holds the Tama, its evil will grow and vice versa.
In Episode 94 of the Anime [which is filler and not in the manga, but none the less helpful in coming to a better understanding of just what the Shikon No Tama is], a priest of the Senzou shrine calling himself Izumo meets up with our group of heroes just as they have defeated a demon bearing a false Shikon no Tama.
He explains the same thing that Miroku explained a long time ago in the manga. “Everything in this world is made of 4 spiritual elements…” Miroku continues, “Aramitama [Untamed strength], Nigimitama [Harmony], Kushimitama [Mystery] and Sakimitama [Happiness]. Put together, these four become the soul, the heart of the physical body.”
Izumo explains, “Yuu, Shin, Chi and Ai. Yuu is the first part of the word Yuuki [courage]. Shin is from Shitashi [close friendship], Chi is the same as Chie [Wisdom] and Ai is from Aijou [love and affection]. Yuu comes from untamed strength. Shin from harmony. Mystery begets wisdom and happiness controls compassion and love. When these four elements are gathered together at times of great chaos, a Shikon no Tama may be created.”
Aramitama is a spirit empowered to rule with authority. Nigimitama is a spirit empowered to bring union and harmony. Kushimitama is a spirit that causes mysterious transformations. Sakimitama is a spirit that imparts blessings. Together, these are called shikon or the four spirits.
So, very basically, Courage, Wisdom, Mystery and Happiness are the four parts that make up each person’s soul. When Midoriko fought the youkai amalgamation to the death, the stress was so great that a Shikon no Tama was created.