Izayoi

Izayoi (十六夜, いざよい, "The Sixteenth Night" ) was a princess and the daughter of a wealthy feudal lord. She was also the loving human mother of Inuyasha, who the Inu Daiyokai Toga had fell in love with.

Background

The third InuYasha movie provided details about Inuyasha's birth and how Tōga died. Izayoi was the daughter of a wealthy feudal lord about to give birth to a child, an event that caused the samurai Takemaru no Setsuna, her castle's guard and former suitor, to hold her captive in order to lure the child's father into a trap so he could kill him. Though Izayoi told Takemaru to leave in order to spare him from her husband's wrath, he admitted that he still had feelings of love for her, but that he wouldn't allow her to give birth to a half-demon. He attempted to kill both Izayoi and the unborn child, but left before noticing that she was able to give birth alive to Inuyasha, as she swaddle him and hold him close to her before she eventually died.

Tōga easily overpowered Takemaru's men and rushed to Izayoi's aide, only to discover his beloved wife dead. Fortunately, he was able to use Tenseiga to revive her and gave her the Robe of the Fire Rat, before asking her to escape with their infant son, who he named "Inuyasha". Izayoi followed her beloved's instructions and had left, but her lover was already injured badly in an earlier battle with the dragon yōkai Ryūkotsusei, so the injuries weakened Tōga enough so that he died when the mansion collapsed on both him and Takemaru. This set up her to raise Inuyasha all on her own.

The anime added a few extra scenes, showing a young Inuyasha in a lavish garden at a wealthy estate along with her mother. He once attempted to join the other nobles in a game of kemari ball, but they tossed the ball away and left as he went to retrieve it, ostracizing him for being half-demon. After Inuyasha hugged Izayoi and asked her what does "half-breed" mean, he recalled this was the first time that he saw his mother's tears.

Izayoi is presumed to have died of natural causes when he was still a child, as another flashback showed a young Inuyasha (perhaps 7-10 years old or at least the equivalent of that), out on his own in the woods and running for his life from oni. The only comment that Inuyasha made about her passing was that 'it wasn't her fault'.

​​​​​Eventually, Inuyasha was left with two things from his mother: his Robe of the Fire-Rat and her lip-coloring makeup, which he later gave the makeup to his first love, Kikyō.

Personality

Izayoi was shown to be a kind-hearted, gentle, and soft-spoken woman who cared much for her family. She was always portrayed with a solemn, yet graceful appearance. Although little was shown about her both in the anime and manga, the Third InuYasha Movie showed how deep the love between her and her husband was, mentioned several times by friends and foes of Tōga.

Izayoi was warm and empathetic, being the only person who comforted Inuyasha during his childhood when people called him a "half-breed" and turned sad for she could only imagine what life could be like for her son: not fitting into either the human or the demon world. She also was kind with Takemaru, the man who admitted that he loved her, wanting to save him from Tōga's wrath despite what the former did to her, but the two men died in the fire at the end.

Izayoi was mentioned by Inuyasha when Kagome came down with a cold. It was revealed that Izayoi taught Inuyasha how to make a medicinal brew which contained different herbs and liver. Kagome's younger brother, Sōta, kept him from revealing to Kagome that he had used raw liver instead of dried ones like his mother did. Despite this minor difference, the medicine worked just the same since Kagome was perfectly well the next day.

Appearance

Izayoi was a superemely beautiful, attractive and gorgeous woman of pale skin, bright brown eyes, and waist-length black hair. She also wore make up. She was so beautiful and glamorous that her pure beauty and attractivness was considered without any equals.

Izayoi typically wore a jūnihitoe, traditional hime cut of noble ladies. She wore a simple kimono when giving birth (probably what she wore towards the end of her pregnancy) and the Robe of the Fire Rat that her husband gave before his death.

Abilities

Expert Healer

Izayoi seemed to have some skills involving medicinal healing, being able to concoct a herbal medicine to instantly cure colds, which contains several kinds of herbal leaves, roots, and at least three different kinds of liver. She used dried liver to prepare medicine for Inuyasha whenever he caught colds while as a child. Izayoi taught her son how to make one himself, who was able to brew his own that instantly cured Kagome's cold. This skill is impressive considering that, as a princess from the feudal era, she would have only been taught how to behave like an aristocrat.

Legacy

It was shown in the original series that Inuyasha still tended to his mother's grave secretly, placing flowers by the gravesite, despite it being over 150 years since her death. Her memories still endured within her rouge and where then eventually grafted onto the Red Rainbow Pearl, which infuriated its creator.

Relationships

Toga

Very little was known about the relationship that Izayoi and Tōga had. The circumstances that led to their meeting were unknown, though they continued their encounters despite him traveling constantly. Both appeared romantically affectionate toward one another, as his desire to protect her led to the creation of Tessaiga. In Zusetsutaizan Ōgikaiden book, Izayoi was listed as Tōga's "wife". She referred to him as Anata (あなた, "my dearest"). Tōga clearly had only Izayoi in mind after his battle with Ryūkotsusei, rushing to her side instead of tending to his wounds, only to find her dead and cradling their child, though he was able to use Tenseiga to revive her. Before he died, he told her to survive and live a long life with their son.

Inuyasha

Izayoi's hanyō son through Tōga. She had a very special relationship Inuyasha, raising him alone until her death. She cared for her son wholeheartedly and the first time she cried in front of him was when she realized that he would have a very difficult life for being a hanyō. According to the third movie, Inuyasha would occasionally visit his mother's grave to place new flowers. He became very defensive when she was brought up and preferred not to talk about her, though it is clear that he misses her a lot.

Sixty-four years later, he was somewhat disturbed upon being presented the Black Pearl which were his late mother's tears of great sorrow she expressed after Tōga's demise. However, unlike his wife Kagome, he scoffed at even needing any of his mother's keepsakes; embedding the new Black Pearl inside his right eye with the claim that he could do whatever he wanted with his mother's things.

Takemaru

A samurai who was in love with Izayoi and became disheartened when she married a demon and bore his child. He was responsible for stabbing Izayoi when she was in labor with her newborn half-demon, half-human child. As he was felled by her grownup son's Wind Scar ability, Takemaru realized that he never had any true resentment towards her before his final demise.

Sesshōmaru

It was unknown if Izayoi cared for Tōga's eldest dog-demon son, her stepson, or not. However, it was shown that Sesshōmaru had despised her immensely for being human and because he believed that her romantic relationship with his father had hastened the latter's death.

Sesshōmaru's mother

The demon female who was ultimately replaced by a mortal woman, she was eventually asked, by Zero, what she had felt once she heard that Izayoi had finally passed away since she had ultimately led Tōga to his demise, whether she had felt satisfaction or disdain. However, she did not give Kirinmaru's sister a direct answer, even though she had told Kirinmaru how she, too, despised all humans.

Zero

A demon who blames Izayoi for the demise of Tōga, as it was Zero who truly wanted the Great Dog Demon all to herself and harbors a deep hatred for half-demons who inherited Tōga's demon blood through her; mainly Inuyasha and his daughter Moroha.

Knownable Relatives

• Unnamed Father
• Unnamed Mother
• Toga (Husband/dead)
• Inuyasha (Son)
• Kagome Higurashi (Daughter in law)
• Moroha (Granddaughter)

Trivia

• Izayoi is the name given to the night of the 16th of every month. The Japanese believe that on that date, the night is more beautiful.
• She had no official name in the original series, so she was only mentioned as "Inuyasha's mother".
• Izayoi was only ever depicted wearing a Jūni-hitoe (literally traslated as "twelve-layer robe"), an extremely elegant and highly complex kimono, that was only worn by high-ranking court-ladies in Japan.
• Rumiko Takahashi, the series creator, had a tendency to draw noble women in a very similar manner. Izayoi's design wasn't much different from other characters of high rank, except for apart from the color and design on her kimono.
• Due to her birthright as a princess, this by extension made her son Inuyasha of noble blood on both the human and demon sides of his family as his father was a high-level demon.
• Her Japanese voice actress, Kikuko Inoue, voiced Kasumi Tendo from Rumiko Takahashi's previous series Ranma ½ and Ruriko Tonegawa from Takahashi's anthology series Rumic Theater.

According to the Databook:

• Her birthday is ???, and her blood type is ???.
• Her star sign is ???.

Voice Actresses

• Japanese: Kikuko Inoue
• English: Alaina Burnett

Gallery

Izayoi smiles at her son