Volume 15

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The Inuyasha Narrative, Part 15: The People Living in the Sengoku Era
	Translation provided by: Robby Stine of Kanabits

The Traps People Fall Into

In the world of Inuyasha, there are all sorts of people. Some are scoundrels, while others live in earnest. And then there are those changed by the power of a Shikon shard. The painter Kotatsu is a good example of this. He's just a normal human in the beginning but ends up going mad. He was a simple painter who liked painting scenes of hell until he met the princess. He then tried painting her, but something wasn’t quite right. Then he came across a Shikon shard, and after seeing how a demon he drew came to life, went a bit overboard. In the end, the poor guy was devoured by his own ink. Of course, it was the only fitting ending for a man like him. I guess it would have been enough to have Inuyasha and the gang steal the shard and his painting gear and make their exit, but what he did was unforgivable. I couldn’t just let him off scot-free. I didn’t have Inuyasha kill him, though. That episode was important for developing Inuyasha and Miroku’s characters. I needed to show that Inuyasha wasn’t the type to just cut down people indiscriminately, and I needed Miroku to see that firsthand, too.

Speaking of people who went a bit overboard, there’s also Tokajin. The point of that particular episode was to show Inuyasha, weakened by the new moon, pushed into a corner. The blacksmith Toshu is also human and was also driven mad by a desire for power. It’s like, some traps are only easy for people with ambitions to fall into. Traps like people promising riches for what turns out to be a bad investment. Or people promising to make you infinitely stronger. We should never fall for that kind of nonsense! (laughs)

People Just Doing Their Best

I created all sorts of people. People like Taromaru's father, who switched his child with another to sacrifice in the incident with the fake water god, or the villagers who bullied Jinenji. Out of all the human characters, I think they were the most malicious hard-workers. As I said, I have created all sorts, and these people did get in Inuyasha and company’s way, but they didn’t join them on their journey. They had a place to call home, the land they’d always lived on. And on that land, they worked hard to keep on living. I don’t like drawing people just crying in defeat, so when I do human characters, even when there’s a whole crowd of them, I’d like them to be, in their own way, as strong as possible. The people of Inuyasha, whether they be selfish, scoundrels, or otherwise, are all just doing their best.

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