Ah-Un,
Ah-Uhn, Ah and Un
|
Sesshoumaru's two-headed
dragon thing. The name's a joke—many Shinto shrines, for example, have
pairs of statues, one with the mouth opened as if to say "ah,"
the other as if to say "un." Both "ah" and "un"
are used to mean "yeah" or "uh-huh" in Japanese. In
the anime, Higurashi shrine has a pair of these statues.
|
Air
rip
|
Chris Rijk's term
for the black hole in Miroku's right hand.
|
Blades
of Blood
|
see Hijin
Ketsusou
|
Boomerang
bone
|
see Hiraikotsu
|
-chan
|
Affectionate suffix
added to given names of children or loved ones (rather like adding "-y"
in English, such as "Johnny" for "John"). Teenaged
girls often use this for their female friends, as well; Kagome and Sango
call each other "Kagome-chan" and "Sango-chan".
|
Claws
of Blood
|
See Hijin
Ketsusou
|
Claws
of Exorcism
|
see Sankon
Tessou
|
Demon
Begone!
|
see Sankon
Tessou
|
Fang,
The
|
Often used in the
English translations to refer to the Tessaiga/Tetsusaiga.
|
Four
Soul Jewel
|
see Shikon
no Tama
|
Hanyou
|
"Half-demon"
(Actually, a better translation is "half magic." You with me,
Edward Eager
fans?) What Inuyasha is: half youkai, half human.
|
Hellhole
|
see Void
|
Higurashi
|
Kagome's family name.
In the Japanese version of Inuyasha, this is the only name Houjou-kun
ever uses for Kagome. It's also the name of the shrine where she lives,
and translates as "sunset" or "evening."
|
Hijin
Ketsusou (Airborne Blade Blood Claw)
|
Inuyasha's attack
that uses his own blood to form flying blades.
|
Hiraikotsu
|
Sango's giant boomerang
weapon, made of the bone of an exterminated youkai.
|
Hojo-kun,
Hojou-kun, Houjo-kun, Houjou-kun
|
The
boy in Kagome's school who keeps trying to date Kagome. "Hojo"
is his family name (Japanese boys older than elementary school age follow
the traditional English custom of calling one another by family name,
rather than given name). "-kun" is a title used to address people
(almost always boys) at one's own level. Beyond adolescence, the polite
"-san" is usually used instead of "-kun". Like Kagome
in The Hero in the 21st Century, we've
never heard his given name, although
some of us have theories.
|
houshi,
houshi-sama
|
A term used for a
certain type of Buddhist monk (Miroku, for example). As of Chapter 318
of the manga (Vol 32 no 10), Sango has never called Miroku anything other
than "Houshi-sama."
|
Inu
no taisho
|
Leader of the dogs.
A term used in the manga and Japanese version of the anime to refer to
the father of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, who is never named.
|
Inutaisho
|
Cat
Who first gave this name to Inuyasha's unnamed father, and all the
rest of us have borrowed it since then, many of us with her gracious permission.
Thanks, Cat, you're terrific.
|
Inuyasha,
Inuyasya, Inu-Yasha, InuYasha, Inuyaksa
|
Dog-boy. Star of
the show. All of these are pronounced the same way. I think "Inuyasya"
sounds the closest to the Japanese pronunciation.
|
inuyoukai
|
Dog-demon, like Inuyasha's
father.
|
Iron
Reaver, Soul Stealer
|
see Sankon
Tessou
|
Jaken
|
Sesshoumaru's youkai
retainer. We've never been told exactly what sort of creature he is, but
most of us call him a toad-demon.
|
Jewel
of Four Souls
|
see Shikon no
Tama
|
Jii-chan
|
"Grandpa."
What Kagome calls her grandfather.
|
Kaede
|
elderly priestess,
sister of Kikyou and one of the companions.
|
Kagome
|
Really, it's pronounced
"Kah-go-meh," three equal syllables (I'd say a slight accent
on "Kah"), not "Kuh-go-mee".
|
Kikyou,
Kikyo
|
Pronounced "Kee-kyoh,
" with a long O sound. The priestess (miko) who shot Inuyasha, and
then some.
|
kitsune
|
Pronounced "kit-soo-neh."
A fox spirit.
|
Kohaku
|
Little brother of
Sango. Pathetic freckles—if Dickens had been drawing comics, Little Nell
would have had them, and so would Dora Copperfield.
|
Koinu
|
Pronounced "Koh-ee-noo."
Japanese for "puppy" (literally, "child-dog"). In
The
Hero in the 21st Century, Houjou-kun's given name is Inuyasha,
but his family members and childhood friends call him by the nickname
Koinu.
|
Kouga,
Koga
|
Wolf-youkai
who loves Kagome.
|
Mama
|
Kagome actually calls
her mother Mama, not, for example, Okaa-san.
|
miko
|
Sometimes translated
as "priestess," which isn't really accurate. A miko is
a virgin girl associated with a Shinto shrine. Nowadays, it's the equivalent
of altar boys and girls in the Catholic church, or acolytes in many Protestant
churches. At one time, the miko was, apparently, perceived as having
more power. In Inuyasha, the miko has special magical/spiritual
powers.
|
Miroku
|
Buddhist monk (houshi),
companion of Inuyasha and Kagome, has a black hole ("void",
"air rip", "hellhole") in his right hand.
|
Musashi
domain
|
The area of Japan
where the well is located, now part of Tokyo.
|
Myouga,
Myoga
|
The flea demon, Inuyasha's
personal servant.
|
Naraku
|
The Bad Guy. The
name means "Hell" or "Abyss," or, as Babelfish amusingly
translates it, "Basement."
|
osuwari
|
"Sit"—the
command Kagome uses to nullify Inuyasha's power and send him crashing
to the ground. Translated for the anime as "Sit, Boy." Osuwari
is only used to tell a dog to sit, and is not the same word used to talk
about a person sitting. (So when fanfic writers have Kagome saying "Let's
sit down" and Inuyasha crashing to the ground, they're wrong. Not
the same word.)
|
Rin
|
Pronounced "Reen"
(but the English anime uses the English short-i, like it looks). Human
girl who becomes one of Sesshoumaru's companions.
|
Sacred
Jewel
|
see Shikon
no Tama
|
-sama
|
An old title of high
respect, no longer used in Japan (modified to, and replaced by, "-san").
Viz translates, for example, "Kagome-sama" as "Lady Kagome."
|
-san
|
Modern-day honorific,
used with the family name as we would use "Mr." or "Ms."
So, for example, Kagome's friends might refer to her mother as "Higurashi-san."
Older adolescent or adult friends are sometimes called by their given
name followed by -san. When I worked in the American branch of a Japanese
corporation, Japanese managers were called, for example, "Mr. Adachi"
or "Adachi-san," as in Japan, but American managers were called
by their given names, American style, so my boss was "Peggy"
to the American employees and "Peggy-san" to the Japanese.
|
Sango
|
Demon exterminator,
one of the companions.
|
Sankon
Tessou (Soul Scattering Iron Claw)
|
Inuyasha's attack
using his claws. Translated for the anime as "Iron Reaver,Soul Stealer."
Originally translated in the English manga as "Demon Begone!"
and later as "Claws of Exorcism".
|
Sankon
Tetsusou
|
see Sankon
Tessou
|
Sesshoumaru,
Sesshomaru
|
Inuyasha's youkai
half-brother.
|
Shikon
no Tama
|
Literally, The Jewel
of Four Souls or Four-Soul Jewel. Powerful jewel guarded by Kikyou and
shattered by Kagome's arrow. Inuyasha wanted to use the jewel to become
fully youkai, but at one point planned to use it to become human.
Called "Sacred Jewel" in the English-language anime. My understanding
is that the name is a pun in Japanese, that shikon no tama sounds
very much like the Japanese term for "space/time" (referring,
of course, to the well's disruption of the space/time continuum).
|
Shippou,
Shippo
|
The kitsune (fox-spirit)
child companion of Inuyasha and Kagome.
|
"sit"
|
see osuwari.
|
"sit,
boy"
|
see osuwari.
|
Souta,
Sota
|
Kagome's little brother.
|
taijiya
|
Demon exterminator.
Sango, for one.
|
Tenseiga
|
Sesshoumaru's
life-restoring sword.
|
Tessaiga
|
Inuyasha's sword.
Viz calls it "The Iron Cleaving Fang" or "The Fang"—the
translated name
|
Tetsusaiga
|
One way of writing
the name of Inuyasha's sword—but it's pronounced "Tessaiga."
The English-language anime uses this spelling, and the pronunciation "Tetsaiga."
|
Toukijin
|
Pronounced "Toh-kee-jeen."
Sesshoumaru's evil sword, the one made from the fang of Naraku's offshoot,
Goshinki.
|
Toutousai,
Totosai
|
Youkai swordsmith
who forged Tenseiga and Tessaiga.
|
Void
|
Black hole in Miroku's
right hand.
|
youkai
|
"Demon",
like Shippou, Sesshoumaru, Kouga, Inuyasha's father, etc. "Demon"
is the translation Viz uses, but it's not a good translation. It has nothing
to do with anything like the Christian hell, or with absolute evil. Youkai
are magical creatures. The category seems to include what we in the west
would call elves, fairies, trolls, goblins, ghosts, and totems.
|
