The characters of the manga series Inuyasha were created by Rumiko Takahashi. Most of the series takes place in a fictional version of Japan's Warring States period with occasional time-travel/flashback elements to modern Tokyo or the Heisei period. The setting and plot incorporate many elements of traditional Japanese folklore and religion. Its main characters (both protagonists and antagonists) include a Shintō priestess, a Buddhist monk and several types of , usually rendered as "demon" in English-language translations of the series. The anime adaptation of Inuyasha is followed by a sequel titled Yashahime, whose characters are included in the list.

Inuyasha main characters Inuyasha

was born of a dog-demon father and a human mother. He is an arrogant, prideful, and stubborn half-demon, but he has a soft side to him. He also has an older half-brother, Sesshomaru, who is a full-demon with a full-demon mother. He has the appearance of a fifteen-year-old boy. As a half-demon, he had a difficult and lonely childhood, as demons and humans despised him for his mixed bloodline.

Kagome Higurashi

is a brave and kind girl, the reincarnation of the Sengoku period priestess Kikyo, who believes in never turning her back on someone in trouble. Although physically weak, she is not lacking in courage. She becomes highly skilled in archery as the series progresses, and eventually masters her immensely strong spiritual powers. Of all the characters in the series, she has the greatest emotional strength, never allowing anger or jealousy to lead her to commit evil acts. By the start of Yashahime, she is spiritually as strong as Kikyo, and possibly stronger, given that she developed her own powers of arrow disappearance. Despite her inexperience, Naraku greatly fears Kagome's purifying powers, causing him to target her even more often than Inuyasha.

Miroku

is an eighteen-year-old lecherous and intelligent Buddhist monk who travels the countryside performing spiritual services, such as exorcisms and demon exterminations. However, he has a habit of either ripping off or outright robbing wealthy clients. Miroku can attack enemies with his khakkhara and sutra scrolls. But Miroku's greatest weapon is the , a black hole embedded in his right palm, which is actually a hereditary curse originally inflicted upon his paternal grandfather by Naraku. Due to the curse's nature to eventually kill him, Miroku sought to find himself a wife to sire children before eventually falling in love with Sango. In the sequel series, after starting a family with Sango after his curse was lifted, Miroku left his family to train himself to fight demons without his Wind Tunnel.

Sango

is a sixteen-year-old , the most skilled practitioner from her village, the original home of the Shikon Jewel. She wears traditional traveling attire or a black combat jumpsuit with pink demon-bone armor when fighting. Her primary weapon is the , a massive purified bone boomerang thrown with enhanced strength.

Shippo

is an orphaned who initially tries stealing the Shikon Jewel from Inuyasha and Kagome to avenge his father's death. After they help him, he joins their group as a loyal companion. He often chastises Inuyasha for mistreating Kagome and suffers comedic retaliation for his pranks and blunt remarks. Despite this dynamic, he considers the group his surrogate family.

Kirara

is Sango's faithful companion who usually appears to be a small kitten-sized feline with two tails, but can become large enough to carry several passengers across the air whenever the need arises. She is a spiritual entity and traveled with Midoriko in the past. In the sequel series, Kirara becomes Hisui's companion while occasionally aiding Setsuna.

Yashahime main characters Towa Higurashi

is a half-demon, the eldest daughter of Sesshomaru and Rin, and Setsuna's twin sister. Physically, she inherited more of his father's features, including his white hair, distinguished by a distinct red streak in the front. Transported to the modern era at age four by the Sacred Tree of Ages, she is raised by Sōta Higurashi before reuniting with Setsuna ten years later. In battle, she fights with a combination of sword techniques and inherited demonic powers, channeling energy through her weapon and the Silver Rainbow Pearl embedded in her left eye. Her combat style evolves throughout her journey as she learns to harness and control her growing abilities.

Setsuna

is Towa's twin sister and Sesshomaru and Rin's youngest daughter, bearing the Gold Rainbow Pearl in her right eye. Separated during childhood and raised by successive guardians, she trains as a demon slayer under Kohaku. Her memories, erased by the Dream Butterfly, gradually return after reuniting with Towa. The Butterfly's influence prevents sleep while suppressing her half-demon weaknesses, though uncontrolled demonic blood triggers berserk states. She fights primarily with a naginata, first wielding before obtaining the fate-severing . After regaining normal sleep patterns, she develops new combat abilities and romantic feelings for Hisui.

Moroha

, the quarter-demon daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, is raised as a bounty hunter after being separated from her parents in infancy. Known professionally as , she employs hybrid combat skills combining her father's demonic attacks and her mother's spiritual archery. Her signature weapons include the demonic sword and a transformative rouge compact that temporarily unlocks her full demonic potential as . After reuniting with her parents, she upgrades her arsenal with a Black Pearl-enhanced compact and a spiritually-charged longbow, eventually settling her debts with an acquired ice sword.

Recurring Inuyasha characters Inuyasha supporting characters

Kikyo

is a powerful priestess tasked with guarding the Shikon Jewel 500 years before the main events. She falls in love with Inuyasha and plans to use the Jewel to make him human, but Naraku manipulates them by impersonating both of them, resulting in her death. The witch later resurrects her using stolen grave remains.

In the spinoff, the Sacred Tree of Ages adopts Kikyo's form to communicate. Kohaku recounts to Towa how Kikyo's unwavering strength during their travels inspired him, particularly when she defeated and sealed the plant-demon just before meeting Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru

is a powerful dog demon (), feared throughout the feudal era. Born of a great demon bloodline, he is the older, more powerful half-brother of Inuyasha. He is usually accompanied by his demon minions, Jaken and A-Un. Chronologically, he is over 200 years old, while according to the official Inuyasha Profiles guide by Rumiko Takahashi, his appearance is equivalent to that of a 19-year-old human.

He once started as a major antagonist of Inuyasha and his friends, seeking power and strength, and showed disdain towards humans and half-demons. However, he eventually goes through a series of trials that lead to his redemption and eventually becoming an anti-hero.

Jaken

is a small green imp-like demon loyal to Sesshomaru, often praising his master's greatness, although Sesshomaru usually ignores and sometimes abuses him. Jaken himself is not especially powerful, but he wields the , a fire-throwing staff that Sesshomaru gives him. The manga explains little about Jaken's past, but the anime shows that Jaken was once a lord among similar demons. After the older Rin gives birth to Sesshomaru's twin half-demon daughters, Jaken is tasked with protecting them after Sesshomaru hides them in the forest of the Sacred Tree of Ages.

Rin

is a barefoot orphan girl who tended to Sesshomaru's injuries when she found him under a tree, having lost her family to bandits prior. Rin ended up being killed by wolves under Koga's tribe when they raided her village, and then resurrected by Sesshomaru using Tensaiga on her. She has since accompanied Sesshomaru throughout the events of the series, with her presence being a major part in Sesshomaru's redemption.

Many years later, as an adult, she marries Sesshomaru and later gives birth to their twin daughters, Towa and Setsuna. However, Rin was targeted by Zero as she placed the on Rin's neck, with Sesshomaru placing her within the Tree of Ages until Zero's curse on her was broken.

A-Un is a two-headed dragon demon with some horse-like features and Sesshomaru's beast of burden who is one of the two in the series explicitly stated to be a herbivore, like Totosai's ox. Despite traveling with Sesshomaru for centuries, he has no name until Rin gives him one, calling the right head "A" and the left head "Un". A-Un can fire energy from both mouths. The right head shoots blue beams of lightning, while the left shoots green lightning that can control clouds and possibly the weather, and can fly like Sesshomaru. A grey cloud-like gas trails from his legs in flight, similar to Kirara's flames.

Kohaku

is Sango's eleven-year-old brother who, like his family, is also a demon exterminator. He grew into a confident leader of a new generation of demon-slayers, which included his teenage nephew, Hisui, and Sesshomaru's younger twin half-demon daughter, Setsuna. He uses the larger chain-sickle he had gotten from Totosai on demons.

Koga

is a wolf demon who is the young leader of the Eastern Wolf Demon Tribe that Kagura and Naraku almost completely wiped out. He first meets Inuyasha as an opponent in battle. He becomes a reluctant, occasional ally despite maintaining a strong sense of rivalry about their relative combat strengths and the courtship of Kagome. After initially kidnapping her for her ability to locate Shikon shards, Koga becomes attracted to Kagome's kindness, spirit, and beauty. Inuyasha is always foul-tempered and jealous during Koga's visits because he worries that Kagome might have feelings for Koga, though she has only ever seen him as a friend.

Kaede

is Kikyo's younger sister who assisted her with various tasks, such as gathering herbs or holding her quiver of arrows. After Kikyo's death, Kaede became an unusually strong shrine priestess in her own right and defended the village against demons. Kaede lost her right eye and wears an eyepatch over it. Supplementary information states that she "lost her elder sister and her eye in an incident fifty years ago."

Myoga

is a flea demon in service to Toga who was assigned to guard Tetsusaiga's resting place before Inuyasha acquired it, accompanying him and later Moroha while providing them intel on topics that include current events and foes. He tends to run and hide during fights despite being a loyal retainer, his presence being a telltale sign of no present danger. Myoga enjoys drinking demon blood and actually saves Inuyasha's life at one point by drinking a spider demon's venom out of his blood.

Totosai

is an elderly blacksmith with large, bulging eyes and the creator of Tessaiga and Tenseiga, from the fangs of his old friend, the Great Dog General, who entrusted him to help his two sons. As Inuyasha grows stronger and Sesshomaru grows more compassionate, they become more capable of mastering their respective swords, which Totosai strengthens accordingly. He spends most of his time at his forge inside a volcano, but sometimes travels elsewhere on a flying three-eyed ox named .

Inuyasha antagonists Naraku