InuYasha is self-described as a “feudal fairy tale” and takes place in modern, or at least late 90s-modern, times and a fantasy version of feudal Japan around 500 years ago, although mostly in the feudal era. Teenager Higurashi Kagome finds herself transported back in time after falling into a sealed well at her family’s shrine. There, she is attacked by a centipede demon and ends up removing a sacred arrow that was holding the titular half-demon InuYasha to a tree in order to save herself and the nearby village.

After being saved, she learns that she is the reincarnation of a powerful priestess named Kikyo who was the one who had sealed InuYasha to the tree years ago. InuYasha and Kikyo had fallen in love but were tricked into believing that they were betrayed by each other by a shape-shifting demon known as Naraku. This was a ploy to acquire a magical wish-granting jewel known as the Shikon no Tama or Jewel of Four Souls which Kikyo guarded. After being attacked by Naraku disguised as InuYasha, the wounded priestess has her body burned along with the sacred jewel to prevent its misuse.

Because she is Kikyo’s reincarnation, Kagome actually had the Shikon Jewel embedded in her body but it is removed and then stolen by a crow demon and then accidentally shattered into hundreds of pieces by Kagome herself when she fires an arrow at it. This sends the shards across the world and sets up the core plot of their recovery by Kagome and InuYasha, and later others, who adventure across the land in search of them.

After many conflicts with countless monsters of the day, notable foes like the Band of Seven, and many incarnations of the mysterious main antagonist Naraku, it is eventually revealed that the true evil, the spirit Magatsuhi inside the sacred jewel itself, was manipulating everyone, even Naraku, to preserve its own existence. In the end, Kagome wishes the jewel to disappear from the world and reunites with InuYasha after a 3-year absence to live together in the feudal era where they marry and have.

InuYasha: The often irritable half dog demon warrior who has long been conflicted by his half-demon nature and originally wanted the Shikon Jewel to become a full demon but was changed by his love for Kikyo, and later Kagome. His weapon is a sword called Tetsusaiga that is actually forged from his father’s fang. His wavering between Kikyo and Kagome is a major emotional tension point of the series but in the end, he chooses to marry Kagome and is the father of Moroha in YashaHime.

Kagome: A girl from the modern era who is the reincarnation of Kikyo. Kagome is an emphatic and determined girl who eventually becomes a powerful priestess in her own right, wielding sacred arrows and able to sense shards of the Shikon Jewel. Another of her powers is her ability to control InuYasha through the “beads of subjugation” that slam him to the ground on command. She is ultimately responsible for saving the day by wishing away the Shikon Jewel and later reunites and marries InuYasha.

Shippo: An orphaned fox demon who specializes in illusion magic and transformations, Shippo initially seeks revenge against the Thunder Brothers for killing his father because he possessed a sacred jewel shard. He later joins the main group where he often argues with InuYasha who teases him over his often childish behavior. By the end of InuYasha, he is still training to become a more powerful fox demon.

Miroku: A warrior monk who travels with InuYasha and Kagome who is most notable for his lecherous behavior and family curse, a hole on his hand called the Wind Tunnel that sucks in everything around it when uncovered. Eventually the curse will swallow up his body, like it did to his father and grandfather, unless Naraku is defeated. It is also passed on from father to son, which might partially be the reason Miroku is constantly looking for women to “bear his children” so that his line can continue and eventually lift the curse, much to the chagrin of Sango who later becomes his wife.

Sango: A capable demon slayer whose entire clan was slaughtered by her little brother Kohaku while he was under the control of Naraku. Sango joins the main crew with Kagome and InuYasha, fighting with a giant boomerang and an assortment of other tools while riding her nekomata companion Kirara, who can transform into a larger form and fly. She is often irked by Miroku’s womanizing ways but ends up falling for him in the end and the two marry and have three children, including YashaHime’s Hisui who inherits her boomerang weapon Hiraikotsu.

Kohaku: Another demon slayer and Sango’s younger brother, Kohaku was later killed and revived by Naraku with a corrupted sacred jewel shard that wiped his memories and put him under his control. He eventually regains his memories and free will and continues adventuring at the end of the story with Kirara to become a stronger demon slayer. In Yashahime, Setsuna works under Kohaku.

Kikyo: A warrior priestess of great spiritual power who died after being attacked by Naraku disguised as InuYasha and was later partially resurrected, multiple times actually, and sustained by special demons called Soul Collectors. She also fights Naraku and meets with InuYasha again on multiple occasions. She ends up giving some of her last remaining life force to save Kohaku before one last visit to her sister Kaede and finally passing away.

Kaede: Kikyo’s wise younger sister who often offers advice to the main group and is also a powerful, albeit aged, priestess herself who teaches Kagome archery and how to use spiritual powers. She later also takes in the orphan girl Rin who previously traveled with Sesshomaru, teaching her how to live as a human.

Sesshomaru: InuYasha’s older half-brother, Sesshomaru is incredibly arrogant and aristocratic, but can back it up with his incredible power. He looks down on InuYasha for only being a half-demon “mongrel” and believes he should be the one to use Tetsusaiga but becomes something of an indirect ally to InuYasha and Kagome’s group as he also hates Naraku for trying to manipulate him before. He is the father of Towa and Setsuna in YashaHime by an unknown mother.

Naraku: A complicated half-demon-ish thing created when a severely injured bandit who was saved by Kikyo named Onigumo who let his body and soul be devoured by a spider demon and countless smaller demons to fuse together and be reborn as Naraku. He later split himself into many other forms, called Incarnations, that had varying degrees of autonomy including the powerful wind sorceress Kagura who ends up betraying him. He is eventually destroyed along with the Shikon Jewel after fusing with it.

Some other characters of note are the cowardly flea demon Myoga who served InuYasha’s father Toga and periodically shows up to offer important information before conveniently disappearing in times of danger, the swordsmith Totosai who forged InuYasha and Sesshomaru’s weapons the Tessaiga and Tenseiga, Kagome’s younger brother Sota who is raising Towa in YashaHime, and Koga, the leader of the wolf demon tribe who developed a crush on Kagome after kidnapping her and served as something of InuYasha’s rival.