Izayoi
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| Izayoi |
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| Alternate Name(s) |
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| Age | 20-25 (estimate) deceased |
| Race | Human |
| Weapons | none |
| First Appearance (Anime) | Aristocratic Assassin Sesshomaru |
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Izayoi is a fictional character in the animanga InuYasha and the mother of the title character. While she is unnamed in the animanga and only briefly shown, the name Izayoi was given to her in third InuYasha movie where her character was also expanded.
She is said to be the daughter of a feudal lord and thus a human of noble status. She is depicted as a gentle, beautiful, sad young woman, possibly in her late teens or early twenties. However, her exact age and human family ties are unknown. According to InuYasha, she died "a long time ago" and that it "wasn't her fault". It has never been specified how old InuYasha was when she died, although InuYasha's memories of her in the series are always from his early childhood. It could also be that InuYasha simply outlived his mother because he is a hanyō.
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[edit] Early references
Her first appearance is near the very beginning of the story and occurs in InuYasha's memory. He recalls her sadness as she cries while hugging him after the other village children refused to play with him. In retrospect, InuYasha realizes his mother's tears were for him, knowing that he would suffer discrimination throughout his life because he was only half human.
Later, Sesshomaru uses a demon known as the Un-mother to impersonate Izayoi. The Un-mother uses an illusion which makes her seem like Izayoi to InuYasha. She does this so Sesshomaru can discover the location of his father's tomb, since it assumed InuYasha knows where it is. After Kagome Higurashi helps InuYasha break the spell the Un-mother has over him, Sesshomaru decides to kill InuYasha after using an alternative method to find their father's tomb. However, The Un-mother, believing that even if she was not his true mother, he was a son to her, sacrifices herself to save InuYasha
[edit] Expanded character information
In InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler the character of Izayoi is given more depth. Residing in a castle, which may or may not have been her family's home, guarded by Setsuna no Takemaru and his samurai. On the night she was about to give birth to InuYasha, Takemaru and Izayoi both knew that Inu no Taishou was coming to be with her during the birth. Takemaru put the castle under heavy guard and entered Izayoi's birthing room against the protests of the midwife, whom he killed before entering.
Izayoi urged Takemaru to take the samurai and go, before Inu no Taishou came and killed them in a territorial rage; Takemaru professed his love for her, then stabbed her with a spear, believing that she has defiled herself by becoming a demon's lover. However, her body, already in labor, delivered InuYasha shortly before dying, using the last of her strength to pull him close to her. Inu no Taisho, seriously injured after his battle with Ryūkotsusei, reached her after battling his way through Takemaru's forces and resurrected her with Tenseiga. He gave her the fire-rat cloak to protect her from the burning building (Takemaru had ordered his archers to set fire to the castle after Inu no Taishou entered, hoping to kill father, mother and child in the flames), and he named their son InuYasha. He then ordered Izayoi to leave and engaged Takemaru in a fight to the death as the castle burned around them. Thus, Izayoi was left to raise her hanyō son alone, and face the stigma of bearing and raising the child of a demon. After her death, InuYasha, according to the movie, now visits and tends her grave periodically.
[edit] Voice Actors
- Japanese Seiyu - Kikuko Inoue
- English Voice Actress - Alaina Burnett
- Spanish Voice Actress (Latin America) - Romy Mendoza
