Tessaiga

Tessaiga (鉄砕牙, tetsu sai kiba also known as Tetsusaiga) is a fictional sword in the anime and manga series InuYasha, wielded by half-human, half-yokai (hanyo) InuYasha. The kanji, directly translated, means "iron-crushing fang". It is the oppsosite of Sesshomaru's inherited sword, Tenseiga. Out of the two, Tetsusaiga is "the sword of death", while Tenseiga is "the sword of life."

In the English adaptations of InuYasha, Tessaiga is called Tetsusaiga (or Tetsaiga) due to an error in translation in the early days of the manga when the tiny っ (tsu) kana (which indicates a glottal stop, or a doubling of the consonant that follows it) was misread as a full-sized つ (tsu) kana, altering the romanization and pronunciation of the word. Both Tetsusaiga and Tessaiga can come from the kanji; the proper spelling depends on how the name is pronounced. The proper romanization is Tessaiga. By the time Viz, the company that translates the anime and manga, had realized the error it was too late. It should be noted that the Tessaiga has a mind of its own as at various points, it has been seen talking to Inuyasha, such as wanting to be drawn or giving him advice. And the same goes for Sesshormaru's Tenseiga.

History
The swordsmith Totosai created the Tessaiga from a fang of the daiyokai the Great Dog Demon, the father of InuYasha and Sesshomaru. In its 'docile' form, the sword looks like a regular (and rather battered) katana. When wielded properly, it transforms into a weapon roughly the size of a car bumper that somewhat resembles a falchion. The Tessaiga will only transform if the user cares for humans and has yoki, this means that humans can never wield it because they do not possess yoki. The Tessaiga has the power to slay 100 demons in one swing by striking the Wind Scar, it also has the ablitiy to absorb the technique or skill of a strong yokai that is defeated with the sword.

The Inu no Taishou used the Tessaiga to steal Shishinki's Meidou Zangetsuha technique, but because of the danger the technique bore the Tenseiga was created to contain it. When the Inu no Taishou died a barrier was put on Tessaiga to prevent full yokai who hated humans from being able to use it, and the sword was hidden inside his grave in the world between the living and afterlife. Sesshomaru searched for the sword some time after his father's death, but had no luck in finding it, finally he asked InuYasha about the Tessaiga's location. After a series of events both brothers travel to their father's grave to claim the Tessaiga. Sesshomaru is unable to touch the sword, InuYasha is not only able to wield it, but uses it to defeat Sesshomaru. After the battle InuYasha becomes the master of Tessaiga and begins to use it to aid him in battle. During a battle with the Thunder Brothers it's revealed the sheath can 'summon' the Tessaiga. Tessaiga can also protect it's master by puting a barrier around him, however the barrier the sword produces seems to only work after the a attack has hit him.

InuYasha learns how to transform Tessaiga and use it's Kenatsu quickly enough he didn't learn to use it's true power to slay 100 yokai until Sesshomaru(who had a human arm with a Shikon fragment in it so he could wield Tessaiga) breifly stole the sword and used himself. Even after seeing the power InuYasha didn't know how to use it, he accidently used to prevent Miroku from using his Wind Tunnel. Naraku blacked mailed Sango into stealing the sword for him, by threatening Kohaku's life. After battles InuYasha was able to retake the Tessaiga back. InuYasha finally discovered the secret of slaying 100 yokai was the Wind Scar and learned how to use it during another battle with Sesshomaru. InuYasha begun to use the Wind Scar as his finishing move afterwards.

However, in a confrontation with Goshinki, a detachment from Naraku, the Tessaiga was broken in half. The sword's creator Totosai was able to repair the Tessaiga, but in doing so he used one of InuYasha's fangs. The result is that Tessaiga now became dependent on the strength of InuYasha himself - making the weapon heavier and more difficult for InuYasha to wield. After much training, InuYasha learns how to use a greater power created from the convergence of multiple Wind Scar attacks (Kaze no Kizu) from a powerful opponent, that is known as Backlash Wave.

In the third movie of the InuYasha franchise, the combined powers of the Tessaiga and the Tenseiga succeeded in defeating the Songa (Sō'nga), the sword of world conquest, which was stronger than either of them alone.

Binding Yokai Blood
Myoga reveals another reason the Great Dog Demon gave Tessaiga to InuYasha, to supress his yokai blood. Once the sword's seal was broken and the yokai blood awakened, InuYasha transformed into a yokai every time his life became endangered. Even though Tessaiga was repaired the yokai blood had become stronger after the first transformation. Tessaiga now had to be held by InuYasha (or on his hip) in order to supress the yokai blood and stop the transformations. If a stronger force such as a corruputed Shikon no Tama is around InuYasha it can strengthen his yokai blood enough to overpower the Tessaiga's sealing ability, however as long as Tessaiga is in his hands it can still allow InuYasha some form of control in his yokai form.

Gaining New Ablities
As Naraku becomes stronger, InuYasha begins to use Tessaiga's absorbing ablitiy to upgrade the sword with new powers to help him defeat Naraku. Seeking a way to break Naraku's barrier, InuYasha went to defeat the barrier-keeper of the bat yokai tribe in order to obtain a technique to shatter barriers; instead InuYasha ended up helping the barrier keeper, Shiori(a hanyo). To thank him, Shiori allowed him to cut her orb - the source of barrier power - and Tessaiga gained the ablitiy to destroy barriers.

Subsequently Tessaiga absorbed Hosenki's Kongosoha technique, but as with Red Tessaiga the power was gained by InuYasha doing something to help others. In this case InuYasha saved his friends from Naraku's shouki instead of trying to cut Hosenki and strengthen the sword. Kongosoha allowed Tessaiga to cut down Naraku's stronger barrier and cut down enemies strong enough to withstand the Wind Scar.

The next power Tessaiga absorbed was the yoki absorbption from the yokai sword Dakki. Unlike the previous two ablities, InuYasha had to actually battle and destroy the sword to acquire the power. Since Dakki could absorb yoki it nearly took all of the Tessaiga's powers, but InuYasha used his sword to destroy Dakki and gained the ablitiy to absorb yoki in the form of Dragon Scaled Tessaiga. InuYasha didn't master the Dragon Scaled Tessaiga right away unlike the previously acquired powers. Being a hanyo limited the amount of yoki Tessaiga could absorb before the yoki backfired on InuYasha and injured him. By using Dragon Scaled Tessaiga to absorb the senki from a Seimiekan sent by Naraku, it purfied the yoki it absorbed thereby stopping the regurgitation.

By doing this Sesshomaru and Totosai told InuYasha that he didn't know the true meaning of Tessaiga and took a short cut instead of mastering the form. After training, InuYasha learned to see yoketsu of yokai; by cutting it with Dragon Scaled Tessaiga he could destroy the source yoki there by killing the yokai.

The final ablitiy Tessaiga gained was the Meidou Zangetsuha from Tenseiga. During a battle between Sesshomaru and InuYasha, Sesshomaru willingly broke Tenseiga on Tessaiga to give it the Meidou Zangetsuha as their father intended. The technique allows the user to send their enemy directly to hell. In the final battle with Naraku, InuYasha fully masters the Meidou and it changes into an attack that cuts an enemy and then send the remains to hell.

General appearance
At first glance when not in use, the Tessaiga appears to be nothing more than a battered katana with a heavily chipped and rusted blade with the hilt's fabric tearing away. When transformed, the blade turns into an oversized dog's fang, fitting for its name. The cross guard turns into a large patch of fur similar to a dog's also. In the later chapters and episodes, the blade not only becomes slightly larger, but changes colors according to the abilities it absorbs.

Abilities and forms
Katana Form


 * Anti-demon barrier: InuYasha and Sesshomaru's father put a protective barrier within the sword, so that pure demons who do not want to protect humans will be repelled however Shippo is able to hold the Tessaiga without feeling any pain. InuYasha, being a half-human half-demon, can wield the sword fine, though he can only activate it once he desires to protect humans. As a powerful demon, Sesshomaru can wield the sword for a short period of time. Humans can wield the Tessaiga in its untransformed (katana, Japanese for sword) state.


 * Human Shield: The Tessaiga protects humans holding it from harm.

True Form


 * Kenatsu: is the special ablitiy that allows the Tessaiga to cut opponents without touching them surrouding the blade in youki. InuYasha uses the ablitiy before he learns the Kaze no Kizu.


 * Kaze no Kizu (lit. Wound of the Wind, 風の傷) - Wind Scar in the English dub: Special attack that kills 100 demons with one strike with a massive wave of demonic energy. Inuyasha took some time to master this technique, and didn't even know of its strength at first, until Sesshomaru showed it to him. It is gained by sensing the fissure or scar between 2 demonic forces. He learns to use it without sensing the scar by putting his own power into it. Until he gained that ability, it was not very useful against Kagura since she can change the demonic winds.


 * Bakuryūha (lit. Crushing Dragon Stream, 爆流破) - Backlash Wave in the English dub: Tessaiga's ougi (or ultimate technique). Uses the opponent's strong demonic forces and unleashing the Wind Scar at the right point, the demon's energy will be reflected back with the added power of the Wind Scar. Power is amplified many folds. Gained by Inuyasha defeating Ryukotsusei and reflecting his power back at him. However, two requirements are needed in order to implement the Backlash Wave. The first is that Inuyasha can only reflect pure energy attacks. The second is that his own demonic aura must be much stronger than his opponent's or the Backlash Wave will not form.

Red Tessaiga
 * Barrier Shattering: Gained from Shiori's orb for saving her from her grandfather and his bat yokai, this technique completely shatters barriers (including Naraku's for a while). When used, Tessaiga glows red. Only the strongest barriers cannot be shattered by this attack such as Naraku's.

Diamond Tessaiga
 * Kongosoha (lit. Diamond Shard Blast, 金剛槍破) - Adamant Barrage in the English dub: Attack gained from Hosenki after Naraku had used a shard of the jewel to corrupt him and caused him to attack InuYasha. The diamonds are able to pierce Naraku's stronger barriers. Inuyasha is also capable of combining this technique with his Wind Scar.

Dragon Scale Tessaiga
 * Yoki Absorption: Having defeated Dakki, Tessaiga gains the ablitiy to absorb a opponent's yoki directly. InuYasha being hanyo limits the amount of yoki the sword can absorb before regurgitating it back on the user, until Tessaiga absorbs senki which purfies the yoki and stopping the regurgitation.
 * Yoketsu Cutting: After realizing the true nature of the Tessaiga is to cut InuYasha learns to see yoketsu and uses the Dragon Scale Tessaiga to cut it, instantly destroying a normal yokai, beings created of many different yokai like Naraku and Moryomaru have several yoketsu and cutting them will destroy parts of their body and prevent regeneration of the same. It can also cut the large amount of youki emitting from a strong youkai, which can be fatal.

Black Tessaiga
 * Meidou Zangetsuha This technique was attained when Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga broke on to Tessaiga. The original technique creates a path to hell by creating a giant circle that can suck anyone in it's path, though it can also be used to escape from a Meidou one is already in, as well as entering/exiting pocket dimensions as was seen at the end of InuYasha and Sesshoumaru's final battle for Tessaiga, as well as being the method that Shippo and Kohaku used to enter Naraku's final form.
 * Cutting Meidou Zangetsuha: When InuYasha completely masters the Black Tessaiga the Meidou Zangetsuha changes to symbolize the Tessaiga's true nature, a sword that cuts. The new Meidou Zangetsuha can create a single black blade or several black blades that not only cut a opponent but have their remains sucked up into the path, thus the technique keeps the original ability intact while adding the Tessaiga's cutting nature. It seems to be stronger than the regular Meidou, as it was able to tear apart Naraku's final form, which was impervious to the original technique. InuYasha has also used it as a method of crossing through to Kagome's time for the final battle, and even into the Shikon no Tama itself.


 * Sheath of Tessaiga (Tessaiga no Saya): Can deflect or resist demonic energy attacks with the barrier used to contain Tetsusaiga's power. However it can only withstand a limited number of attacks. The sheath is capable of resisting any amount of offensive force; however, if that force is used continuously then the sheath will crack. This why it was able to hold off Sesshomaru’s Sōryūha since it was an attack that was only unleashed once, but couldn’t hold off Hiten’s thunder attacks which were of weaker power than the Sōryūha, since he was unleashing them constantly. The sheath can also summon the Tetsusaiga to itself, as seen when Inuyasha was trapped inside the flask of a sage with only the sheath. It was made from the freely given wood of Bokusen'on, an ancient sapient tree, and inherits its magical abilities from it. In one episode this tree deity explains to Sesshomaru the meaning of the two swords and what his father, the Great Dog Demon Inu no Taisho intended. This would also suggest that Tenseiga's sheath boasts similar abilities. When InuYasha first uses the windscar, Tenseiga forms a barrier and protects Sesshomaru, which seems to confirm this.

Trivia

 * Throughout the series, the Tessaiga's shape has changed between episodes. In some, it is curved near the end, and in others, its been completely straight.
 * Though it was stated that any demon that touch the Tessaiga will get hurt, Shippo has been seen holding the Tessaiga once without feeling any pain, but it didn't transform. It is possible that it can also be held be those the Tessaiga trusts.
 * On another note, in Swords of an Honorable Ruler, Sesshomaru briefly weiled the Tessaiga and it even transformed but his hand was badly burned when Inuyasha was possesed by the Songa.