Kirinmaru

"Ah, yes... If Tōkotsu served under me, then he must have been quite the formidable warrior indeed. Sesshōmaru's daughters defeating him is quite the accomplishment."

- Kirinmaru

is a Daiyōkai that rules over the eastern lands. After the death of Tōga, the ruler of the west, as well as his eldest son Sesshōmaru refusing to inherit his title, Lord Kirinmaru plans to distort time and swallow the world into a dark age with the assistance of his most trusted servants, the Shikyō, and their own underlings.

History
The equal of Tōga, the Lord of the Western Lands, as the Lord of the Eastern Lands, Kirinmaru alongside Tōga joined forces to repel the Grim Comet and protect their respective lands and afterward came to a truce, leaving one another to rule their respective lands. Kirinmaru, at some point, went into a deep slumber.

500 years later, his older sister, Zero, awakened Kirinmaru to tells him that Tōga's sons did take care of the Comet's fragment. He was shocked that Sesshōmaru had married a human girl just like Tōga married Izayoi 209 years ago. Zero also told him that Sesshōmaru had sired daughters as Rin had given birth to twin half-demon daughters, then the Shikon no Tama is already gone (which they didn't know that Naraku is what he wanted) and that Inuyasha had also already married a human woman 4 years ago who had given birth to a quarter-yōkai daughter. With the prophecy that he would be defeated by a being neither human nor yōkai, Kirinmaru was about to kill Inuyasha, but Sesshōmaru showed up and offered help. Kirinmaru accepted, and the two confronted Inuyasha and Kagome. This forced Inuyasha's wife, Kagome Higurashi the reincarnation of Kikyō, to send away their newborn daughter for her own safety with Hachiemon while she and Inuyasha faced the two daiyōkai. Before Kirinmaru could fight the married couple, Sesshōmaru removed the Black Pearl from Inuyasha's right eye and used it to seal him and Kagome into his father's grave at the Border of the Afterlife under the reason that Inuyasha's Meidō Zangetsuha would be needed. Lord Kirinmaru accepted this reasoning and left.

The Sacred Tree of Ages itself deems Lord Kirinmaru a grave threat for wishing to warp time itself, which it controls.

Fourteen years later, he is visited by Kyūki, who informs him that one of the Shikyō, Tōkotsu, has been slain and the Red Rainbow Pearl entrusted to him stolen by Moroha. Kirinmaru was apathetic, only praising the strength of Sesshōmaru's daughters as they defeated someone who must have been a mighty warrior, and shows no interest in hunting them down, as Kyūki leaves to take care of them instead.

Even with Kyūki and Tōkotsu having been defeated, Kirinmaru still would not personally act against Sesshōmaru's daughters even as Zero calls him out on this, being more interested in Riku's movements and choosing to entrust matters to him since he is his most trusted retainer.

Personality
Kirinmaru appears as a resolute and detached individual, speaking the bare minimum. He seems to be distant to even his closest followers as he did not remember Tōkotsu, who was one of his four central lieutenants, much less that he even gifted Tōkotsu the red Rainbow Pearl in the first place. Upon learning of his demise, Kirinmaru showed apathy, merely giving some praise to Sesshōmaru's twin daughters, who terminated him as he reasoned that anybody serving under him must have been quite a powerful fighter. Likewise, when Zero woke him up, Kirinmaru treated his half-sister with a to-the-business attitude. When he and Sesshōmaru joined forces to kill Inuyasha and Moroha, he immediately engaged them while responding to Kagome's defiant refusal to hand Moroha over to him with a cold rebuttal. He also could show an authoritarian side, remaining unmoved by Zero's wishes to kill Sesshōmaru's twin daughters. Despite the Tree of Ages stating that Kirinmaru was power-hungry by wishing to warp time itself to his will, it was noted by Myōga that Kirinmaru was content in only ruling the Eastern Lands, which was supported by the fact that he left Tōga to govern the Western Lands in peace for years, with him expressing shock that Kirinmaru would be trying to rule the Western Lands and desires to warp time to his will and stating that he isn't the type to go this far. However, he does seem to have a sense of humor as he found Jaken's claim that Inuyasha and Kagome would be paying their respects to his rival's tomb amusing enough to chuckle.

According to Riku, Kirinmaru hates humans and half-demons. Still, it's unclear to what extent he really resents them: Though Zero indicated he shared Sesshōmaru's initial views of such creatures, with Kirinmaru expressing shock that his rival's older son would marry a human, and he did scoff at Kagome's defiance and vow to stop him from killing Moroha, when he was first woken up, he acknowledged Inuyasha as having the strength to alongside his half-brother destroy the Grim Comet and showed no inclination to slay him until he learned Kagome had given birth to a quarter demon daughter and even then when he and Kagome were instead sealed into the Black Pearl, Kirinmaru accepted it when Jaken reasoned that Inuyasha's Meidō Zangetsuha would be needed in the future with no protest at all. Likewise, he proved disinterested in going after Towa and Setsuna and freely acknowledged that he expected them to be powerful due to having such a mighty demon as their father. Even when Zero had specifically demanded Kirinmaru kill them, he still chose not to act personally just for that. Overall, while Kirinmaru seems to consider himself superior and has a disdain towards them, it doesn't seem to prevent him from acknowledging half-demons when they prove formidable.

Physical Description
Kirinmaru appears as a young man with a purple suit of armor, a red belt across his waist, and a golden plate on his left shoulder. He wears light purple clothes underneath, darkened reddish pants, and black battle boots, with golden adornments.

He wears a pair of armored gauntlets decorated with the same adornments as his boots and a white dog-shaped mask with several markings leaving only his left green eye visible and a blue marking beneath. The mask concealed his right eye for an unknown reason. He has what appears to be bulbous, long, red hair, although it is not fully clear if it is his own or part of the mask. Expectedly from a bestial Daiyōkai, he has sharpened, blue nails.

Powers & Abilities

 * Immense Demonic Power: Kirinmaru is said to rival Tōga in terms of strength. He was confident he could kill Inuyasha, an extremely powerful half-demon who had defeated other powerful Daiyōkai, and Sesshōmaru even went as far as to banish Inuyasha and Kagome into the Border of the Afterlife rather than allow Kirinmaru to fight them, suggesting he believed Kirinmaru could indeed kill both Inuyasha and Kagome despite their own incredible powers.
 * Natural Leadership: He has great power and authority over dozens of demons from the mainland but especially his top minions, the Four Perils.
 * Shapeshifting: It is unknown that Kirinmaru can change his appearance to resemble a human's, like Tōga's, Sesshōmaru's, and his mother's.
 * Longevity: Like many Yōkai, Kirinmaru is capable of living for many centuries and remains unchanged even after the birth of Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha.

Equipment

 * Sword: Kirinmaru owned an unnamed sword with a golden hilt.
 * Unknown technique: A technique that seems to release powerful purple waves of purple energy capable of destroying parts of the Grim Comet.

Relationships
Zero is his half-older sister and also the one that warned him about the prophecy of his downfall, showing great loyalty to him. Kirinmaru clearly trusts her as well, taking the news that she brought over his rival's sons giving birth to more Hanyō seriously and deciding to kill Inuyasha when she heeds him to act. Still, he doesn't seem to be emotionally close to her, referring to her with a formal attitude. Likewise, he shows no inclination to follow her desires, as he would not act against Towa and Setsuna even when she outright demanded him to kill the half-demons.
 * Zero

The former Lord of the Western Lands and an old-rival of Kirinmaru, the two worked together to deal with the Grim Comet when it first landed and made a truce with one another, leaving the other to rule their respective lands peacefully. It is unknown what Kirinmaru felt towards Tōga. However, the way he seemed confident that both his sons, even including his half-demon son, would be enough to destroy the Grim Comet, indicated he respected his rival for his power. He also seemed amused when Jaken commented that Inuyasha and Kagome would be trapped in Tōga's tomb and "pay respects" to his grave and decided to leave it be.
 * Tōga

Kirinmaru seems to hold Kyūki in a higher standard than most of his subordinates, as he remembers her name and trusts her with handling Sesshōmaru's daughters after they had killed Tōkotsu. He is unaware that Kyūki wanted to overthrow him, and even when she was dead, Kirinmaru showed detached feelings.
 * Kyūki

Kirinmaru refers to Riku as his most trusted retainer, expressing confidence he could defeat Towa and Setsuna. Interestingly enough, even though Riku serves Kirinmaru, he hates the Four Perils that work under him.
 * Riku

Kirinmaru seemed to hold Tōkotsu in little regard as he didn't remember his name until Kyūki reminded him that he has bestowed the Red Rainbow Pearl to him.
 * Tōkotsu

Enemies

 * Inuyasha

Inuyasha is his old rival's half-demon youngest son. Although Riku claimed that Lord Kirinmaru would naturally despise him as he is a half-demon, it appears that Kirinmaru doesn't actually have much of a grudge towards him: When he was woken up by his older half sister, Kirinmaru openly acknowledged Inuyasha's worth as Tōga's son and that his strength along with his brother would have sufficed to destroy the Grim Comet, showing an initial lack of inclination to kill Inuyasha. Only opting to exterminate Inuyasha when he learned Inuyasha had married Kagome and gave birth to Moroha, even when Sesshōmaru instead sealed them away to the Border of the Afterlife, Kirinmaru showed no eagerness to kill Inuyasha and accepted when Jaken noted Inuyasha's Meidō Zangetsuha will be needed, showing Kirinmaru doesn't really have any personal spite towards Inuyasha or at least not enough to actively wish for his death until he was pushed into doing so.

Being that Kagome as Inuyasha's wife, had married Inuyasha and gave birth to a quarter demon girl, Kirinmaru wanted to kill her and her husband. Still, like with Inuyasha, he showed no personal enmity towards her and calmly accepted Sesshōmaru's decision to instead trap them in Tōga's tomb. However, as he attempted to attack her, he did scoff at her statement that Kirinmaru won't be able to get through her and Inuyasha to kill Moroha, calling her a mere human.
 * Kagome Higurashi

Being Sesshōmaru is his rival's first and pure demon son and the viable heir to the title of the Lord of the Western Lands, Kirinmaru seems to acknowledge and respect him. Zero noted that Kirinmaru was very well aware that Sesshōmaru hated humans and Hanyōs. He would be shocked to hear that he had married and sired two half-demon daughters, which was confirmed by the shock Kirinmaru showed upon learning it. Despite this, Kirinmaru still showed respect towards Sesshōmaru, being willing to let him kill Inuyasha and even accept his decision to seal him and Kagome away instead. Indeed, he even acknowledged that despite being half-demons, he had expected Sesshōmaru's daughters to be very powerful and was not surprised when he learned they had managed to kill one of his Shikyō.
 * Sesshōmaru

They probably had never met before, but Kirinmaru was shocked when he learned that Rin had become Sesshōmaru's wife just like his old rival Tōga married Izayoi, and that she gave birth to twin hanyō daughters. It remains unknown if he has anything to do with Rin's current slumber. Still, it appears that he isn't after her daughters herself, showing disinterest in doing so even after they had killed one of his foremost generals, with the separation of the twins being ordered seemingly solely by Zero with no order from Kirinmaru, making it seem unlikely that he has anything to do with her current condition.
 * Rin

Although Kirinmaru showed shock that Sesshōmaru's daughters were half-demon, unlike Zero, he showed no inclination to kill them, even when he was willing to act to kill Inuyasha and Moroha, likely as he seemed to have genuine respect for Sesshōmaru. Even though Zero ordered Homura to burn down the forest they were in, it appeared that it was out of Zero's own volition. Kirinmaru had nothing to do with it, as he showed disinterest in hunting down Towa and Setsuna when they had killed not only Tōtetsu but even Kyūki as well and would not oblige to Zero's demands to kill them himself, even showing them some respect by admitting he had expected them to be powerful considering the immense power their father had.
 * Towa and Setsuna

Until many months later, he finally appears before the half-demon twins and their cousin to congratulate them once they manage to destroy his top minions Konton and Tōtetsu, the same they did with Kyūki, Tōkotsu, and his son Jakotsumaru, followed by Sesshōmaru himself. He brandishes his sword before the twins.

As a quarter demon, Kirinmaru considered her a threat to him and attempted to slay her, but was unable to when Inuyasha and Kagome sent her to safety. In the present, he seems to have abandoned his interest in killing her, as she did not yet know of his existence, whereas she knew of her grandfather's, indicating that he probably made no further attempt on her life.
 * Moroha

Until many months later, he finally appears before her and her half-demon cousins and congratulate them once they manage to destroy his top minions Konton and Tōtetsu, the same they did with Kyūki, Tōkotsu, and his son Jakotsumaru, followed by her uncle Sesshōmaru. He brandishes his sword at her.

Trivia

 * The Shikon Jewel prophesied that half-demons would be Kirinmaru's downfall. Hence why he desired Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha's deaths along with Inuyasha. However, this may have lead to a "self-fulfilling prophecy" where Kirinmaru may have started the chain of events that leads to his doom, very similar to the Empress Dowager of China from The Twins of Destiny, and Lord Voldemort from the hit Harry Potter novels. All desired the destruction of their enemy as infants but were ultimately felled or destroyed by them as preteens or teenagers.
 * Kirinmaru's Japanese voice actor, Yoshimasa Hosoya, also voices Osamu Kirin.
 * Coincidently, Kirinmaru's English voice actor, Crispin Freeman, voices Osamu Kirin as well.

Fourteen Years Ago

 * "Why have you awoken me? The Great Dog-Demon's sons must have taken care of the comet's fragments by now."
 * "He did what?"
 * "That is what I had in mind."
 * "Very well. Come with me, Sesshōmaru."
 * "Quit your prattling, Human."
 * "You helped them?"
 * "I suppose that is fine."

Present Day

 * "Sesshōmaru's daughters, you say."
 * "Remind me, Kyūki. Who is this Tōkotsu again?"
 * "Ah, yes. If Tōkotsu served under me, then he must have been quite the formidable warrior indeed. Sesshōmaru's daughters defeating him is quite the accomplishment."
 * "It doesn't suit my taste."
 * "Riku is making his move. He is my most trusted retainer."
 * "Was I?"

Media Appearances
Kirinmaru Kirinmaru