Yura

"The name is Yura, though you needn't bother to remember it. Because you'll be dead soon!"

- Yura

, also known as Yura of the Demon-Hair (逆さ髪結羅), was a hair demon, as well as the first demon to appear as a serious threat to Inuyasha.

History
Yura resided in an invisible cocoon made up entirely of hair while hiding her true form in a red comb, which she hid in a skull. She was at least fifty years old before the Shikon jewel returned to the Sengoku period in Kagome.

During the Story
Yura manipulated the townspeople of Kaede's village via her hair so that Inuyasha would succumb and she would obtain his shikon jewel shards. During their fight, while she had Inuyasha cornered, Kagome was wearing his fire rat robe and was thus protected from Yura's razor-sharp hair. After Kagome found Yura's true form, the comb hidden away in a red skull, she grabbed one of her arrows and smashed it into the skull breaking the comb and causing Yura to wither away to dust. While Yura was relatively short-lived, she nevertheless had the distinct honor of being the first strong opponent that Inuyasha and Kagome faced together.

Personality
Although she only briefly appeared, Yura has a distinct personality. She worshipped hair, especially that of Inuyasha, whom has particularly lovely hair in her eyes. She was also quite confident of herself, thinking herself extremely powerful, which she was. She was also very comfortable with her body, maybe to the point of even being openly flirtatious. Her outfit is very revealing, and could suggest such a flirtatious outlook.

Physical description
Unlike most of the demons who appear in the series, Yura had a very human-like look (although her "true form" was technically a red comb). She took the appearance of a young girl with short, dark green hair which she had tied up fan-like in a hair bob style. Her hair was dark enough to appear black in some lights. She had creamy skin and sharp fingernails, as well as a lithe and very agile body. She had reddish-violet eyes, wore red eye shadow and red lipstick.

Outfit
Yura ties her hair up using a red ribbon, and adorns a black ribbon choker, tied at the back of her neck in a bow. She is seen wearing traditional kunoichi (female ninja) garb. Her ninja tunic is black and sleeveless, is cut off midway down her thighs, and exposes the cleavage of her large breasts. She also wears a bright yellow sash which ties at the front of her outfit. Yura wears thin, tight, black gloves on both of her hands. They are holstered by her middle fingers and extend beyond her wrists, just short of mid-forearm. They are more decorative in nature rather than serving as actual "guards", as per what most ninja wore at the time. She wears tight, black cloths acting as foot guards on both of her legs. They started midway up her shins down to her middle toes, each held by thin straps at the bottom arches of her feet. They are also more decorative in nature rather than serving as actual "guards", leaving her practically barefoot. Her wakizashi sword Benigasumi was holstered on her left hip. Her comb was normally wielded in her right hand.

Powers & Abilities
Yura has the ability to fly and hover in midair. She is extremely agile and flexible. Her balance is also incredible, as shown when she stood and sometimes jumped onto single strands of hair.

Yura's trademark is her razor-sharp hair strands, which are apparently capable of cutting through anything except Inuyasha's Robe of the Fire-Rat. The hair is made up of the hair of her victims, as she stated that once she killed Inuyasha, all his hair would be a "pleasure to control". Kagome noticed that there seemed to be strands of Yura's hair that glow, signifying that that a certain strand (or strands) is controlling a large group of the hair. These glowing strands can be traced back to Yura's location.

Yura has perfectly mastered the hair she has collected over the years, which may increase as she kills more people and adds them to her cluster of hair. Yura uses these hairs for various purposes, among them:
 * She is able to control people and practically make them into her puppets by making them lose consciousness and using her hair as the strings.
 * Catching her opponents, preventing them from moving freely and getting to hang them if necessary.
 * Following her enemies: She sticks a hair to her enemy and just follows it where they go, to give her an idea of the location of the target.
 * Protective hair: Protects Yura when she encounters strong attacks like Inuyasha's Blades of Blood.
 * Controlling objects from a distance, the most explicit example is when she uses her opponent's sword controlled by the hair.
 * Shown in the anime, she can also use these hairs to heal her amputated limbs, as shown when Inuyasha cut off her sword hand and soon after it was reattached to her arm when she called it back with the hair. It can also be used to heal from seemingly any injury, shown when Inuyasha sliced Yura in half.

Weapons

 * Benigasumi (紅霞, "Crimson Haze"): During close-range combat, Yura uses a wakizashi named Benigasumi, which she claims is a treasure among the oni. It has the ability to cut flesh and bone without cutting her specialized hair.


 * Ogre_Fire_Hair_4.JPGOni-Bi Gushi (鬼火毛, Ogre-Fire Hair): Using her red comb, she makes a sweeping motion, unleashing a torrent of flames which can be channeled down her hair for a better attack. Yura used this attack on Kagome, claiming that it would incinerate her body, and that "not even her bones would be left. This would have happened had Kagome not been wearing Inuyasha's robe.


 * Kushi no Ori (櫛乃檻, Comb of Hair): Yura directs a large mass of hair upward, forming a massive cage made of her hair, in which she can attack her enemies in without them being able to escape.

Trivia

 * Some translators translate Kushi no Ori as "Cage of Hair". However, Kushi (櫛) uses the kanji for the word "comb", while Ori (檻) refers to hair, making the actual translation "Comb of Hair".
 * She bears a fair resemblance to Nabiki Tendo from Rumiko Takahashi's previous work, Ranma 1/2.