Kōga

is the young leader of the eastern yōkai-wolf tribe, or the Yōrō clan, which is nearly wiped out by Kagura and Naraku. He first meets Inuyasha as an opponent in battle, but later becomes a reluctant, occasional ally despite maintaining a strong sense of rivalry with the 'useless mutt' about their relative combat strengths, as well as Kōga's persistent courtship of Kagome.

Although Kōga often flirts with Kagome, it is later revealed that he has promised Ayame, another wolf demon, to make her his wife. Later, Kōga tries to get Ayame to give up her pursuit by saying he will only marry someone who can sense sacred jewel shards. These events don't happen in the manga because Ayame is an original character made especially for the anime. Kōga married Ayame and became the new chief of the wolf demon tribe.

Kōga is introduced in the series with three Shikon shards in his possession; two embedded in his legs and one in his right arm. He loses the shard in his arm during a fight with the leader of the Birds of Paradise, and the shards in his legs are eventually taken away from him by Naraku, gravely weakening him. After Kikyō's death at Naraku's hands, Kōga decides to parts ways with Inuyasha, Kagome, and the rest of the group, leaving the battle with Naraku up to them. He also tells Kagome that she may leave Inuyasha and come to him at any time.

History
Prior to his meeting Kagome and her friends, not much is known about his past or his parents. It seems that he is the youngest leader of the wolf-demon tribe thus far and he once promised a much-younger Ayame to take her as his wife. This occurred during a lunar rainbow, though he later denies that this incident ever occurred. It also seems that he has a solid, possibly long friendship with Ginta and Hakkaku.

During the story
Kōga is first seen pursuing and killing a wolf demon who betrayed him by stealing a sacred jewel shard from him. The other wolf demon took refuge in a hut that belonged to Rin (who later becomes Sesshōmaru's companion). After mercilessly killing the other wolf demon and taking back the stolen shard, Kōga left his wolves to eat the villagers, but they called him back when Inuyasha started to slaughter them. Upon finding out that Inuyasha killed his underlings, Kōga and Inuyasha immediately develop a rivalry with one-another, despite the fact that Inuyasha is a fellow canine. After discovering that Kagome could sense Shikon jewel shards, Kōga kidnapped her in order to have her find the Bird of Paradise which possessed a sacred jewel shard, and through her cooperation, Kōga eventually falls in love with her, though his feelings were one-sided. After Kōga became wounded, Kagome allowed him to flee despite Inuyasha's protests. Afterwards Inuyasha gets mad at Kagome, and eventually Kagome realizes she was ungrateful to Inuyasha, who had come to save her, and the two of them make up.

Later, Kagura, an incarnation of Naraku, tricks members of the demon-wolf tribe into coming to Naraku's castle under the premise of gathering sacred jewel shards; she slaughters them all. Soon afterward, Inuyasha and group appear on the scene, and Kagura uses her dance of the dead to cover Inuyasha in the slain wolf-demons' blood. Kōga then shows up and sees all of his comrades corpses along with Inuyasha covered in their blood. Believing that Inuyasha murdered all of his friends, he tries to kill the half-demon in a rage. Kōga eventually learns that his comrades were slain by Kagura, a minion of Naraku. He was also poisoned by a fake jewel shard which Kagome destroyed after Kagura left the castle. After this, he vows to kill Naraku and avenge the deaths of his comrades.

After his first encounter with Inuyasha, Kōga regularly appears in the first half of series looking for Naraku, much like Inuyasha's group. He often gets Inuyasha upset to the point where Kagome has him "sit" to avoid conflict.

The Howling Winds of Betrayal
During a new moon and moment of weakness for Naraku, Kōga picked up the scent of Naraku in the air. He tracked it with his wolf tribe and ran into Inuyasha and his crew who were also tracking the scent. He learned Inuyasha was a half-demon and would change to a mortal at the new moon.

The group was soon attacked by Kagura. When she was about to be destroyed by Inuyasha's Wind Scar, she was whisked away by demons sent by Naraku to retrieve her. She left behind the two shards of the Shikon no Tama that she had taken from him. Kōga placed them back into his legs and regained his strength and speed.

Noticing the same occurrence with the feigning power of Naraku's barrier and Inuyasha's transformation, the group postulated Naraku may also be a Hanyō.

Mount Hakurei
During the Mount Hakurei arc, Kōga spends most of his efforts trying to find a way inside the barrier surrounding the mountain, all the while fighting members of the Band of Seven. When Naraku makes his move inside the mountain, he engulfs Kōga in his walls of flesh with the intent of swallowing the wolf-demon along with the jewel shards in his legs; however, Kōga is later freed by Kagome's arrow and saved by Inuyasha.

He wasn't seen again for much of the story after Mt. Hakurei, not until Mōryōmaru's creation, at which point he decided to obtain the Goraishi to gain the power needed to fight his foes, who are also growing in strength. He eventually loses his shards and decides to retire from fighting Naraku, leaving the fight to Inuyasha's group.

Later life
Kōga married Ayame after the Shikon no Tama's destruction, and their tribes joined.

Personality
Kōga is almost always completely straightforward and his simple and clear demeanor bears no shadow of Magatsuhi. Initially, he had no human feelings, such as sympathy or having concern for the weak, shown in his first appearance when he let his wolves kill the villagers of the village where a betraying wolf demon ran to. He changes his ways due to Kagome for her acts of kindness. Gradually, he develops a sense of compassion towards humans due to his exposure to Inuyasha's party, mostly through Kagome's influence. His attitude is mostly wild and he is only concerned with survival. Much like an actual wolf is, he is keenly in tune with his instincts and will not hesitate to follow them (such as running away when the situation is not in his favor).

Kōga is the young leader of the Wolf-Demon clan. He has complete trust in his comrades, and will always protect his pack regardless of the danger he faces on the front-lines. He will punish anyone that hurts his pack, regardless of who they are. However powerful an enemy may be, he will swear revenge. With his pride as a Wolf-Demon clan member, his conviction is unwavering. Kōga hurried to the castle to save his comrades after learning they'd been slain.

The relationship between Kōga and Inuyasha is sometimes that of collaborator. Since they met, they have been rivals for the love of Kagome. They each realize the power of the other but refuse to admit it. It is just like a cat and dog relationship, but they grow to trust each other little by little. They pursue the same enemy, Naraku, and sometimes exchange information. In a serious crisis, they cooperate with each other.

Kōga rarely makes battle plans. His actions are basically animalistic hit-or-miss. But he sometimes exhibits surprising strategies with his naturally sharp instincts.

As long as he likes something, he is not concerned with the feelings of others. He simply proceeds in one direction. Kōga aggressively told Kagome that she would be happy if she were with him. He approached Kagome forcibly even though they had just met. His expression of love is pure and he goes to meet Kagome wherever she may be. If a woman that he likes relies on him, he becomes elated, forgetting all about combat. Also, because of his wolf characteristics, he has a rough temperament as well as a strong instinct to herd and protect the pack as its leader.

Physical description
Kōga has blue eyes and black hair that is always tied up into a ponytail with a brown cord. He is of average height. He wears a brown wolf pelt as a loincloth. He has a tail that is like a bushy wolf's tail, which is the same shade of brown, though it is in fact part of his body. Kōga has a brown wolf fur head band, black hair, and wears a silver and black cuirasse (torso armor). Kōga also has brown wolf fur as shoulder plates and as shin guards. He carries around a sword, entirely for decoration, however he does use it once as a last resort. His ears are pointed and resemble those of Sesshōmaru and other demons. He is also usually seen with his posse of wolves and wolf demons, namely Ginta and Hakkaku. Like Inuyasha, his canines are fangs and his nails are claws, though his claws are slightly less prominent than Inuyasha's.

Powers and Abilities

 * Superhuman Strength: Koga does possess some degree of superhuman strength, as even without a jewel shard embedded in his arm, he was able to easily break the neck of the giant Kyōkotsu.
 * Superhuman Speed: Even without the jewel shards in his legs, Koga seemed to possess a greater degree of speed than his comrades Ginta and Hakkaku.
 * Superhuman Stamina and Endurance: Koga is a full-blooded demon, granting him plenty of stamina and excellent recovery capabilities. He states that he can run three days non-stop and he can fight for a long time even when he is wounded. In the battle with Ginkotsu and Renkotsu he defeated them even though his legs were badly injured. Further proof of his endurance is then Naraku impales Kōga in the legs and drags him into his own body. While trapped within Naraku, his miasma that could melt forests and mountains failed to melt or even severely injure Kōga.
 * Superhuman Olfactory Senses: Koga has a wolf-like sense of smell, and can pick up an enemy's scent even from great distances.
 * Claws: Koga can tear certain lesser demon's hard skin using his long Wolf-Demon clan claws.
 * Sharpened Instincts: Kōga is able to detect dangerous situations with his extraordinary wild instinct. Since his body hair stands on end and reacts earlier than his brain does, he is able to cope with situations more quickly than most other people. He also boasts a superb evasion rate, and he can detect danger from an odor or from the air. This was first shown when Inuyasha was about to use the Kaze no Kizu on Kōga on their first encounter but Kōga sensed something dangerous was coming and retreated. The second time this was shown was during his confronting Bankotsu when he sensed he was somehow different from the rest of the Shichinintai, which was later revealed by Kagome to be the result of him having three shards in his body, unlike the rest of his team, which only have one.
 * Enhanced Abilities from Jewel Shards: Kōga originally possessed three jewel shards: one in each leg and one in his right arm. These allowed him to run at exceptional speeds and increased the strength of his right arm. He eventually lost all three shards, losing the first one from his arm.
 * Cyclone: Kōga's primary method of transportation has him enveloped in a high-speed tornado. Apparently, he slices a wall of air with his high-speed movements, creating a vacuum. Air then flows into the vacuum creating a cyclone. Despite its effectiveness, Kōga never actually uses it in battle; it simply develops as a result of his sheer speed, and is not a combat technique. He usually outruns Ginta and Hakkaku due to his impatience and the fact that he is so much faster than they are. It is unknown whether or not Koga can manifest a cyclone without Sacred Jewel shards in his legs.

Weapons

 * Goraishi: A claw that Kōga earns from his ancestor spirits so that he can avenge the deaths of his comrades and destroy Naraku. It creates energy blasts that are equal to that of a fully-powered Wind Scar. The claw shields him, barely, from Naraku's corruption of the jewel but it was only able to protect him once. The Goraishi have literally become a part of Kōga.
 * Sword: Kōga has a long sword at his hip, but he has never used it. Even when he was injured and surrounded by swords in a serious crisis, he managed to fight without using his sword. This is because his Wolf-Demon clan instincts do not rely on weaponry. He mentioned that he stole it from a human by choice, though it was mentioned that is was merely a decoration, not for self-defense.

Relationships
Ginta and Hakkaku are Kōga's two main traveling companions, and his best friends. He cares very deeply about them, as seen when he attempted to get the Goraishi, saying that he would rather not have the weapon's power if it meant sacrificing the lives of his comrades. Ginta and Hakkaku are often seen out of breath, chasing after Kōga because they are unable to keep up with his awesome speed. They are extremely loyal to Kōga, and are always looking out for his best interest; they generally obey his every command as well. However, on one occasion, Ginta and Hakkaku disobeyed him, but only because they feared a confrontation would take place between him and Inuyasha's powerful brother, Sesshōmaru.
 * Ginta & Hakkaku

Kōga first met Ayame as a young girl after he saved her from a demon. Ayame is the granddaughter of the chief in the northern mountains. Kōga promised to marry her when she was younger, so Ayame comes searching for Kōga in order to return to the northern mountains and restore balance among the tribes. After Kōga refuses to go with Ayame, she returns to the mountains alone, and sometime later the two meet each other. In the end of the anime series, Kōga marries Ayame not knowing that Kagome had returned and married Inuyasha.
 * Ayame

Inuyasha was seen by Kōga as a love rival for Kagome's heart. They have many insulting names they call each other- Inuyasha is usually Mutt-Face and Kōga is usually Wolf-Cub. Later, however, they do become allies and even view each other as friends (though they will never openly acknowledge it). During most of their meetings, Kōga causes Inuyasha to almost draw Tessaiga, forcing Kagome to give a sit command, much to Inuyasha's annoyance. Most of the times when Kōga and Inuyasha did "get along" with each other was when they were both battling a common enemy or when Kagome was in danger. Kōga learns of Inuyasha's weakness during the new moon during his second encounter with Kagura, but chose not to take advantage of Inuyasha's mortal state. The two of them would often bicker about who would get to Naraku first and kill him, because they both sought a form of vengeance. After Kikyō's second death, Kōga (in his own way) tries to console Inuyasha from his grief, and after his final departure, Kōga trusts him to take care of Kagome and to finish off Naraku for good.
 * Inuyasha

At first, Kōga kidnaps Kagome and Shippō only because Kagome can see the sacred jewel shards in the Birds of Paradise. After seeing Kagome risk her life to save Shippō, Kōga falls in love with her for her loyalty and later claims Kagome as his "woman," receiving a slap from Kagome. When Kōga starts to insult Inuyasha even purposely mispronouncing his name, Kagome sticks up for him and says: " His name isn't InuTrasha, so don't insult him! He's brave, courageous, really good-hearted when he's not being a jerk, and he's got a great name so say it right. Inuyasha." Kōga threatens to kill him once he sees Inuyasha again. During the series, Kōga saves Kagome multiple times while Inuyasha is preoccupied attacking other demons or the enemy. As he learns more about her kindness and bravery, his love for her increases and he becomes very protective of her. Inuyasha tends to get jealous when Kagome is kind to Kōga before chasing him off. Kagome however doesn't have any feelings for him and only thinks of Kōga as a friend.
 * Kagome Higurashi

Throughout the series, Kōga is fully aware of Inuyasha's love for Kagome, but is completely oblivious of Kagome's love for Inuyasha, however during Vanished in a River of Flames that is when Kōga finally realizes that Kagome is in love with Inuyasha after he saw how happy and relieved she was when Inuyasha was revealed to be alive. However, despite discovering Kagome's true feelings for Inuyasha, Kōga vowed he would never give up on having Kagome for himself. In "The Final Act", when deprived of his Shikon shards, Kōga retires from battling Naraku, telling Kagome to come to him if she ever gets tired of Inuyasha.

Kōga met Inuyasha's half-brother once. Kōga meets Sesshōmaru and they seem to be off to a horrible start when Kōga talks about Inuyasha (being a half demon). Sesshōmaru's companion, Rin, was originally killed by Kōga's wolves until Sesshōmaru brought her back to life with his Tenseiga, and she even remarks that she remembers him. However, during their encounter, Rin is attacked by a centipede-like demon, and Kōga kills it before Rin is killed. Sesshōmaru and Kōga seemed to have a mutual understanding, but it still seemed as though their confrontation would have turned into a battle if Kōga had not have saved Rin. Sesshōmaru later remarks that he would have killed Kōga if the wolf hadn't shown that he has altered his ways. Similarly, Kōga tells Ginta & Hakkaku that while he has a problem with Inuyasha, he's yet to have any reason to hate Inuyasha's older brother.
 * Sesshōmaru

The two have a brief relationship with one another. Kikyō detects that Kōga is in possession of two of the three remaining jewel shards and warns him not to recklessly chase after Naraku or his incarnations, in fear that the shards may end up in Naraku's hands. At first, he rejects her assistance, until he learns of her promise to use the shards to kill Naraku while saving Kōga's life, which piqued the wolf-demon's curiosity. Unlike Inuyasha, he was not interested in Kikyō at all and even started disliking her when she tried to force him to give up his jewel shards. During his travels with Inuyasha's group and her second death against Naraku, he was present during her final moments, wherein he understood her intentions, but still showed no serious attachment to or interest in her. Needless to say, he also gained knowledge of the fact that she and Inuyasha used to be lovers, much to the hanyō's annoyance.
 * Kikyō

Trivia

 * Despite being a main character, Kōga does not appear in any of the four InuYasha movies.
 * Kōga's love for Kagome is one-sided. He constantly tries to woo Kagome, but to no avail.
 * It was Kōga's wolves that originally killed Rin.
 * The scent of dog gives Kōga heartburn.
 * In , a Chinese television series which is heavily influenced by InuYasha, Shi You Ming is based on Kōga.
 * Kōga is similar in appearance to Ryōga Hibiki from Rumiko Takahashi's previous series , who is also romantically interested in the female protagonist and has a similar name that in part means "fang".
 * Because he is a full-blooded demon it's quite possible that he is much older than he looks and likely has semi-immortality.
 * It's quite possible that Kōga might be able to shift into a wolf form but it is never shown in the manga or the anime.
 * All of the wolf demon tribe members wear wolf fur because it is a way to respect and remember comrades who have died.
 * None of the wolf demon tribe members have tails except for Kōga.
 * Despite wanting revenge against Naraku, Kōga was not present for the final battle.
 * Kōga is one of the two main characters to never see Inuyasha in his demon form (the other one being Kikyō).
 * He never draws his sword in the battles.

Media appearances
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Manga

 * Chapter 130
 * Chapter 131
 * Chapter 132
 * Chapter 133
 * Chapter 134
 * Chapter 135
 * Chapter 136
 * Chapter 137
 * Chapter 138
 * Chapter 139
 * Chapter 140
 * Chapter 141
 * Chapter 142
 * Chapter 143
 * Chapter 144
 * Chapter 146
 * Chapter 164
 * Chapter 165
 * Chapter 166
 * Chapter 167
 * Chapter 168
 * Chapter 169
 * Chapter 170
 * Chapter 171
 * Chapter 201
 * Chapter 202
 * Chapter 203
 * Chapter 204
 * Chapter 205
 * Chapter 225
 * Chapter 226
 * Chapter 227
 * Chapter 234
 * Chapter 235
 * Chapter 243
 * Chapter 244
 * Chapter 245
 * Chapter 251
 * Chapter 252
 * Chapter 253
 * Chapter 254
 * Chapter 258
 * Chapter 259
 * Chapter 260
 * Chapter 263
 * Chapter 264
 * Chapter 265
 * Chapter 267
 * Chapter 272
 * Chapter 273
 * Chapter 274
 * Chapter 277
 * Chapter 279
 * Chapter 280
 * Chapter 282
 * Chapter 287
 * Chapter 338
 * Chapter 339
 * Chapter 340
 * Chapter 341
 * Chapter 342
 * Chapter 378
 * Chapter 379
 * Chapter 380
 * Chapter 381
 * Chapter 382
 * Chapter 432
 * Chapter 433
 * Chapter 434
 * Chapter 435
 * Chapter 436
 * Chapter 437
 * Chapter 438
 * Chapter 439
 * Chapter 440
 * Chapter 441
 * Chapter 443
 * Chapter 444
 * Chapter 445
 * Chapter 446
 * Chapter 447
 * Chapter 448
 * Chapter 449
 * Chapter 450
 * Chapter 451
 * Chapter 452
 * Chapter 453
 * Chapter 454
 * Chapter 455
 * Chapter 456
 * Chapter 457
 * Chapter 458
 * Chapter 459
 * Chapter 460
 * Chapter 461
 * Chapter 462
 * Chapter 463
 * Chapter 464
 * Chapter 465
 * Chapter 466

Anime
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 * Episode 35
 * Episode 36
 * Episode 37
 * Episode 38
 * Episode 39
 * Episode 40
 * Episode 42
 * Episode 46
 * Episode 47
 * Episode 56
 * Episode 66
 * Episode 67
 * Episode 69
 * Episode 75
 * Episode 76
 * Episode 77
 * Episode 83
 * Episode 84
 * Episode 85
 * Episode 88
 * Episode 99
 * Episode 102
 * Episode 106
 * Episode 107
 * Episode 108
 * Episode 110
 * Episode 111
 * Episode 113
 * Episode 114
 * Episode 115
 * Episode 116
 * Episode 117
 * Episode 118
 * Episode 119
 * Episode 120
 * Episode 121
 * Episode 122
 * Episode 124
 * Episode 125
 * Episode 127
 * Episode 142
 * Episode 167
 * Episode 1 (FA)
 * Episode 2 (FA)
 * Episode 4 (FA)
 * Episode 5 (FA)
 * Episode 6 (FA)
 * Episode 7 (FA)
 * Episode 8 (FA)
 * Episode 9 (FA)
 * Episode 10 (FA)
 * Episode 20 (FA)
 * Episode 26 (FA)