Izumo

, also known as in his demon form, was a hanyō born to a human man named Izumo and an unnamed female bull yōkai.

History
While traveling the lands in order to find a way to become a complete human, Izumo learned of the Shikon no Tama, a jewel that purportedly had the ability to grant any wish made by its bearer. To his dismay, he discovered that the Jewel was shattered into many shards and that it would take a lifetime to reassemble. However, by forming an alliance with Orochidayū, a demon who also desired the Shikon's power and commanded hordes of lesser demons, Izumo devised a method to recreate the jewel again and again by harvesting the souls of numerous, random villagers. Though not nearly as powerful as the one made by Midoriko, the mass-produced Shikon Jewels could still empower demons considerably for a short period of time, but due to impurities, the imitations proved toxic to humans. Through more research, Izumo discovered that he could create a true Shikon Jewel by using the souls of those who possessed greater than normal amounts of courage, knowledge, love and friendship, which he found in Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and Shippō respectively. He captured Kagome, planning to use her spiritual powers and three jewel shards to create the new Jewel.

In his final moments, Gyu-Oh, desperate to create the new jewel before dawn (at which point he would become human again and therefore easily defeatable), swallowed a number of imitation Jewels to overcome Inuyasha. He was unable to defeat Inuyasha before daybreak, and when the sun rose, he reverted again to Izumo. With his human form unable to withstand the jaki of the fake jewels, he died, poisoned by his own creations. His lower half was unable to finish the transformation, left in the likeness of a hornless satyr; his final words expressing regret that he was unable "to die as a human."

Physical description
Gyu-Oh was unique among half-demons. Instead of maintaining a half-human, half-demon appearance all the time as all other half-demons in the series are shown to do, he was fully human during the day and fully demonic at night. It was probably this trait that drove him into madness and fueled his desperation for the Shikon Jewel (and also explains his "unusual" obsession with the sun). While in human form, Izumo was pure - more so than normal humans to the extent that wild birds would land and rest on him. Yet in his demon form, Gyu-Oh seemed to have an affinity for the Shibugarasu, much to his chagrin.

Powers & Abilities

 * High Intellect: Izumo is very intelligent and want to see the deeper meaning of some things. Kagome even said to Shippō that Izumo seems to be a scholar due to his punctilious acumen. His intellect allows great knowledge about the feudal era and the denizens in it that allows him to know how to make use of them. Izumo seems well-versed in many intellectual subjects, including philosophy, poetry and spiritual wisdom.
 * Arcane Knowledge: Stemming from his status as a trained priest and obsession in formulating a method to cure him of his half-breed nature, Izumo had dedicated his entire life to the study of occult lore, even claiming to travel the rest of the Asian continent outside of Japan to sate his Insatiable hunger for esoteric wisdom. He exhibited his expertise to Inuyasha and the group, showing unrivaled knowledge and understanding of the Shikon Jewel, its history, and how it was created through four vital components; courage, knowledge, love and friendship, also known as the four souls. His vast knowledge allowed him to devise a theory on how to replicate the Jewel with the same exact properties, though he ultimately failed in his endeavors.
 * Expert Tactician: Izumo had proven to be an astute methodist, showing a natural flair for strategy and tactical planning. He was able to cunningly organize a scheme that effectively lured Inuyasha and the group into an ambush by the demons commanded by Orochidayū and carefully hide the evidence that he had orchestrated the entire thing. He devised a strategy that was able to successfully separate Kagome from the rest of the group, and capture her. Alas, he was ultimately unsuccessful in his plans on crafting a true Shikon Jewel.
 * Expert Manipulator: Izumo is very cunning and skilled at separating his human and demonic persona from each other during the day and night that allows him to deceive others to lure them into traps as he appears as two different people as shown when he lured Inuyasha and his group into an elaborate trap by taking advantage of human self and none of them realized it until he deliberately revealed himself.
 * Expert Jewel Craftsman: He is also a skilled craftsman of jewelry as he created multiple faux Shikon Jewels that while pales in comparison to the real one, has the ability to greatly enhance the strength of lesser demons though is highly toxic with miasma and the effects are only temporarily. He also has a plausible theory on how to create another real Shikon Jewel after extensively studying Midoriko's legend.
 * Experienced Combatant: Judging from his crusades in his demonic form as Gyu-Oh, Izumo has shown to have considerable skill in hand-to-hand combat. His fighting style is similar to that of Inuyasha, as he tries to best make use of his demonic strength to overpower his foes. His skills are most prominent with his large wooden club, which allowed him to contend with Inuyasha.
 * Nocturnal Transformation: Unlike other naturally born half-demons, whose normal appearance are a mix of human and demon features, he seems fully human during day time and fully demon at night time. Izumo's personality changes whenever he transforms. Since he loses all his demonic powers every sunrise, it is possible that his nocturnal form is his half-demon form, albeit an 'ugly' one like Jinenji. (Nonetheless it should be noted that Inuyasha did not smell a half-demon when Izumo was in either form.)
 * Enhanced Strength: In his demonic form as Gyu-Oh, he displays impressive strength as he was capable of contending against the likes of Inuyasha in pure strength. He has also previously triggered a landslide with a single blow of his club.
 * Enhanced Speed: When Sango has thrown her Hiraikotsu, he could react quickly enough to defend him with his club. Later he was able to catch up the fast-fleeing Kagome.
 * Enhanced Durability: He has proved to be very durable as he was able to defend well against Inuyasha's attacks head on while the demons under his command were defeated fairly easily.
 * Enhanced Endurance: Gyu-Oh has heightened stamina as he managed to fight against Inuyasha for a considerable amount of time while the lesser demons under his command were quickly dispatched even with the faux Shikon Jewels. The sun rose at the end which implies that their fight lasted several hours with neither tiring at all.
 * Miasma Generation & Manipulation: He has the ability to generate miasma from his very breath and manipulate it how he sees fit. Also he can resist the toxin of the faux Shikon Jewels after swallowing many of them to increase his power to overcome Inuyasha though only in his demon form as he died from the poisoning after becoming human at sunrise.
 * Great Demonic Power: Compared to most of his brethren, Gyu-Oh is rather powerful for a half-demon, as during his full transformation he is capable of visibly intimidating lesser but full blooded demons into doing his bidding and through the enhancement of his faux Shikon Jewels proved to be considerable challenge for Inuyasha.
 * Barrier: When he was attacked by Inuyasha, Gyu-Oh was protected by a barrier that was capable of warding off even the Tessaiga though it was unknown whether this was his own power or that of the faux jewels.
 * High Spiritual Power: He possesses high spiritual energy and purity significantly more so than ordinary humans as even wild birds settle down an his hands and shoulders. It is unknown on how powerful his spiritual abilities are, but it can be assumed that as a priest by occupation, he had likely received basic training in the spiritual arts. This along with Moroha, makes Izumo one of the very few characters in the series that can naturally utilize both demonic and spiritual powers.

Weapons

 * Club: As Gyu-Oh, he wields a large wooden club when needing to engage in combat himself and through the enhancement of the faux jewels was capable of contending against the Tessaiga itself.
 * Faux Shikon Jewels: Like his demon underlings, he uses multiple fake Shikon Jewels to enhance his power to overcome his opponent if they proved stronger than he thought.

Trivia

 * Izumo is the only half-demon born to a human father and a demon mother in the series.
 * He is also the only known half-demon who not only by his demonic parent has special powers, but also by his human parent (the intelligence and the spiritual purity).
 * Unlike the hanyōs, Inuyasha, Jinenji and Shiori, little is known about the parents of Izumo.
 * Despite the common discrimination against half-demons, Orochidayū seemed to genuinely like Izumo/Gyu-Oh and treated him with respect rather than grudging tolerance. Whether this was due to their mutually beneficial arrangement or because he was impressed by the other's cunning is unclear.
 * Izumo/Gyu-Oh is the archetypal.
 * Bulls, oxen and cows are often shown in fiction as stupid and dumb. But this stereotype does not apply to Izumo, he is pretty clever.
 * When he first introduces himself to the others, Izumo identifies himself as a "Gūjifor" (宮(?)), from a long line of Gūjifor; which Kagome explains means that they're, like her grandfather.

Media appearances

 * Episode 94
 * Episode 95