Jakotsu

"Scream for me. Where's the fun if you don't start whimpering?"

- Jakotsu

was one of the strongest of the Shichinintai and the third in command. His chief weapon, the Snake Sword or Jakotsutō, has segmented retractable blades that curve out across a great distance, making it difficult for an opponent to calculate his next move.

During the story
Jakotsu was a very close friend of Bankotsu and they traveled together long before the Band of Seven was formed. Jakotsu was first seen in the series after the death of Kyōkotsu at the hands of Kōga; he commented on how Kyōkotsu was the weakest among the Band of Seven. Soon after Kyōkotsu's death he encountered Inuyasha, Miroku and Kagome and began to do battle with Inuyasha. Inuyasha found Jakotsu to be a very strong opponent, due to his unique blade, the Jakotsutō. Jakotsu immediately was drawn to Inuyasha and made multiple advances towards Inuyasha, at one point claiming that he wanted to take Inuyasha's ears because of how "cute" they were. Their battle was cut short, however, because of the arrival of Mukotsu and his gaseous poisons.

Jakotsu is later seen with Renkotsu at the temple that he had taken over, where they discuss Inuyasha, Sesshōmaru and whether or not they can trust Naraku, whom none of the Band of Seven have met except for Bankotsu. Renkotsu notes that Inuyasha and his friends will be arriving at the temple soon, and sends Jakotsu off to complete a mission, much to the chagrin of Jakotsu who was very much looking forward to fighting Inuyasha again. Jakotsu is sent to fight with Kōga, and to steal his Shikon Jewel shards. They fight for a short period, before Kōga rushes off to save Kagome.

Jakotsu is present with the rest of the Band of Seven when they go off to retrieve Suikotsu, who had been living in a village as a doctor, with his kind personality. The group tells Suikotsu to snap out of it, and when Jakotsu slashes Suikotsu with his Jakotsutō, he suddenly reverts to his evil and more bloodthirsty form. Jakotsu moves to kill some children from the village, which is something that he has no taste for, but before he can Suikotsu's "good" side takes over momentarily, and begs Jakotsu not to kill them. The group surmises that the barrier of the nearby Mount Hakurei stops Suikotsu from becoming purely evil, so they decide to leave the area.

The Band of Seven goes to meet up with Bankotsu for the first time, and they then attack the castle that had executed them ten years prior. After they kill all of the castle's inhabitants, they wait for the arrival of Inuyasha. Kōga appears first, though, and he and Jakotsu resume their battle from before, though Jakotsu receives assistance from other members of the Band of Seven. The battle is cut short when Inuyasha finally arrives on the scene, and Jakotsu happily greets him, much to Inuyasha's annoyance. The Band of Seven escape soon after with the help from one of Naraku's demon puppets.

Later, when the Band of Seven are at Mount Hakurei, Jakotsu battles with Sesshōmaru, and comments that he knows that Sesshōmaru is related to Inuyasha, which isn't something that Sesshōmaru cares to hear. Sesshōmaru instructs Jaken to take Rin away from there, but Suikotsu appears and abducts Rin. Jakotsu and Sesshōmaru continue to fight and Sesshōmaru eventually overwhelms Jakotsu, and leaves to rescue Rin. Jakotsu follows Suikotsu as he takes Rin back to the village he lived in before, now apparently back in his "good" form, which irritates Jakotsu. Soon after, though, Suikotsu slaughters a group of villagers, showing his evil side once again; Jakotsu is overjoyed by this turn of events. Rin tries to escape from Suikotsu, but is this time taken by Jakotsu. As Suikotsu is about to slaughter more children from the village, a Saimyōshō appears and tells Jakotsu that Sesshōmaru is coming, and they flee the scene. They take Rin to Mount Hakurei, where they hope that the barrier will weaken Sesshōmaru. Sesshōmaru appears, and Jakotsu battles him again. He swings his Jakotsutō at Sesshōmaru and is able to injure the demon, much to the delight of Jakotsu. Jakotsu, now confident, taunts Sesshōmaru, saying that he will kill Rin if he makes a wrong move. Sesshōmaru smirks at this, angering Jakotsu, who swings his sword at his opponent once more. Sesshōmaru then throws his Tōkijin aside, impaling Suikotsu, and slashes Jakotsu with his claws. As an injured Suikotsu is about to kill Rin, a sacred arrow flies through the air, striking him in the throat; Jakotsu flees the scene. As a dying Suikotsu speaks with Kikyō one last time, Jakotsu swings his sword at Suikotsu, brutally slashing his throat; his Shikon Jewel shard pops out of his throat, and Jakotsu eagerly escapes with it. Soon after this incident, Jakotsu, walking alone, shivers due to his clothes being tattered from the previous battle. He soon encounters a group of traveling merchants and slaughters the lot of them, taking one of their clothes. Bankotsu soon arrives on the scene and the two friends converse; Jakotsu presents the Shikon Jewel shard that he had just taken from Suikotsu, stating that this is what Bankotsu instructed them to do. Bankotsu is overjoyed by this, saying that Jakotsu is such a good friend, the only person he can trust.

Jakotsu encounters Inuyasha again, which he is very happy about. Jakotsu notices that Inuyasha is in his human form, because of the barrier of Mount Hakurei, and comments that he is just as cute as a human as he is as a demon. Since Inuyasha is a mere human at this point, he struggles greatly against the might of Jakotsu and his Jakotsutō. After a lengthy battle, Jakotsu loses to Inuyasha and is badly wounded, giving Renkotsu the opportunity to steal his Shikon shard. As he dies from the shard's removal, Jakotsu says he is happy because he got to fight the battle he wanted and that he had fun with his second chance in life. Bankotsu later avenges his friend's death by killing Renkotsu.

Personality
Jakotsu is depicted acting in a homosexual manner; examples of which would be his admiration of Kōga's loincloth, and his advances toward Miroku and Inuyasha upon meeting the two with Kagome, and of his admiration to how handsome Sesshōmaru is up close in a fight with him. He also claims to have feelings for Inuyasha but due to his sadistic personality he basically wants to kill Inuyasha in what he considers to be an affectionate way and mentions wanting to cut off and claim his dog ears which he adored for their "cuteness". He is a man who finds thrill and lust in killing, a type of hedonistic killer who gains sexual satisfaction from the slow and painful death of their victims. He, like all lust killers, takes a "trophy" from his victims (He said that he wanted to cut off and keep Inuyasha's dog ears). This allows the lust killer to re-live their crimes so they can gain sexual satisfaction.

Weapon
Jakotsutō: The Jakotsutō was a broad sword made up of at least 50 chain linked blades held together by pins. When deployed or swung, these blades zig-zagged back and forth unpredictably as they moved forward, resembling the movements of a snake moving in for the strike, which is why its name translated as Snake Bone Sword. This trait and Jakotsu's skill with the sword made him one of the deadliest opponents in the series.

Trivia

 * Rumiko Takahashi originally intended to make Jakotsu female, but did not like the idea of Inuyasha fighting and defeating a female human, deciding instead to make him gay.
 * Jakotsu is not very bright when it comes to math; Renkotsu had to correct him.
 * Jakotsu is one of the few characters in the series to change clothes. Other characters include Kagome, Kagura, Sango and Naraku.
 * The tattoos on his face mean Death, however instead of referring to him somewhat, they're there more for their resemblance to snake fangs.

Jakotsu 蛇骨 Jakotsu