Jinenji

Jinenji (地念児) was a horse Hanyō who lived in a hut with his human mother. Together they grew a variety of medicinal plants, including some known for being powerful against poisons. The field where they grow the plants is his inheritance from his demon father.

He is first seen when Kirara is poisoned by Naraku's shōki and Kagome and Inuyasha travel to the village to find a cure. When they find him, they also help to clear his name as he was being falsely blamed for people's deaths in the village purely because of his demon blood. Jinenji is depicted as a gentle giant who is initially scared of humans because of the way the villagers treat him. His arms in particular are covered with scars from attacks on his person. Upon meeting Kagome, he is surprised to find that she is not frightened by his appearance at all and willingly helps him collect herbs. (Indeed, she is so scared of a caterpillar on an herb that he has to remove it for her.) Inuyasha, having also dealt with abuse at the hands of humans when he was a child, attempts to convince Jinenji that he needs to be more forceful towards the villagers, especially after he rescues them from a demon. In the end, Jinenji decides to continue his more gentle approach, giving the men injured during the demon attack the herbs they need to heal themselves. Out of guilt for having treated him so badly before he had saved them all, the village men help Jinenji and his mother rebuild their hut that the men had burned to the ground, and clean up the herb field.

Like Inuyasha, Jinenji becomes fully human one day a month. Unlike Inuyasha, who becomes human at night, Jinenji becomes human during the day. He spends the day hidden away in the hut, under a blanket. Likely only his mother knows what his human form looks like, as he refuses to let anyone see him, but it does appear that he becomes a larger-than-average human. In the animé: during one of these times, Rin visits his home searching for the cure to heal Jaken, who was poisoned by the Saimyōshō while protecting her.

Jinenji is obviously very strong, as his body supports a large amount of muscle mass, but his one known demon ability allows him to become even stronger. Activating his power makes his entire body glow with blue energy, and he was able to decapitate a large demon by wrapping his arms around its neck and squeezing with brute force. He then destroyed the head with a single, devastating punch, making it virtually explode into dozens of small chunks. At the end of the final episode of InuYasha: The Final Act, Jinenji was last seen helping Kagome pick out plants to make potions.

Jinenji also appeared in Secret of the Divine Jewel. The player can visit him to get herbs which can heal and even repel demons. Special herbs can be bought during the Full Moon and New Moon.

Trivia

 * Jinenji's age is never revealed in the series but some can assume that he might be older than Inuyasha by his appearance and voice. Therefore it could be theorized that despite being the son of a demon father and a human mother he may not have longevity like Inuyasha does.


 * Unlike Inuyasha who can recover from wounds and scars within minutes or a day, Jinenji still has visible scars all over his body showing that he probably doesn't have regenerative abilities like Inuyasha.


 * Despite his superhuman strength it is never shown if Jinenji has any special abilities from his mixed demon heritage.


 * Jinenji is one of the few hanyōs shown in the series to still have one parent that is still alive.