Episode 28 (Hanyō no Yashahime)

The Barrier of Mount Musubi is the twenty-eighth episode of Hanyō no Yashahime, and the fourth episode of the second season titled "The Second Act."

Summary
The Half-Demon Princesses have at last reached the demonic-spiritual mountain of Musubi. What mysterious dangers and uncertainties await them? And will they each have the bravery and inner strength to let go of what they hold most dear to pass the trials that the demonic barrier has presented them with?

Plot
Sesshōmaru and Jaken keep watch over Musubi, within which Jaken recalls that Rion has been sealed the unusually strong demonic/spiritual energy shield for many, many years. Upon entering, though, the half-cousins are separated by the mighty Sacred Tree of Ages itself and Kirinmaru, who was told by both Tōga of the West and his own sister to stop dragging Rion to battle.

Due to possessing extraordinarily strong spiritual powers, being the daughter of Kagome Higurashi, Moroha is the only one who finds the sleeping transparent Rion. She is asleep most of the time with the Dream Butterfly carrying crucial messages between her and her father who is still remembering the injuries that he suffered from Tōga... and if Kirinmaru did not drag Rion to battle, Tōga would have slain him. He also remembers the time that what is left of his horn (which has not healed) created the Slave Puppet Riku while Kirinmaru's arm was thrown to the Bone-Eater's Well.

Towa is taken to a facsimile of Tokyo while Setsuna encounters Rin for the first time inside the Sacred Tree of Ages. Moroha also encounters her parents for the first time as she quickly is hurled towards Towa. Both Kirinmaru and the Tree of Ages are delighted to hear of the girls' morals and are appointed Guardians for Rion, who gives them a Kyūyōkon Root. Osamu Kirin continues to vouch for Towa's absences in exchange for unlimited access to the Shintō Shrine, his place of birth.

Trivia

 * The flashback shows Tōkotsu's full body before the red skeletons in "Jakotsumaru of the Red Bone Palace" but only his right arm is seen.
 * The scene of Sōta showing the photo album to Towa from the "The Gateway to the Past" was reconnected with Moroha having seen it earlier as well, so she would recognize her parents if she ever found them.
 * Inuyasha and Kagome Higurashi make their actual debut here; albeit still trapped in the Demon Graveyard. Moroha finally knows where her parents have been since her birth fourteen years ago.
 * It is revealed that, like Riku, Kirin is an autonomous and sentient embodiment of Kirinmaru's own physical self, from the Beast King's right arm that was cut off by the Beast King Tōga of the West. As such, it was thrown into the Bone-Eater's Well and from there manifested as a human-looking man who was then absorbed into the modern era. His centuries-long presence, however, is gradually starting to cause rifts in the infinite space-time continuum.
 * It's been revealed that Kirinmaru's severed right arm was the first to be sent into the Bone-Eater's Well. Afterwards was the pure demon-spirit Saya within the autonomous demon spirit So'unga of Hell, then ninth grade middle-schooler Kagome Higurashi, who had consistently traveled backward and forwards between the five century-long timelines since her fifteen birthday.
 * The scene in which Moroha encounters Rion is reminiscent of that of the original anime's premiere, in which fifteen-year-old Kagome Higurashi had discovered the deeply sleeping Inuyasha on the trunk of the ancient and infinitely powerful Sacred Tree of Ages.

Errors

 * Tōga was erroneously carrying both Tessaiga and Tenseiga six centuries ago; further contradicting the knowledge of their origins (Tessaiga was created to protect Tōga's human wife, Izayoi, who was alive during the . And that Tenseiga was a cast-off of Tessaiga to maintain the unwanted and deathly powerful Meidō Zangetsuha attack/technique).
 * The Sacred Tree of Ages was stated to be 1000 years old and it was said that its wood was used to make the Bone-Eater's Well. Therefore, the Bone-Eater's well shouldn't have existed when Riku disposed of Kirinmaru's right arm.
 * Towa mentions that she had seen the young, pretty woman deeply sleeping within the Sacred Tree of Ages twice before in dreams alone (directly referring to "The Dream Gazing Trap" and "The Secret of the Rainbow Pearl"), but she seemed not come to the realization that she was indeed her biological mother back then.