Kurikaramaru

Kurikaramaru
Kurikaramaru
Nihongo	倶利伽羅丸
Literal Meaning	Profitable Fairy Tale Tool
Historical information
Wielder	Yawaragi † → Moroha
Physical information
Type	Katana Sword
Origin/Material	Demonic materials of unknown origin
Blade color	Silver
Grip color	Red
Pommel color	Gold
Debut
InuYasha Anime	Episode 1 (Hanyō no Yashahime)

Kurikaramaru (倶利伽羅丸, "Profitable Fairy Tale Tool") is a strong yōkai sword wielded by the quarter-demon Moroha, the sword originally belonged to her late master Yawaragi of the Wolf Demon Tribe.

Physical Description

The Kurikaramaru is a katana with a red grip and a golden pommel. It has a Kurikara (倶利伽羅) engraving on the lower part of the blade just above the hilt. Kurikara is a pattern with a dragon in a coiled position.

Abilities

None of its demonic abilities have been revealed except for its powerful Crimson Dragon-related attacks/techniques emitted from it, with more yet to be utilized.

Attacks & Techniques

• Kōryūha (紅龍破, Crimson Dragon Wave, "Red Dragon Destruction"): The engraving on the blade emerges and transforms into a flaming dragon which can incinerate and defeat enemies in one single strike from a distance. According to Zero, these particular fiery dragons composed of demonic energy have a liking for white clouds. Its strength is magnified tenfold due to the much stronger demonic energy when Moroha has become Beniyasha. Because it has grown larger, brighter and more effective, it obeys Moroha's will alone.
• Crimson Backlash Wave: Quite similar to her half-demon father's, and her father's Backlash Wave, this special technique sends one's own demonic energies and attack right back at them, destroying them with their own demonic energy and that of the Crimson Dragon Wave to obliterate the enemy. It was easily countered by Shogen Mamiana's World Reversal technique.

Trivia

Kurikara engraving on Kurikaramaru

• How it was given to Moroha is explored in Episode 16.
• The Kurikaramaru is the only sword in the series with the suffix -maru, which is generally applied to demons (such as Sesshōmaru), young samurai (such as Takemaru), or ships.
• The Kurikaramaru is the only name in the series which uses more than three kanji.
• Unlike other swords in the series, whose names are much more straightforward, the five kanji in Kurikaramaru are not meaningful in themselves. Rumiko Takahashi possibly chose the name based on a reference to a Japanese mythical sword named Kurikara (倶利伽羅) instead of naming the sword. The name of the mythical sword was historically borrowed phonetically into Japanese from Asian myths where the sword is known as Kulikah due to which the kanji are not particularly meaningful.
• Kulika/Kulikah comes from the Sanskrit meaning "coming from a very good family" or "well-born". Kulika comes from the word Kula meaning "family" "tribe" "clan" "caste" "lineage" "good family" "chief" and the suffix -ika meaning "belonging to" "relating to" "related to" or "child of". There is some speculation that Kurikara came from kurika raja with the ra at the end being short for raja or "king". King Kulika or Dragon King Kulika was a son of Kadra.
• The Kurikara-ken (倶利伽羅剣) is a famous sword in Japanese mythology being the name of the double-edged vajra sword of the Japanese Buddhist god of fire Fudō Myō-ō. It is depicted with a dragon coiled around it. The mythology is associated with Fudō Myō-ō's transformation into a fire-sword and consequently a fire dragon in order to fight an enemy who also took those same forms.
• The Kurikara-ken is usually depicted as a one-horned, flame-wreathed dragon coiled around and swallowing the tip of the upright vajra sword. This iconography is very popular and may also depict the god himself in which he is called as Kurikara Fudō. The kurikara engraving on the sword is similar to this iconography.
• Coincidentally, there is a sword named Kurikaramaru (倶利伽羅丸) that appears in a kabuki play called Gion Sairei Shinkōki (The Gion Festival Chronicle of Faith) which is also related to the myth of Fudō Myō-ō.
• Kōryū (紅龍 or 紅竜), more commonly known as Sekiryuu (赤竜) or Chilong (in chinese) is the "red dragon" or "vermilion dragon" in Japanese and Chinese mythology. It is a red-scaled fire-dragon who can breathe fire and is said to be born of the sun or from a volcano.
• Similar to the named techniques of Inuyasha's sword, Kōryūha too has the kanji "破" meaning "crush".