I am very curious, why didn't Inuyasha use the red tetseiga to break the barrier of mt. haru. Since the sword could break any barrier. They could get to naraku right away.

Well, from what we've seen, mose of the Inu gang, thought it was a "holy" barrier. I doubt there was a need to break the barrier at that time. Maybe in future episodes he will cut the barrier.

I have no clue, just a guess!

I don't think the red Tetsusaiga can cut through "holy" barriers such as Mt. Hakurei's. Since Tetsusaiga is a demon blade, it's power would be purified, and wouldn't have any effect. My theory, anyway.

Rememer, he wasn't even able to use the Kaze No Kizu, during the battle.

He could have broken it when he was outside. remember the red tetseiga can break any barrier because it absorbed the strongest barrier makers power.

u stole my theory


anyways u should remember that the holy barrier is only a holy barrier made by a human, the only thing that can stand against a barrierripping demonblade should be a barrier made by a godly weapon

hmmnnn... i have an idea, but im not sure if i can express it right...
this is an atempt anyway...

Seems to me that this barrier has a completelly different nature...
to understand we might have to concider the following diferences
from the usual barriers he has chopped...

1. this is Indeeed being created by a holly power...
2. it is not emediatelly related to an evil person...
3. it is PURIFYING...

seems to me that no matter if it is from the inside or outside,
IY could not cut it... afterall it is demon power that attempts to do
the damage, so it is in fact absorbed... it cant act against the
barrier in any way...

It might be holy, but its not 100% holy...

i dont think im way off when i say that all non godly barriers can be destroyed

This is somewhat confusing.
But I do indeeed agree with Ozy.

Let us see now...
The barrier was made by a human,
a barrier that destroys any demonic activity.
Tetsusaiga was made of and by a demon,
but Tetsusaiga was also made to protect humans.

That's a little tricky... don't you think?

i dont really think it matters, demonic is demonic no matter if you are good or evil but i still think that the barrier can be destroyed

You would know this how?

When tetsiaga is hit by a purifying arrow it transorms right? I think the holy barrier is kind of like that.

The area surounding it is like the opposite of jakyi (I know I'm killing that spelling) energy. Such that humans can stand it but yokai get drained. I think it's more like a concentration of that than an actual barrier, and at a certin point it just becomes far too concentrated to pass (but I could be wrong).

It's like a barrier is hollow in the middle, but the holy barrier is just a concentration of the holy energy and even thicker past the "barrier" point.

Well, my theory is that there is a distinction between the types of "barrier" here. Tessaiga is a sword that possess youki (demonic energy) and so by its very nature its attacks are "impure". Mount Hakurei has a holy barrier that purifies anything remotely evil/demonic/whatever that hits it. You do the math here. Even if he tries to use the barrier-breaking attack from the outside, I suspect the barrier will just purify the energy attack and continue un-phased. And another thing to think about here: this barrier is so strong it stopped Sesshoumaru from getting in. That's quite an accomplishment.

I just thought of something that kills my theory. There was a cave full of deamons deep in the mountain and they didn't look too pure to me. I guess maybe it is hollowed out in terms of holy (heh) energy.

I remember it detransforming..

Sesshomaru didn't even try to break in. He just says, oh there is a barrier. lets leave.

This is way off topic, but I'm anal and annoying, and must say that Tessaiga is not spelled Tetsaiga or Tetsusaiga, but *Tessaiga.* If I can get at least a few people to please use the correct spelling, my brain won't explode. Please help out and save the chibi's brain, ne?



The Chibi Has Spoken

I know 'Tessaiga' is how it's pronounced in the anime and is how most dubs and manga translations are spelling it now, but since Tetsusaiga was the spelling used before people realized it was really an error (well, the furigana did spell it that way in the manga, to be fair), I've gotten too used to spelling it that way to change it now.

Sorry... I know misspellings can be annoying. ;;

Wait, I'm confused. First, what's the literal translation of...uh...inuyasha's sword (if there is one). Is it called 'Tessaiga' on the show but the proper spelling irl is Tetsusaiga or was it mistranslated as Tetsusaiga and that spelling is just flat out wrong?


I ask b/c I think the episdoes they air on cartoon network pronounce it Tetsusaiga so are those wrong as well?

I need enlightenment :/

Well, you know, heh, I'm not sure that Cartoon Network should be deemed as too much of a reliable source for anime translations. And especially not for determining how something is Japanese is pronounced (or spelled) through English dubbers.

Exactly. Cartoon Network pronounces Kirara as "Kilala"... so I wouldn't necessarily trust their pronunciation of anything else. (I'm still dreading the day Kagura makes her dub appearance... I can see it now. "Kuh-GOO-ruh." ::shudder, sigh:: )

Anyway, to tell the truth, I'm still not sure about the official spelling myself. Like I said, in the manga Tetsusaiga is spelled just like that according to the furigana. But then, Inuyasha's attacks are spelled "Sankon Tetsusou" and "Hiijin Ketsusou" as well--and both of those pronunciations are changed in the anime along with the pronunciation of Tetsusaiga. The furigana could be in error, but it hasn't been changed (I don't think), so maybe not. It's complicated stuff... enlightenment is hard to come by.

i think it had something to do with the fact that it was cuz sesshoumaru wielded the Tetsusaiga at the time, he said that the blade didnt like him very much

Well, I was just thinking maybe the dub translatinos were comming from an offical script and not from watching the show. I can understand how they'd change Kirara just cuz l's are easier for english speakers than r's (imo). I suppose they cout do that with 'Tetsusaiga' but from what it sounds like it's not their personal adaptation.

Oh, and what's a/the furigana?

That's true, but I think Kikiyo's pulled the same stunt.

I think the deal with Tetsusaiga's pronunciation is pretty much the same as with Kirara's. They probably figured it was easier for English-speaking VAs to say 'Tetsaiga' than 'Tessaiga.' Which is true, really... I gotta confess that's still how I pronounce it.

As for furigana (beware of long-winded explanation), the best way for me to explain it is it's a pronunciation guide for kanji. There are three different systems of writing in Japanese: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana and katakana are both systems of characters representing sounds like 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', 'o' and 'ka', 'ki', 'ku', 'ke', 'ko., etc. Since the pronunciation of the characters never changes, it's much easier to read. Kanji, on the other hand, is a much more complex system and can be very difficult to learn, much less master. And most kanji can be read in several different ways depending on the situation. So sometimes, to make reading easier, small hiragana characters are placed next to difficult kanji to indicate how they should be read. Those characters = furigana.

Takahashi-sensei's manga (at least the ones I've seen) are a godsend to Japanese language students in that furigana are used for every kanji no matter what the difficulty.

They actually don't say "Tessaiga".
The U isn't allways heard in the japanese.
So they're really saying "Tetsaiga".
So it's really spelled and pronounced "Tetsusaiga".

Heh, this argument seems to be going in circles.

Thanks for the explanation Spectrum.

Does the magna still print the furigana as "Tetsusaiga"? It seems to me if it was a mistake they would have corrected themselves in the later volumes.

Of course the manga still spells it Tetsusaiga,
because that's the way Takahashi Rumiko spells it.
There's no errors what so ever.

The furigana is TE-TSU-SA-I-GA.
The TSU keep the same form as the other characters,
but if it was smaller it would stand TE-SSA-I-GA.
TE-tsu-SA-I-GA would be Tessaiga,
but it IS spelled TE-TSU-SA-I-GA. And that's it.

But some seiyuu may say Tessaiga out of misreading.
Wasn't there an ep. where Sango kept saying "Gohaku"?

I think the general problem with english speakers like myself is that we don't have a problem when a word is spelled differntly than how someone pronounes it.

(Sir Lucius @ Jun 15 2003, 10:14 PM)


when?

That episdoe where Naraku is having those monsters fight each other in a pit so he can use the strongest as a new body. Inuyasha is about to smash it, but kikiyo shoots his sword with an arrow and it transforms back to normal.

I think that's what happend anyways.

yeah the episode when kikyou gave naraku a large chunk of the shikon no tama but i dont recall kikyou doing that

Lucky I have the episode right here. ;P

Ep. 32 about 19 minutes into it. He's about to slice the demon when the arrow hits his sword and bounces strait up. Sword transforms back to normal.