Since the wonderful people at FGF go to the bother of putting handy translation notes at the beginning of each episode, I wanted to make a topic where questions and answers regarding the translation notes or just translations in general can be posted. I'd like to know, can anyone can clarify just what a "dokko" is used for and how? "To quell worldly desires in the human heart and bring out the true nature of the Buddha" just seems a little vague and a little odd for something that looks like a dagger.

P.S.: Somehow I think Miroku missed learning about the dokko....His worldly desires don't seem to be "quelled" very much

Well... I don't know the use of a Dokko,
but I do know the meaning of the word.
Dokko or Dokkou means "going alone;self-reliance".
The "going alone" may be Miroku's part,
since he was alone before he met Kagome and IY.
But what do I know. Only my speculations.

To be honest, we're not very sure how the dokko is used either. I spent a very long time combing through some esoteric stuff without coming up with a concrete answer. Its purpose is fairly clear, but we're not sure how it is used physically (if at all). So if anybody who is more familiar with Buddhism has an answer, we'd be happy to put up additional trans. notes about it.

Some more info on the Dokko:

An old folklore in Shuzenji says that a monk with a Dokko,
once came there for missionary work and help people in need.
There was a boy with a sick father and the boy bathed his father in a river.
The priest felt sorry for the two and tapped his Tokko (or Dokko)
on a rock in the riverbed. And warm water came gushing out.
And the warm water cured the boy's father after he bathed in it.
Today the springs in Shuzenji is called Tokko no Yu (warm water of the Dokko),
near the temple where the priest and the boy met.

Dokko is also a pressure point behind the ear.
But the spelling seems to be different...

This was hard... but at least I found something.
I also heard a Dokko was sometimes used in combat.
But that doesn't make sense to me at all.

i dont know anything about buddhism but my guess is that its more of a ceremonial tool than a weapon. also i think i heard something once that it has been used for spiritual suicide.

spiritual suicide might be all of that refusing food and becoming enlightened type of thing...

spiritual suicide... now theres something new... almost sounds like those mass suicidal cults a few years back....

well, i'm buddhist but i'm zen and practice alone, so i don't have a good grasp on the more elaborate ceremonial sorts of things. i can tell you that a dokko looks exactly like what's called a vajra in tobetan buddhism, which is meant essentially to be a representation of a lightening bolt. i believe the things are used in ceremony, not as tools.

Thanks for the cool info guys! I was hoping it wasn't used as a tool in ceremonies( the thing looks somewhat vicious actually, but not very practical) but I'm pleased that such an obscure part of culture/religion was brought up in Inuyasha. Since then you get to hear cool things like what Patrioil found.