Tōkijin



T&#333;kijin (「闘鬼神」), in the anime and manga InuYasha, is a possessed sword forged from the fangs of Goshinki, Naraku's detachment, at the request of Sesshomaru.

Forging of the sword
When Goshinki attacks a village at the behest of Naraku, he encounters Inuyasha and the group. In the process of dueling with Inuyasha, Goshinki is able to predict all of Inuyasha's moves due to his telepathic powers. Finally Goshinki seizes Tessaiga using his fangs, the two are deadlocked in a struggle to free the sword. For the tremendous amount of pressure applied to the sword, it is broken in half, with many smaller fragments. Inuyasha is knocked unconscious for a brief while, but he storms back in his transformed demon form and slices Goshinki into pieces.

Nevertheless, the feat of grasping the Tessaiga with his fangs and able to apply enough pressure to break it is mighty indeed for a demon. Sesshomaru arrives on the scene and he senses the events that took place. He brings the intact head of Goshinki to the evil sword smith Kaijinbo, who was an apprentice of Totosai. Sesshomaru tells Kaijinbo of how the fangs of this demon had enough power to break the Tessaiga, the prized masterpiece of his former teacher whom he now despises, and requests him to craft a sword out of the fangs of this demon. Kaijinbo reasons that he cannot do so because the bones are dead and will not forge a great weapon. Sesshomaru, upon hearing this, draws the Tenseiga and revived the demon's head, its eyes gleam with evil.

When Jaken visits Kaijinbo's hut afterwards, seeking to know if the sword has been completed. Jaken stumbles upon a possessed Kaijinbo, who has been completely overtaken by the sword's demonic aura. Kaijinbo kills Jaken with the sword and sets out to take revenge on Inuyasha. (Later, Sesshomaru revives Jaken with his Tenseiga.)

Demonic aura defeated
The sword bore the hatred of Goshinki, who is determined to kill Inuyasha for killing him. Upon meeting Inuyasha, he declares that this sword is the Tokijin, made from the fangs of the demon Goshinki. However, Kaijinbo is a sword smith, not a warrior, and the powers of Goshinki overwhelmed him. Kaijinbo's body could not hold up against such strong forces of the Tokijin, and his body is obliterated. The sword is left standing in the ground, radiating demonic aura.

After reviving Jakken and learning what happened in the hut, Sesshomaru traced Kaijinbo to where he died and finds that InuYasha's group as well as Totosai are attempting to destroy the sword unsuccessfully. He sees the Tokijin, but Totosai warns him not to touch the sword for even he would be possessed by its power. Sesshomaru does not heed his warnings and pulls the sword from the ground, instantly subduing the demonic aura with his own power.

He then orders Inuyasha to draw the Tessaiga and fight with him. Using Tokijin, he is able to dislodge it from Inuyasha's grasp and witnesses his transformation into a full yõkai. Before he can fully transform, Totosai and the group intervene, ending the battle before it became ugly. Sesshomaru notes that Inuyasha's demon form made him tremble.

Pre-Sesshomaru
While in the hands of Kaijinbo; Tokijin exhibited a series of powers, abilities, and attributes which altered (or were never again witnessed) after being claimed by Sesshomaru. Among these, all demonstrated in the anime's 44th episode Kaijinbo's Evil Sword, were:
 * Needle-like Kenatsu: (the only such pre-Sesshomaru ability which is seen, albeit temporarily, after the daiyoukai took possession of the sword).
 * Perpetual aura: exudes a purplish-pink plasma, controlling anyone not powerful enough to overwhelm it.
 * Teleportation: Tokijin could convert its wielder into pure red energy, then swiftly teleport the user along the ground, while slicing through anything in its pathway
 * Telepathic revelation: Tokijin could see through deceit and offer its wielder psychic information on his intended victim.
 * Re-vitalization: By emanating its aura in a circular pulse, Tokijin could revitalize a badly-wounded wielder such that said user could then continue fighting despite the presence of the injury.

Post-Sesshomaru
After Sesshomaru takes control of Tokijin; it first left a green trail wherever it was swung, then it was used to fire an attack of pinkish purple and green energy which shot golden needle like attacks. The sword evolved to release blue energy waves that were clearly of superior might to anything Kaijinbo managed to generate with the blade. And finally (in the movies only) through Sesshomaru’s total mastery of the sword, Tokijin was able to manifest the physically destructive aspect of Sesshomaru's Sōryūha, which is sufficient to overpower even Inuyasha's Bakuryūha.

It is interesting to note that Tokijin could potentially be the most powerful weapon in the Inuyasha series. It fires hate energy at the opponent. The more hatred the user has, the stronger its power will be (though there is however evidence that Tokijin's kenatsu attack is not fueled by hatred alone). ("citation needed") In Sesshomaru's battle with Moryomaru, when Moryomaru insulted Kagura, Sesshomaru grew angry and attacked Moryomaru with the Tokijin. A massive blast was formed, causing far more damage than a regular attack. Tokijin's sword energy was so powerful that it was able to shatter Kongosoha spears, something no demon has ever done due to Kongoseki's status as the hardest material in the world. This is reflected in Moryomaru's half oblitered face and broken shoulder armour.

Limitations and Destruction
Tokijin is later broken (in the manga) when it was used against Moryomaru, who had absorbed Meioujuu's armor-shell. Angered by Moryomaru's insult to the demise of Kagura, Sesshomaru ignored the signs of the impending breakage of the sword and forced it to crack open the amour-shell. Due to the incredible stress applied to Tokijin, the sword ultimately broke. It's ironic when one considers the circumstances behind the birth and death of Tokijin. When the fangs of Goshinki broke the Tessaiga, it lead to Goshinki's death and the birth of Tokijin. Unlike Tessaiga, it was not broken because the adversary applied too much force on it; it was broken because Sesshomaru exerted too much energy on it.

Special Attacks
*Kenatsu: Translated as Sword Pressure, it is Tokijin's ability to cut and harm enemies without physical contact. In the beginning, it takes the form of a rain of needle-like energy which deals moderate damage to foes. Later, as Sesshomaru fully masters the sword, he releases it as a blue wave of energy which completely disintegrates the adversary. The strength of this attack depends on how it is unleashed by Sesshomaru. Usually it shoots beams of blue light, and when Sesshomaru utilizes its full potential it comes out in the form of parallel blue trails of energy similar to how Inuyasha’s Kaze no Kizu is released. Amazingly, one Kenatsu is seen as being able to cut Inuyasha’s Kaze no Kizu attack, unleashed by his Tessaiga, in half mainly because of the yõkai levels of the users’ of the respective swords. *Sōryūha (Dragon Strike): (Movies only) It seems that this technique is unique to Sesshomaru when he uses the Tokijin or Tenseiga since he executed it three times in the third movie, and twice in the fourth movie. In the third movie when Sōryūha is unleashed, thick arcs of blue lightning stab the earth and carry their destructive force to Sesshomaru's opponent. In the fourth movie it is worth noting that the energy released by Sōryūha resolves into the shape of a dragon right before destroying the enemy (in keeping with the attack's name). This attack never appeared in the manga. Since the attack was performed by both Tokijin and Tenseiga in the third movie, there is some speculation as to whether the attack is just an output of Sesshomaru's demonic energy. Interestingly enough, like the Tessaiga-- Tokijin seems to possess the ability to adjust to particular attacks and energies: when Sesshomaru first utilized Sōryūha, Tokijin's blade would often short-circuit due to it being "only an oni's fang" and thus unaccustomed to the massive amount of yoki channeled through its blade. However, by the time of the fourth movie; the sword seemed capable of being a conduit for the attack with no ensuing refractory period.

Tōkijin