Confirming @artistefishâ âs comment, and Iâll break it down even further as to exactly how this happened (especially since I actually took a couple semesters of Japanese way back when and actually remember this lol):
1.) When writing Japanese using purely phonetic characters (either hiragana - used for native words - or katakana, which are used pretty much exactly like how we use italics, that is, to spell words of recent foreign i.e. non-Japanese origin, or for emphasis)âŠthe phonetic character for âtsuâ, when smaller than the surrounding characters, is used in Japanese to represent what linguists IIRC refer to as a âsyllable stopâ. Â
2.) In these cases, the âtsuâ sound is NOT pronounced; the symbol is merely there to denote the syllable stop (much like a âsilent eâ in English - which usually modifies the final vowel sound to be longer - isnât âpronouncedâ in its own right but indicates how the word as a whole should be pronounced).
3.) Normally these âtsuâ characters are like, half-size, so you can differentiate them easily from a regular âtsuâ that would have been actually pronounced as âtsuâ. This is how MOST fonts render them (and this is important for our purposes in this discussion).
4.) When these words with a âsmall tsuâ are spelled out in European lettering systems (a practice called âromanizationâ), they are usually rendered as a doubling of the next consonant letter. E.g. âRoppongiâ would be spelled with: ro, small tsu, po, n, gi. (It also is pronounced a very particular way that would be distinct from âRopongiâ - which is what the same word without a syllable stop would be- but itâsâŠvery hard for me to describe in pure text without examples, oops, so just trust me that there is a clear and audible difference)
5.) Anyway. Hence, âTessaigaâ would be the romanized (European-letters) transliteration of what is spelled in hiragana or katakana characters as âte, smaller tsu, sa, i, gaâ. But wait, shouldnât we, youâre asking, be able to tell which it is just by looking at the original text? About thatâŠ
6.) Now, yaâll know what kanji are, right? For those who might not: they are Japanese ideographic characters (characters that carry a meaning beyond just phonetic pronunciation), and they are used in conjunction with phonetic systems like hiragana. In Japanese sentences, things like grammatical particles and verb conjugations are usually in phonetics, but nouns, particularly in text intended for teens or adults (who would have, by that point, learned to recognize many kanji), are often made partially or even fully of kanji characters. This is partly so that you can tell what the root words/core meaning is to some extent, which helps differentiate it, especially since, traditionally, Japanese is NOT written with any spaces (which in pure phonetics can get confusing on occasion! Kanji helps with with both conveying underlying meaning of words, and differentiating not only between homophones, but also between where nouns begin and end, making the whole text clearer, so long as you can actually read them).Â
7.) NOW on this front - unfortunately, kanji often have more than one possible pronunciation! Commonplace ones used as a frequent root word, like âsunâ for example, can easily have half a dozen possible ways to say it, and a great number of common ones have at least one âon" (Chinese-based) and one âkunâ (native Japanese-based) pronunciation, which can differ significantly from each other.
So, wait, if kanji can have multiple possible pronunciations, how do you know how to say them, especially if, as is the case with Inuyashaâs sword, the word is technically made up?
8.) The answer is something called furigana, which is a set of phonetic characters - generally from the hiragana system - that are written above (in the case of horizontal writing) or next to (in the case of vertical writing, such as the columns used in the dialogue balloons of most manga) the kanji portion of a word that the writer thinks the reader needs guidance on knowing how to pronounce.Â
9.) And here we get to the rub: the good news is, the made-up names for weapons and attacks in the manga version of Inuyasha, did originally indeed come with furigana to point towards the appropriate pronunciation of their kanji charactersâŠ
10.)âŠbut the bad news is, the font used for the furigana in the original Japanese version of the manga doesnât apparently allow for âhalf-sizeâ charactersâŠso when they spell it out, you canât actually tell itâs MEANT to be a smaller âtsuâ; you can only tell itâs a âtsuâ! Uh oh.
11.) Long story short, the translators for the English version of the manga apparently didnât know this about the furigana font, or just had to guess (forget which)âŠand so they rendered it as âTeTSUsaigaâ. With a pronounced - rather than syllable stop - âtsuâ
12.) Apparently when you see it on the placards in the original Japanese version of the anime though, itâs clearer and obviously differentiated as âTessaigaâ - with the syllable stop - which is also how the Japanese actors pronounced it (probably because their scripts would have had it written correctly, which in turn would be ensured by simply asking Rumiko Takahashi which it was supposed to be). Double oops!
13.) Since Viz (which had rights to both anime AND manga) had already rendered it as âTetsusaigaâ in the manga translation though, they decided to keep it consistent and stick with the original transliteration. So in the English dub of the anime, itâs pronounced roughly like âTetsusaigaâ would be (a short âuâ in Japanese is normally devoiced, i.e. barely noticeable/dropped, unless youâre slowing down a lot saying it; so âTetsusaigaâ would be said like âTetsâaiga, basically); and, again, to keep it consistent, itâs rendered in subtitles/captions/English title cards by Viz, as âTetsusaigaâ as well.
14.) Thus MANY people who rely on the Viz translations - whether it be dub, sub, or manga translation - got used to it being âTetsusaigaâ and would assume thatâs the ârealâ or official spelling, which is why itâs REALLY commonplace in the fandom.
15.) That said, it is technically the official spelling - but ONLY in Vizâs English translations. If youâre consistently using spellings from there (e.g. Kikyo instead of Kikyou or other transliteration styles), IMO itâs reasonable enough to use it, or at least, not âwrongâ per se; itâs kinda like referring to Sailor Moon as, well, âSailor Moonâ instead of âSera Muunâ, basically.Â
16.) That said, IF you are trying to be more accurate to how the Japanese version of the name SHOULD have by all other rights been transliterated/romanizedâŠthen it really should be âTessaigaâ. This is why when Iâm writing for Inu-Fiction or writing personal meta/comments/fanfic, I tend to use the âTessaigaâ spelling, myself; I can tolerate dropping a long o or whatnot (since English, my native language, doesnât usually differentiate between a long or short âoâ anyway), but it bugs me a bit when romanization isnât at least close to the original pronunciation :PÂ
Tldr thereâs a valid reason each camp prefers one or the other; I tend to feel Tessaiga is the ârealâ one, since itâs more accurate to the intended pronunciation in JapaneseâŠÂ but I try to not begrudge people for using the Official English Translation version either, since, well, it IS still in the official translations, and though originally an error/assumption, itâs used consistently in those translations, and not everybody is lucky enough to have two long-distant semesters of Japanese under their belt. ^^Â
My advice, in short, is theyâre technically EACH right for completely different reasons, depending on which logic youâd like to go withâŠso just pick which one you prefer and stick with it consistently. :)
As to the ins and outs of how the thing WORKSâŠahâŠhaaaa. IâŠdidnât get enough sleep last night to necessarily be coheren here XD Canon in this series tends to sometimes be convoluted as heck and potentially self-contradictory, ESPECIALLY with the lore. ButâŠ
While weâre at it, let me clarify something of note that might further help (or muddy, ha) the discussion: the original Japanese did NOT refer to anything relating to Inuyasha, his father, his brother, etc, as âdemonicâ or âdemonsâ.
What it called them, was âyoukaiâ (sometimes rendered âyokaiâ or at least one other way, depending on your favored transliteration system), which is a handy-dandy, super vague umbrella term for âmagical/mystical/mythical sort of creature/entity/whateverâ.
The problem the translators ran into here, is that there is NO direct equivalent in English for this word, or at least, none that is commonly used enough to sound familiar to the average reader/viewer and is non-awkward sounding (TECHNICALLY âsupernaturalsâ is actually correct, Iâve learned, per the dictionary; but by the same token, literally nobody I know has EVER used it)⊠so that presented kind of a problem because they needed a blanket term to refer to all these VERY different magical beings with.
And fact is, in modern Western fantasy itâs not uncommon to have non-evil so-called âdemonsâ of various weird kinds, PARTICULARLY when stories feature themes of racism and pre-judging people based on where they come from (as Inuyasha ABSOLUTELY does, what with the whole half-youkai thing), so thatâs ultimately what they went with: âdemonsâ. Because well, what other option did they have? It sounds way better than âmonstersâ when talking about intelligent, sentient beings; it has fewer weird connotations than youâd get with âfairiesâ (which is probably the next nearest almost-blanket term in English that could really cover most of the same bases, at least in the context of the seriesâ lore); and again, even though âsupernaturalsâ is a real English word that means pretty much the same thing as âyoukaiâ⊠it just sounds odd as a plural noun form to most English speakers, who arenât used to seeing it (and, since itâs pretty obscure, possibly the translators didnât even know it was an option anyway!)Â
So⊠âdemonsâ it was, at the time.
BUT
Lore-wise, I think itâs still important to note it originally was its own thing, based on a VERY broad concept native to Japanese culture/language, which never would have implied, to a Japanese person, automatic evil or destruction; youkai in Japanese folklore are powerful or magical beings, so you donât generally try to tick them off if you can avoid it, but like..their morals are all over the map, and many of them are even honorable, or downright kind. (Heck, even foxes alone are all over the map: theyâre almost always trickster figures, sure, but sometimes they are malicious, sometimes theyâre just playfully mischievousâŠand sometimes theyâre outright punishing jerks or evil people, or rewarding good and kind people, such as the fox who was saved as a kit by a kindly old couple, and rewarded them years later by inviting them to its wedding as honored guests. Basically⊠just donât mess with youkai and especially kitsune, man, you literally never know what youâll get :P)
Right, so.
Because of this, we need to realize that when Inuyashaâs âdemon bloodâ takes overâŠitâs not referred to as explicitly âdemonicâ in the original language of the series. Itâs referred to, as a âyoukaiâ, or magical/mythical-being, side to him, that is sometimes hard to suppress and prone to taking over from his conscious, apparently more restrained mind.Â
Yes, âdemonicâ works weirdly well for this in CONTEXT, considering that for Inuyasha itâs usually pretty malicious, and seems to become more aggressive and bestial each time it comes outâŠbut man, I could headcanon all day about how that might not be its ânaturalâ state, and that years of repressed rage is really just bubbling to the surface (especially considering one of the few times we see it start to back down/calm down/pause in his destructive impulsesâŠis when Kagome, whom he has grown attached to, walks up to him, saying his name).
IâŠgottaâŠnot dwell on this or Iâll totally wind up ficcing it and I have way too much on my plate this month lol. But my point isâŠitâs not de facto evil or destructive, just because itâs what the English translations call âdemonicâ. His underlying magical-beast side isâŠwell, kind of a malicious beast. But itâs not, technically, actually âdemon bloodâ in Japanese, you know? The terms are vaguer than that, in the original.
Which, importantly I think, seems to leave a lot more room for complex interpretation of what it is that, for example, Tessaiga is even trying to suppress or keep in check in the first place - is it really keeping a lock-down on some sort of superpowered evil side? Or, is it just that his natural magic that he inherited from his father is so darn strong, that he canât consciously control it without channeling it through a weapon or something? Is it possible that the reason he has trouble controlling his âyoukai bloodâ has more to do with him being an inexperienced adolescent, or is there some weird underlying vicious side to the entire line of dog youkai that his father comes from? I mean, youkai CAN be evil, malicious and out-of-control destructive, sureâŠthey just arenât ALWAYS that way, and itâs not a bad idea to at least consider that fact.Â
So, unlike the English version there isnât an easily-implied interpretation there, is what Iâm saying. Thereâs a lot of leeway for headcanon, I think.
And yeah, because of all that above context, that means âyoukiâ or âyokiâ (again, both transliterations are valid depending on system) DOES NOT directly translate to âdemonic energyâ or âdemonic powerâ, which have evil or destructive connotations in English. The âkiâ part does refer to energy, but IIRC itâs a spiritual energy, basically life force?Â
So, âyoukiâ in the series is literally just the life force/internal energy/power of a youkai (or hanyou, âhalf-you(kai)â, in the case of Inuyasha and a few others).
Itâs interesting, I think, that thereâs a pretty clear distinction made between that energy, and the powerful spiritual energy controlled by characters like Kikyo, Kagome and Miroku, granted; which is ripe for headcanon territory. You could interpret it, if you really wanted to, as a specific type of magic maybe? But it might be appropriate to just consider it in terms of âhuman origin, vs not-humanâ (since, weird undead stuff aside, all the characters who are priest/priestess types with purifying abilities, at least start out as Human, with a presumably human soul; there are no non-human priests or priestesses that we know of, and I think thatâs worth noting)?Â
In which case, itâs possible that Tessaiga is, as one of its prerequisites, only able to be properly wielded if youâre highly magical in nature, but ânot (fully) humanâ?Â
But additionally, given that Tessaiga is SHOWN to have some element of their fatherâs spirit/will in it, and that it and Tenseiga have shown a degree of autonomy from their usersâŠI do headcanon Tessaiga just flat out didnât like Sesshomaru, or didnât want him to wield it at least, because it/Inu-papa didnât like how Sesshomaru quested for power for its own sake, or âbecause Iâm entitled to it as the eldest/pure-blooded sonâ; either motive is not one his father would have wanted to encourage, from what little we know of their father, because both are extremely, perhaps dangerously, egotistical and self-centered, and the power-hungry element of Sesshomaruâs early characterization is bad enough that he didnât find anything wrong with abusing/traumatizing his own younger brother.
ThatâsâŠnot someone you would WANT to have entrusted with a lot of power. That is a tyrant in the making. The man who would do such things to his own kin, is not someone who could be trusted with the lives of innocent strangers, either.
So, itâs possible the sword itself (or their father, through it) was actively choosing to cut him off because Sesshomaru was well on his way to becoming not just a daiyoukai (literally, âgreat/big youkaiâ), but a really MONSTROUS one, who if he had continued on that path, would have been very dangerous and destructive to have running around unchecked. Instead, heâs given the healing and life-saving sword, to encourage him to learn the value of life, to encourage him on the path of compassion and mercy instead of selfish, evil destruction. To shove him in the direction of peace, instead of war.Â
Which, if thatâs the caseâŠI donât exactly see it behaving for Naraku either :P But, who knows? The Shikon Jewel was pretty good at warping reality, including magical things that had sentience, so itâs possible it could have overrode some of that. Or at least, itâs certainly possible Naraku assumed it could, or hoped it would.Â
(âŠ.man I swear I just had like three separate plotbunnies from this discussion lol)Â
@tekka-wekka @fast-moon , any thoughts or corrections? I know the latter of you is more fluent in Japanese than I am by FAR, and both of you tend to have better memory for the lore of the series (and I havenât read/watched it in a bit, I think, which does not help lol).
