I’ve been seeing everyone sharing that InuYasha’s birthday is April 1st 1479.
Let me first explain how that is wrong.
In 1996, Kagome traveled 500 years in the past to 1496. 1496 InuYasha had already been pinned to the tree of ages for 50 years.. 1479 was during the time he was pinned to the tree. How was he born while under Kikyou’s spell?
Lets break down something easier to believe.
The series starts off in 1996 Tokyo Japan, Kagome goes down to the well making that 500 years off of 1996, which leaves us at 1496 in Feudal Japan - The Sengoku Jidai. InuYasha was sealed in 1446 when you remove the 50 years leaving “April 1st 1479″ Did I mention that’s something that someone posted on a publicly edited website for April Fools? DEBUNKED. And even more so as I continue on in this post. You’ll see why -
No where in the series, the manga, the novel, video games, and not even the Japanese Drama CD audios state any type of information in regards to InuYasha’s birth, the area, or event that had occured during it. Until we hatch open the movies which have the closest evidence for this and will help us become as accurate as possible to what InuYasha’s real date of birth is.
Looking towards the third installment of the InuYasha movies - “Swords of an Honorable Ruler” We finally get to see the beginning of InuYasha’s life. During this day it was snowing with a full moon lit area where InuYasha’s half brother Sesshoumaru and their father the Inu no Taishou are talking right before his exit to run in order to save Izayoi from Takemaru of Setsuna. With that we know that it takes place in Winter, and on a Full Moon.
In which even Takemaru of Setsuna says, and I quote directly:
“The night of a lunar eclipse. Excellent. It is the perfect time to slay a demon.”
During the viewing of the film we are granted with a few exchanged lines between Toutousai and Myouga in regards to InuYasha’s father Touga-Ou’s (Inu no Taishou) passing, stating it had happened 200 years ago. Taking off of what we have currently: 1496, and reducing it down to now to year 1296.
Now we have the following evidence in place, the starting year for the series 1996, years InuYasha was sealed onto the tree because this completely debunks the April 1st, 1479 - which was 1446. After that, makes it 1496, and the 200 years ago when Touga’s passing is 1296 we came closer to the most accurate answer for InuYasha’s date of birth.
I’ve compiled down this information from various Almanacs, which is an annual calendar containing important dates and statistical information such as astronomical data and tide tables. Meaning there was so much in terms of lunar cycle to sift through before I could get even far enough as to establish a definitive date. The one benefit here that we have, is that Japan is a small island and lunar eclipses only happen so often.
Narrowing it down to a handful of dates that the moon was visible enough to even see, let alone during a celestial even such as a lunar eclipse. We were left with the most realistic date given that it’s winter in the area of the years around 1296, and on a full moon.
Left us with December 4th 1294.
I also was happy to stumble upon that someone else by the name of M-Skirvin came to the same answer that I did that totally confirms it as the most reliable date to being InuYasha’s real date of birth!
“When we look to the fourth movie, “Swords of an Honorable Ruler”, we observe that InuYasha is born on a snowy night (winter!) during a total lunar eclipse. In fact, Takemaru of Setsuna actually mentions that the night of an eclipse was a fit night to slay a youkai.
Since the manga, the novel, and the TV anime don’t contain any age or dates for him, these are the first two clues we have to work with. That, and the year Kagome went down the well, the dates of the Sengoku Jidai, and the number of years InuYasha spent sealed unconscious to a tree. Later in the movie, Toutousai and Myouga are discussing the death of Inu no Taisho with Saya the sword sheath. In that discussion, it is revealed that the date of that night was 200 years ago.
That gives us an approximate year of:
1296.
Now I know this is not going to be spot-on accurate, given that it’s a cartoon for heaven’s sake, but why not be as accurate as you possibly can be? So I went to Brother Guy Consolmagno, one of six Vatican astronomers (yes, THAT Vatican!) and since he’s currently travelling the world being an astronomer, he referred my question to Dan Davis, his co-author (on Turn Left At Orion):
To quote Dan Davis, Professor of Geosciences:
There was only one total lunar eclipse during the period 1295-1297, on May 30 1295. It was not visible from Japan. The only eclipses visible from Japan during that time were two penumbrals (unlikely to be noticed by laymen), a hopeless 8% umbral event on May 18 1296, and a 78% partial on November 23 1295 (the least worst candidate during the 1295-1297 interval).
The only total eclipses visible in Japan near that time period were;
February 14, 1291 (cut off by moonset)
August 11 1291 (entirely visible but far too early)
March 29 1298 (beginning before moonrise)
September 21 1298 (entirely visible)
January 14 1302 (cut off by moonset)
July 10 1302 (ending at moonset)
and the best candidate – December 4 1294. That eclipse missed the stated time period by just a few weeks and occurred in early evening.
The result: (on the modern calendar)= December 4 1294
On the old Japanese calendar: 1294-11-09 (Senkachi, Shimotsuki 9, 1294)“
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