During the Warring States Era of Japan (circa 1548 - 1670) demons and magic prevailed beside man.  One such demon (or half - demon (hanyou) actually) is InuYasha.  The son of a human mother and a powerful dog-demon father, InuYasha is an outcast because he belongs to neither the human or the demon worlds.  He hears about the legendary Shikon No Tama (Jewel of Four Souls) that can grant any wish.  Wanting to be full demon, InuYasha sets out to get the jewel.  The jewel is guarded by the very powerful Shinto Priestess Kikyou and she manages to thwart his attempts.  Eventually the two form an uneasy trust, friendship and, even, love.  But it appears that the two betray each other, with InuYasha fatally wounding Kikyou and, with her last ounce of strength, Kikyou pins InuYasha to a tree with her sacred arrow, killing him.  Her dying wish is that the Shikon No Tama be burned with her body to avoid it falling into the wrong hands again.

 

Fast forward to modern Tokyo, Japan.  Kagome Higurashi is a typical school girl who lives on a sacred shrine.  The day of her 15th birthday finds her searching for her cat, Buyo, in the house of the hidden well on their grounds.  Suddenly, a centipede demon bursts through the well and takes Kagome with her - back to the Warring States Era!  Trying to escape the demon, Kagome inadvertantly "awakens" InuYasha from his enchanted sleep and frees him from the tree to save her.  Before he can kill the demon, the demon cuts Kagome open and releases the Shikon No Tama from her body.  After killing the demon, InuYasha tells Kagome he hates her because she looks and smells (he's part dog after all - with dog senses) like the woman who "killed" him.  It turns out that Kagome is the reincarnation of the Priestess Kikyou.Trying to get the jewel, InuYasha tries to "kill" Kagome.  Priestess Kaede (younger sister of Lady Kikyou but now much older since 50 years have passed since Kikyou's death) magically places a necklace around InuYasha'a neck, allowing Kagome to control him with just one word - SIT! which causes him to go slamming face first into the ground.  Soon after, an accident happens that shatters the Shikon No Tama into little pieces spread all over Japan.  Kaede tells Kagome and InuYasha need to work together to get the jewel whole again.

 

Along their journey many join their group.  First there's Shippou, the young fox (kitsune) demon (youkai),. Then along comes Miroku, the lecherous Buddhist monk (he's constantly feeling up women and asks every pretty maiden he meets to bear his child) who has a cursed right hand - his right hand has a hole in it - a wind tunnel (Kazana), capable of sucking up everything in it's path.  This was a curse from his grandfather's time, placed on his grandfather by a demon named Naraku.  If Naraku is not destroyed, the Kazana will eventually suck him up too, just as it did his father and grandfather.  Eventually, InuYasha learns that it was Naraku who made Kikyou and InuYasha believe that they had betrayed each other and it was Naraku who killed Kikyou.  Now InuYasha is out to avenge Kikyou's death.  Eventually, Sango, a demon slayer, joins the group.  Naraku had destroyed her family and village and was using her younger brother Kohaku as a puppet so she too wants to destroy Naraku.

 

Other characters include Sesshoumaru, InuYasha's full youkai half-brother, who hates InuYasha for having his father's blood in him and wants nothing more than to destroy InuYasha.  Sesshoumaru also covets the Tessaiga, the sword left to InuYasha by their father, which can slay a hundred demons in a single thrust.  Their father left Sesshoumaru the Tenseiga, a healing blade, which can bring 100 humans back from the dead.  Since Sesshoumaru desires power and hates humans he doesn't understand why he was left such a "useless" blade.

 

Then there's Jaken, Sesshoumaru's imp follower, Myouga, InuYasha'a flea retainer, Kouga, the wolf demon who is after Naraku because Naraku killed his bretheren, Kagura and Kanna, incarnations of Naraku (Naraku doesn't sully his own hands - he has others do his dirty work), Rin, a human child saved by Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga and now follows Sesshoumaru and Totosai, the demon swordsmith who forged Tessaiga and Tenseiga.

 

Also - early on, Kikyou (through black magic) is revived as a walking corpse, who requires the souls of dead girls to keep her false body moving.  This causes one of the 2 love triangles in the series.  InuYasha starts to have feelins for Kagome but won't admit it and then his old love shows up to complicate matters - plus Kouga, the wolf demon, declares his love for Kagome, which always sets InuYasha off on a jealous rage whenever Kouga shows up.  Ain't love grand?

 

Oh - and Kagome isn't stuck in the Feudal age - she can travel back and forth (and does) although she misses alot of school and has to deal with her grandfather making up excuses for her absences.  InuYasha can also travel through the well but no one else can.