miroku

Miroku (弥勒, Miroku^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series InuYasha.

Introduction

He is a hōshi (法師, ほうし, a Buddhist monk), who possesses a rather unusual curse. His right hand has a slowly expanding Kazāna (風穴, かざあな, "wind void"; "Wind Tunnel" in the English dub) that sucks in anything nearby if it's not kept covered by a cloth and strand of mala beads. This curse was placed on Miroku's grandfather by Naraku and passed down to him. Eventually, the curse will cause him to be sucked in as well, unless Naraku is defeated.

Miroku meets InuYasha and his friends after walking away from a town after cheating a rich man there out of some money. While bathing in a hot spring, he sees Kagome naked, also taking a bath. He discovers she has shards of the Shikon no Tama (The Jewel of the Four Souls) while staring at her breasts and takes them and her bike with the help of his tanuki (raccoon dog spirit) friend, Hachi. InuYasha and Kagome catch up to him and InuYasha attacks him, but Miroku uses his Kazāna in return. Kagome, realizing that the monk will not harm humans, stands in its path and causes Miroku to quickly cover it with his prayer beads. Miroku explains his situation, and InuYasha reluctantly allows him to join them.

Despite his good looks and temperament, Miroku's worst vice (and best running joke) is lechery, specifically shameless flattery and occasional groping with varying subtlety. Miroku must have a child in order to have an heir by the time he may be killed by the curse, and thus finds it perfectly fine to offer the chance to many young women to bear his child. This later puts some strain on his blossoming relationship (which eventually culminates in a marriage proposal) with Sango, often ruining small romantic moods between them.

In fact, it was lechery that got Miroku's bloodline into trouble in the first place. His grandfather was fooled into "caring" for a young woman, who turned out to be Naraku in disguise. It was then that he received the Kazāna curse. Despite knowing this, Miroku continues his ways. As a ironic twist of fate, one episode of the anime lands Miroku in a similar situation where he woos a young woman who turns into an insectoid demon. His Kazāna suffers a dangerous rip before he destroys the demon, forcing him to seek medical attention.

Nonetheless, the monk mellows out as time goes on and proves to be a very valuable ally. He is very knowledgeable about yōkai, and is the secondary fighter of the team after InuYasha. Though quite possibly the most intelligent of the group, he often uses humor or lechery to lighten serious situations, especially if anyone is worried about him. Despite his lighthearted and lecherous exterior, it is clear he has an inner darkness (Shippō has been heard to comment that he 'never bought that holy man routine') and worries over his curse and the resulting death sentence that hangs over his head.

Name

• The character is named for the predicted Buddha of the future, Maitreya Bodhisattva, who is called "Miroku" in Japanese.

Friends

• InuYasha - InuYasha may not like how the monk approaches life (women, villagers, opportunity...), but he does respect the monk for his battle skills, knowledge of yōkai, and other worldly skills. They have saved each other's lives several times, and both know that they can implicitly trust each other to help if they are in trouble.
• Kagome Higurashi - When they first meet, Miroku asks her to bear his child, and promptly gropes her. But once Sango joins the team, Miroku loses interest in Kagome and no longer pursues her. However he enjoys her mother's home cooking, is respectful of her newfound combat skills, and often sides with her during her arguments with InuYasha.
• Shippō - Like InuYasha the little kitsune disapproves of the monk's methods, but also recognizes a good ally. Miroku and Shippo rarely interact directly, but when they do, it is as friends and comrades.
• Hachiemon - Miroku's partner-in-crime before Miroku met InuYasha and friends. This tanuki jūjin would act as a yōkai and the sneaky monk would pretend to drive him off. The hōshi would then collect from the yōkai's "victims." Hachi is very loyal to Miroku, and their friendship is very solid. Due to Hachi's friendly nature, he is very polite and congenial to others.

Miroku and Sango

When Miroku and Sango first meet, Miroku restrains himself out of sympathy. But once she recovers, he becomes his lecherous self again and pursues her for a cheap thrill. He frequently gropes her when the opportunity arises (generally while injured), though she usually slaps or punches him for it. Despite this, Sango displays varying degrees of jealousy when Miroku pays attenton to other women, which is one of the series' main sources of humor.

As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Miroku is falling deeply in love with Sango but since he is unable to come forth with those feelings, he hides it behind inappropriate groping and double entendres. Since Miroku is "technically" a Buddhist priest, Sango usually addresses Miroku with the respectful term houshi-sama (houshi means Buddhist priest, and -sama is a respectful honorific), even when he acts disrespectfully.

Despite their "cat and mouse" relationship Sango and Miroku actually make an excellent pair in battle, and whenever the group splits up it's usually split between InuYasha-Kagome and Sango-Miroku. Curiously enough, with all his groping and innuendo, Miroku doesn't ask Sango to bear his child (as he does with every woman he meets) until she demonstrates jealousy over his asking other women and finally brings the subject to his attention. Surprised, Miroku naturally asked the question, and Sango gave him a typical response.

In episode 118, Miroku, for the first time, confesses out loud that Sango is the woman he loves and he cannot live without her, protecting her with his Wind Tunnel even with the presence of the Saimyōshō.

Near the end of the anime series (Episode #132) Miroku saves Sango from a poisoned demon egg which was causing her to repeatedly attack him. Unfortunately to do so, Miroku was required to defeat Sango in combat, causing physical injury to her. Guilty over his actions (his neglegence led to her possession, he was required to hurt her to save her) Miroku gets Sango alone with him and asks her forgivness. She replies that it wasn't his fault since she let her guard down. Mustering his courage, Miroku then lets his heart out to Sango and tells her that she's the only woman he's ever loved. He then promptly proposes marriage to Sango (also asking her to have at least ten children with him), and she tearfully accepts. However, she follows up her "Yes" with the request that he stop asking other girls to "bear his child". His failure to directly answer her receives a dirty look from her, but nothing else.

In the third movie, he also says the following line to Sango:"...besides, what's the point of living with this cursed hand...when I can't even use it to protect the woman I love?"

As of the fourth film, Miroku and Sango are still engaged to be married.

Demonic Power

Kazāna (Japanese: 風穴, Hiragana: かざあな, English: Wind Tunnel) Acts as a mini-black hole that can suck anything in. Miroku's grandfather was cursed by Naraku with the void in his right hand, and it has passed on to his father and now him. As time passes the hole grows in size, and thus increases in power. If Naraku is not destroyed in time, Miroku will be drawn in sharing the fate of his father and grandfather. One advantage of this curse is that it gives Miroku a deadly weapon which puts him on level ground with hordes of yōkai, as there are many enemies throughout the series that can't be destroyed by any of his friends and thus he must use his Wind Tunnel to suck them in.

There are two main weaknesses of this attack; if he absorbs something with demonic poison (such as Naraku's insects known as the Saimyosho, or cursed zombies, or anything with a tainted aura such as the water from the god Numawatari) the poison will be spread to Miroku. Because of his holy powers Miroku has a strong resistance to demonic poisons but too much of it can kill him; the other weakness is that if some sharp object such as a knife is sucked into the hole and manages to pierce a side of the hole, then this injury must be repaired otherwise the hole will begin to grow at a much faster rate and thus eventually kill him sooner than his time.

During chapter 448 of the manga, Miroku attempted to use the Kazaana on the merged Naraku and Mouryoumaru, but absorbed the Fuyouheki in their place, thus allowing Naraku/Mouryoumaru's youki to be detected once more. However, he also absorbed a large amount of shouki (miasma); though he was purified by Kikyo, the shouki had cut wounds deep into his body. Now, continued use of the Kazaana will increase these wounds as well, until they reach his heart and kill him.

Holy Powers

• Super Speed: In short bursts, Miroku can run swiftly enough to keep pace with InuYasha; even if carrying extra weight (i.e., another person) on his back. Whether this speed is granted by spell or by innate ability is unclear.
• Spell Scrolls (Fuda (札, Fuda^?)): Can be used to paralyze yōkai and create barriers. Most are thrown and then bind to the yōkai. See also: O-fuda
• Invisibility: Miroku can mask objects (both living and inanimate) from the eyes of evildoers, by going into a state of intense meditation.
• Force Field (Kekkai (結界, Kekkai^?)): With the assistance of his staff, Miroku can create and temporarily sustain small protective force fields of reasonable strength.
• Holy Staff: Miroku's staff, known as a Shakujo, is a wooden staff with a circular golden charm on the top. The charm is a circle with a pattern through the center of spheres and double crescents. On each side of the circle, there are three thin gold rings. It is effective in destroying yokai due to its holy properties. His grandfather, Miatsu, originally wielded it when he fought Naraku. This staff was able to stand up to the original Tessaiga, indicating that it is a very powerful weapon on a similar level to the sword. This is most likely because his grandfather, who was very powerful, endowed it with his spiritual powers, or perhaps even forged it.

Trivia

• Although the reference to the Kazana is always to his right hand, the Kazana is in Miroku's left hand throughout Viz's English version of the manga due to the method in which they print it. To make the manga read from left to right, the manga images are simply 'flopped,' reversing the images. As a result, the kazaana is on the wrong hand.
• He bears a striking resemblance to Dr.Tofu Ono of Ranma 1/2, another series created by Rumiko Takahashi.

Voice Actor

• Japanese Seiyū: Kouji Tsujitani
• English Voice Actor: Kirby Morrow
• Brazilian Voice Actor: Fábio Lucindo
• Spanish Voice Actor: Gabriel Gama
• Hungarian Voice Actor: Markovics Tamás