Ahh, where to begin.  This should be made as short and comprehensive as possible, but the little tidbits are what really make Inuyasha special and unique.  Even though it is set in such a mystical atmosphere, Rumiko Takahashi (the series' writer, and illustrator) has given Inuyasha elements that can touch viewers young and old, male and female.

History of The Sengoku Era

Inuyasha in a Nutshell

At any rate, the best place to start is with a little bit of historical background that was written for the manga version by Julie Davis, the editor of Inuyasha.  The following is quoted straight from the intro and is the property of Ms. Davis.

A Little History:

The Sengoku Jidai

Inuyasha takes place in the Sengoku Jidai, approximately 1482-1558, also called the "Warlord Era," or "Era of the Warring States."  The time period got its name from the constant civil wars that took place throughout Japan's 15th and 16th centuries.  The reasons for these conflicts were mostly economic.  Feudal overlords, or daimyo, became increasingly powerful and wealthy, while the ruling shogun and his central government weakened.  Regional daimyo fought amongst themselves for control of the land and its resources.  Average working folk were mostly concerned with keeping their heads down and not ending up in the middle of another great battlefield.  It was an age of great battles, powerful samurai and mysterious ninja.  With this as a backdrop, its not hard to see why so much Japanese fiction takes place around this time.  Many of Akira Kurosawa's films, Stan Sakai's comic Usagi Yojimbo (based loosely on the tales of Miyomoto Musashi), Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's samurai classic Lone Wolf and Cub and many others are set in this time period.

    In a 2001 interview with Animerica magazine, Takahashi gave her reason for setting the story of Inuyasha during the Sengoku Jidai as because it was "relatively easier to draw out a ghost story from that time period...In the Sengoku Era, there was war, and lots of people died."

    Additionally, the subtitle for the Inuyasha anime series, Sengoku O-Togi Zôshi, is a reference to a specific kind of popular pulp stories written during this tumultuous period.

Julie Davis

Editor, Inuyasha

Thanks Julie, I couldn't have said it better myself!

Inuyasha in a Nutshell

Guy (Inuyasha, half dog-demon, half human) meets girl (Kikyo, high priestess). Guy looses girl due to misunderstanding perpetrated by other demon (Naraku) who wants powerful jewel that girl protects.  Girl shoots magic arrow and pins guy to tree.  Girl dies, has powerful jewel burnt with her body to keep other demons from having it.  50 years pass.  Girl reincarnates as new girl in 1997 (Kagome, 15 years old, average) with the powerful jewel in her body (somehow).

You still with me?  Good.  It gets better.

Girl (Kagome) gets pulled down a dry  well that is a portal between the two times (Sengoku Era and Present) in order to get jewel in girl's body that the girl didn't even know she had.  Girl defeats demon.  Girl sees guy pinned to tree with arrow.  Girl frees guy.  Jewel comes out of girl's body eventually and gets shattered into many pieces (no one knows how many).  Guy and girl eventually end up working together with others they pick up along the way to put the jewel back together and keep other demon (Naraku) along with other baddies (demon and human as well) from getting their nasty paws on it.

WAY more to it than that, but you get the idea.