Volume 3

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The Inuyasha Narrative, Part 3: The Bone Eater's Well
	Translation provided by: Robby Stine of Kanabits

A Means of Time Travel

I’d used the idea of time travel once before (in 1983’s one-shot Fire Tripper), so I knew I had to do something distinctly different this time. I felt the way I’d drawn the moment of arrival in the Sengoku era, as far as the layout and panel divisions go, was done in the best way possible. Trying to do things in a new “best way” proved to be difficult, and it took a lot out of me.

The heroine in Fire Tripper gets caught in a gas explosion, and that’s the catalyst for her time travel back to the Sengoku era. So how should it happen in Inuyasha? I was completely lost. At first, I thought of having her enter a tunnel, walking straight into the past. I also considered having her walking through a door, though the moment of surprise when first arriving in the past would be too hard to capture that way. But then I thought that horizontal movement wasn’t right. Vertical was best, and if that was the case, it had to be a well. That was my thought process.

The Fear of Falling into a Well

One of the reasons I chose a well is because the idea of getting dragged into one is terrifying. Without a doubt. Going back to the door idea, you’d never open one without a reason to do so, right? Opening a door is an active, conscious decision. Well, okay, I suppose if you were being chased by something you might open the nearest door without thinking much about it. But anyway, if you are pulled into a well and fall in, that is passive, something out of your control. Looking back on it now, it really was the best choice. You fall into the Bone Eater’s Well, and that vertical movement creates a simple means for a time tunnel. And the first time Kagome falls in, Mistress Centipede is there as well, signaling something is definitely wrong. The scene needed to be frightening, and I think I managed to pull it off.

The fact that wells have been around since time long ago is also important. There is a universality there. You’d never doubt that they were around 500 years ago. Actually, after Inuyasha finished up, I traveled around, visiting places like Miyakojima Island to see ancient wells. Do you know Mitsui Club in Tokyo? There’s a well there that’s been around since the Heian era. It’s fascinating.

The Sky as a Symbol of Hope

At the very end of the story, there’s that scene where we peek into the well and can see the sky. That well, which had been an image of fear, has been transformed into a symbol of hope. A hope for a better tomorrow. It’s nice, isn’t it?

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