Sango (珊瑚, "Coral") was the only teenage female yōkai taijiya from her village.[2] Before being destroyed, the village of demon slayers consisted of humans that had mastered the techniques of yōkai extermination and frequently helped others remove yōkai from their villages. She lived in the village with her younger brother Kohaku and their father, the head of the village.
History[]
Sango lived in the village of demon slayers with her father, the village leader, and her younger brother Kohaku. The status of her mother was unknown. Her demon cat, Kirara, grew up with the family and became very close to the siblings. They learned to fight well together, and developed a strong bond. Sango was taught from a very young age in the ways of demon slaying, and by the age of 16 was one of the best in her village. She was just 10 when she and her clan were called upon by Kuranosuke Takeda's father to slay a bear demon that was harassing his village. Her skill caught the eye of theyoung lord, and he vowed to one day marry her. Sango, unfamiliar to romance, reacted shyly to his advances.
During the story[]
When Sango made her first appearance, she slew a centipede demon that a village had called for the demon slayers to exterminate. She figured out after she had slain the demon that it had drawn on the power of a Sacred Jewel shard; she took the shard, along with some of the corpse, as payment. She went home and rested for her next mission. She talked to her brother, Kohaku, who was nervous about his first mission as a demon slayer. She told him not to worry, as their family and friends would be there to help and give him strength.
The village’s best slayers (including Sango and Kohaku) were summoned to a castle to slay a spider demon.
When they reached the castle, the demon possessed Kohaku and forced him to kill all the slayers except Sango, who was badly injured by her brother’s hand. Confused by her brother's behavior, she searched for the reason for his bizarre actions. Seeing spider webs attached to Kohaku and that the lord of the castle cast no shadow, she quickly realized that Kohaku was being controlled by the lord of the castle and tried to kill him. On the lord's orders, the guards of the castle then killed Kohaku and, seemingly, Sango as well. The young lord of the castle,Kagewaki Hitomi, then slayed his father. He explained that he felt that his father had been acting strange for some time, and revealed that the lord had been possessed by a demon. He ordered the slaughtered demon slayers to be buried in the garden. Sango pulled herself out of her grave, refusing to let herself die. Kagewaki noticed her and tended to her wounds.
Naraku, who was Kagewaki's advisor, came and reported to the young lord that the demon slayer village had been destroyed and all the villagers killed. He explained that the one who killed them was the hanyō, Inuyasha. Sango overheard this conversation, and ordered her weapons and armor to be returned to her, declaring that she would kill Inuyasha for murdering her family and friends. Naraku, as part of his plan, tricked her into attacking Inuyasha, and gave her a Sacred Jewel shard to prevent her from feeling pain. Sango soon located and attacked Inuyasha, but he was able to convince her that Naraku was lying.
When the plot failed, Naraku revived Kohaku in order to manipulate Sango's emotions, and attacked the rest of Inuyasha's group. Sango later joined Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippō, and Miroku on their quest to defeat Naraku and save her brother. Like the others, Sango vowed to destroy Naraku, although her primary goal was instead to rescue Kohaku from Naraku's influence and save his life.
Later life[]
After Naraku's death and Kohaku's rescue, Sango married Miroku and retired as a demon slayer to become a housewife. She soon became the mother of three children, first twin girls, followed three years later by a son. However, she briefly emerged from retirement to help fight Ne no Kubi alongside her friends, ironically leaving the otherwise quite active demon slayer Kohaku to babysit her children.[3]
Personality[]
Because she grew up and worked as a demon slayer, Sango had a strong sense of responsibility along with a brave heart. On the other hand, she had feminine emotions, weaknesses, and many human aspects. Consequently, her personality wavered depending on her feelings. Although she was a compassionate person, she displayed a bit more of a no-nonsense attitude than Kagome.
Sango took great pride in being a demon slayer. Being independent and tough by nature, she did not like people helping her. Sango relied on her advanced fighting skills, never letting an enemy escape once she had her sights on it. She fought aggressively and confronted every enemy bravely. She showed no mercy, and had a very strong sense of obligation towards fulfilling her duties. Sango's fighting will was very strong, and once a fire was lit under her, it was not easily doused. Even if, for example, she was seriously injured, she would continue to advance towards her enemy until she defeated it. She fearlessly battled enemies with no regard for her own life. This was seen when she thought Inuyasha had murdered her family and village; even though she was on the brink of death, she fought valiantly.
Sango had great selfless love towards her younger brother Kohaku. She gave her cowardly brother Kohaku encouragement and continuously showed support towards her brother's decisions. Even when Kohaku was under the influence of Naraku, her unconditional love for him never wavered. She remained positive, believing that someday the real Kohaku would come back to her. In the end, despite going through many trials and errors, her hopes were realized. Sango's love for her brother was seen many times throughout the series. For example, she shielded him from being shot by arrows right after he killed her father and fellow slayers. It was also shown when Naraku attempted to manipulate her into killing her brother at his castle; she refused, loving her brother more than her own life. When Kohaku's Sacred Jewel shard was taken out, Sango was incredibly grief-stricken, sobbing for his loss. Consequently, she was extremely grateful when Kikyō saved her brother's life, despite once hating her.
All of Sango's demon slayer comrades were killed, and her only relative, Kohaku, was under the control of Naraku. After all this tragedy, Sango was consumed with loneliness and despair, resolving to do everything alone and trusting no one. Thankfully, her sadness was healed by the gentleness and kindness of Kagome and her newfound friends. Sango developed a deep sense of fondness and gratitude towards her companions as time passed, because of how they stood by her (even when she betrayed them to save her brother), and gave her hope that Kohaku could still be saved. Since then, Sango's loyalty and devotion towards her closest friends was seen time and time again, feeling protective towards all of them. She finally felt a sense of happiness since the misery she had gone through because of Naraku.
Sango thought each matter through calmly and grasped situations logically. Her words and actions were efficient and accurate, and she always came up with quick solutions. However, once she came to a certain conclusion, she would not doubt or rethink it. One of her faults was dashing into things recklessly. Sango showed great intelligence in battle. In addition to the knowledge of her ancestors, she had experience battling numerous demons. She knew how to dominate a battle by finding a demon's weak points based on their characteristics. Sango always felt love for her brother, responsibility as a sister, and feelings of guilt for her companions. She was usually calm, but when it came to Kohaku she could be distracted and was quick to become emotional. While Kohaku was under control of Naraku, these mixed feelings sometimes manifested themselves as rage towards his actions. Due to her various emotions concerning Kohaku, she had at one point decided to kill her brother and then herself so she could take responsibility for his actions. She couldn't bear to see Kohaku, her kind and fainthearted brother, kill innocent people because of Naraku's evil intentions, knowing that the real Kohaku would never be able to do such things, stating that it "would go against his very soul." She felt responsibility, a brutal love, and gentleness towards him as his sister.
As time passed, Sango developed affection for and eventually fell in love with her companion Miroku. This was ironic, since she believed in pure love and held a great deal of disdain and disrespect towards perverts like the monk. Every time she saw him womanizing, she was consumed by jealousy and anger towards his shameless flirting. However, this was in part to irritation towards herself for not being able to confess her feelings to him, resulting in a conflicted heart. Being unfamiliar to romance, Sango had trouble dealing with such love and affection towards another person, which proved to be a struggle throughout her relationship with Miroku. This ended when he finally revealed his true feelings to her, making her overjoyed. When he proposed marriage and a potential family life together, she tearfully accepted without hesitation. Though Sango genuinely loved Miroku, she was often furious with his behavior for different reasons. Sango hated Miroku's lecherous aspects, which was often directed at herself and other women since she believed that he was showing little respect towards her as a woman. It was likely that this aspect of herself followed her into her marriage with Miroku, though she was likely more tolerable of it than before.
Trivia[]
- Sango will become a guest star in Tino's Adventures of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and other Weekenders/Scooby-Doo crossovers.
Gallery[]
