In the world of Inuyasha, a young girl named Kagome finds herself traveling between the modern era to feudal Japan, where she encounters a world of yokai and other creatures of Japanese mythology. Some are friendly and others are outright heroic. That said, plenty of these creatures aren't always nice...they can sometimes get outright horrifying.

Today, we are looking at some of the scariest monsters and villains of the Inuyasha universe and ranking the top 10. Also, as nothing is scarier than a good twist, please be aware that spoilers abound!

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10 Saint Hakushin

They say you either die a hero or live to become a villain. Saint Hakushin was a Buddhist priest who somehow did both. After offering himself as a human sacrifice and being buried alive, he realized he wasn't too happy about his followers praying for his death. Through a deal with Naraku, he survived as a living corpse so he could erect a barrier around Mount Hakurei.

Ultimately, Hakushin was more tragic than outright evil. During an encounter with another less-than-dead character, the priestess Kikyo, he realized he didn't hate his followers as much as he really just didn't want to die when he did, eventually allowing him to move on.

9 Zushinezumi

If dogs and wolves can have yokai, it stands to reason that even pests like rats can have them. Zushinezumi hungers for human bones, so he commands his rat minions to attack human villages and eat the flesh of their victims, saving the bones for him.

The idea of sending armies of rats to kill hordes of victims can be unnerving, but Zushinezumi is admittedly less of a threat than most of the monsters on this list, as  Hakudōshi and Kohaku made short work of him.

8 Urasue

In anime, the art of giving characters huge eyes is usually meant to make them look cute. Urasue is the exception to this rule.

This oni witch stole Kikyo's remains in the hopes of resurrecting her as her minion and help her collect the Sacred Jewel. Unfortunately, she needed a soul and so she kidnapped Kagome, plotting to steal her soul with magical herbs...

In the end, however, let's just say Urasue ended up destroyed by her own creation. Kikyo was not the first of her undead children, some of whom survived by feeding on human souls or some wanting to enslave the world with armies of the living dead. So, in a way, she was still a threat after her death.

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7 Tsukumo no Gama

The Tsukumo no Gama, a toad-like yokai, might not be a big hulking monster, but he is the epitome of creepy. Having possessed a young lord, transforming him into a toad-like creature and using bandages to conceal his true identity, he kidnaps maidens and imprisons them in egg-like prisons so that he could feed on their souls. Seemingly unbeatable, feeding on souls can immediately heal him of any damage.

In one of his creepiest scenes, he seems to regain his senses and begs Inuyasha into killing his host body. When the other characters stop him, the yokai takes back control, implying the whole thing was a trick to kill the real lord. In the end, Kagome manages to vanquish him with the help of some hairspray, meaning he probably would have succeeded if it weren't for some convenient time-traveling.

6 Mistress Centipede

Mistress Centipede was the yokai that started it all...the first yokai Kagome encountered from the feudal era. One of the most powerful yokai of the era, she managed to obtain the Sacred Jewel. Because of this, even death had no power over her... she could regenerate as long as she stayed close to the jewel.

She was willing to get dirty to get close to her goal, even biting into Kagome's stomach to steal the jewel. Eventually, she is defeated by removing the jewel from her body, ultimately keeping her dead for good.

5 The Soul Piper

There are few fates scarier than death, but eternal damnation is one of them. The Soul Piper initially appears as a friendly yokai who help dead children move on to the afterlife. However, it's only harmless when its eyes are closed. When it's eyes are opened, however, it will force a soul to relive its death and then drag it into hell.

To be fair, the Soul Piper only seems willing to open its eyes when a spirit it's following has turned to the dark side. But once it opens its eyes, it seems to not care who it's dragging off to Hell. Kagome almost learned this the hard way when it tried to help the spirit of a little girl and almost was sent to Hell too.

Unlike most of the spirits in the series, this monster appears in the modern era, meaning that it will always exist as a threat.

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4 The Bone Demon

The Bone Demon often takes the form of a beautiful young woman, often claiming to be a princess in danger, but is really a sinister yokai with the power to rip bones out of her victim's bodies. Her main goal is to collect bones for her weak father, an aged bone demon.

She's also in the habit of leaving a trail of hones for people to find her as a trap. Once she has you in her clutches, she can also animate her victim's bones as an attack. Ultimately, she is vanquished by her one weakness: sunlight.

3 The Salamander Demon

This yokai was sealed away in a painting that became a popular site of worship for women who lost their husbands to war. The salamander soon took influence over the women by infesting them with parasitic eggs.

Her main goal was to regenerate her skin. To do this, she used the women to lure men to her shrine so that she could steal their skin, ultimately flaying them alive. During her time, she even managed to put Sango under her control. What makes her even creepier is that her female victims still appear to be under her influence even after she is initially defeated.

2 The Noh Mask

Also known as the "flesh-eating mask," this cursed object took over a woman's face before she had the chance to exorcise it. After taking over her body, the cursed object used its host body to bite people's heads off. Its main goal is to create a new body for itself...eventually turning it into a living blob of human corpses.

The anime adaptation of the story toned down some of the gorier elements of the original manga story. The mask initially possesses a wooden figure instead of a human woman and its body looks more like black liquid than human remains. But still, a mask that kills and eats people is still pretty terrifying.

1 Naraku

With a character who is literally named after Hell itself, you know he's bad business. Originally a human bandit who fused with a yokai horde to become the villain he is today, the main antagonist of the story.

For most of the series, he resembles a feudal lord whose face he stole, but he can also assume more horrifying spider-like forms. And let's be honest, that baboon pelt he sometimes wears is plenty creepy already.

Behind a lot of conflict within the story, it's not even clear what his actual motivation is...he seems evil for the sake of it. In fact, he's so bad he literally has to be wished out of existence to be vanquished once and for all.

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