Tessaiga (“S?Ó‰å, also known as Tetsusaiga) is a fictional sword in the anime and
manga series "Inuyasha," wielded by a
half-human, half-
demon (”¼—d, or hanyou) of the same name. The kanji, directly translated, means "iron-crushing fang."
In the
English adaptations of Inuyasha, Tessaiga is written Tetsusaiga (or Tetsaiga) due to an error in translation in the early days of the
manga when the tiny ‚Á (tsu) kana (which indicates a glottal stop, or a doubling of the consonant that follows it) was misread as a full-sized ‚Â (tsu) kana, altering the romanization and pronunciation of the word. Both Tetsusaiga and Tessaiga can come from the kanji; the proper spelling depends on how the name is pronounced. The proper romanization, however, is Tessaiga. By the time Viz, the company that translates the anime and
manga, had realized the error it was too late.