Lunar Month

He is a kitsune, (a youkai-fox) who tags along with Kagome and InuYasha after they defeat the Thunder Brothers. At first, Shippo tries to steal Kagome's shards of the Jewel of Four Souls (Shikon no Tama), needing them to become stronger so he can avenge his father's death at the hands of the Thunder Brothers. After InuYasha and Kagome hear Shippo's story, they help him fulfill his revenge and he becomes the first new member of the group. Shippo, unlike some youkai, has no problem with humans, but InuYasha and Shippo always tease each other while Kagome acts like katsumomo, a combination of mother and sister to Shippo. Though young and rather naive, he has a very good grasp of the emotions and motives of his companions, and has oddly accurate moments of insight. He wishes very much that Kagome and InuYasha would not fight, and when they do, he tries to convince InuYasha to apologize for whatever he did, resulting in a quick smack to the head. Shippo also has a strong liking for sweets and candy, as his favorite treats are the lollipops Kagome sometimes brings back for him.

As a kitsune, his specialty is trickery. He has fooled with InuYasha in particular on a few occasions, once abandoning him on the side of a road with his hands trapped beneath a stone with a sutra on it, which he is unable to touch, one act among several that have garnered InuYasha's mild resentment. Shippo's illusions aren't always complete and don't always last for very long, leaving Shippo to face trouble from the people or youkai he may be trying to deceive.

As of recent chapters, InuYasha's group come upon an inn which is being used by a group of kitsune in a sort of exam to test their skills at trickery and getting the better of others, and when Shippo arrives on the scene, he is immediately given the applicant number 77 by a leaf with the number 77 flying at and sticking to Shippo's head. When Shippo learns of the nature of the inn, he tries to evade InuYasha's usual harassment and in doing so gets him with his Spinning Top illusion, causing a slip of paper to descend from the sky, awarding him an increase in rank, to Upper Junior 8th Rank, 5 ranks up from the bottom out of the 30 available ranks. According to a couple of participating kitsune, it ordinarily takes 100 years of studying (apparently the art of trickery and deception) to reach Senior 1st Rank, but thanks to Shippo's successful illusionary attack on InuYasha (who counts as a youkai for the sake of the exam, and whose downfall at the hands of a participating kitsune awards him with a larger number of yet unexplained points than tricking say, a human) Shippo essentially begins the exam at Upper Junior 8th and later ends at Lower Senior 8th Rank, the next rank up from there. After Kagome goes back to her world he spent the time training in order to become a better fox demon, becoming in the end of the series, a upper senior 7th rank kitsune.

An umbrella term for all his magical ability

* Tsubushi Goma (Smashing Top): Illusionary magic using a small toy top that gives the appearance and presence of a very large top, often used to pin opponents to the ground.

* Wooden Snake: Seen in chapter 506 of the manga. Used "against" InuYasha. This materializes a large, segmented, toy snake that Shippo wields by grabbing on to its tail tip. Basically utilized in a similar manner to Renji Abarai's (of Bleach fame) Hihio Zabimaru, only with lesser distance and more of a practical joke than anything else.

* Bunshin (Divide): Using special happa (leaves), creates many illusionary clones of Shippo that distract the enemy.

* Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud): In episode 136, Shippo combines happa and a talisman given to him by the old woman exorcist (introduced in episode 85) to become invisible. Of course, like his other transformations, it doesn't last very long.

* Bakuraizutsu (Fire Bomb Attack): Used only twice. Once in the Togenkyo arc and again against the Zushi rats. Shippo unleashes multiple firecrackers on an enemy. The firecrackers don't inflict much damage, but the explosions are very loud and can confuse his foes.

* Weeping Mushrooms: Shippo scatters mushroom spores, which sprout into mushrooms that produce loud cries, which his allies can use to locate him.

* Other techniques shown were the ability to glide on a giant leaf (And use it as a parachute), and using a wooden rocking horse for transport.

Summons a ghostly-looking blue fire. Used mostly for defense but works as an effective attack against weak yōkai, and can neutralize enemy fire attacks.

Deceives the enemy by transforming into another creature, person or object. These transformations are often incomplete, his untransformed tail (in Japanese folklore, the kitsune are believed to have the greatest difficulty in shape-shifting their tails) usually gives him away, and the appearance usually can't be maintained for very long. He has transformed into Kagome at least four times (episodes 10, 20, 89 and once with Hachiemon in episode 135) (in VIZ, volume 7, he tries to calm InuYasha by turning into Kagome, InuYasha doesn't even notice the tail until Shippo/Kagome ask if InuYasha would like to sleep with Shippo/Kagome-giving him a decent sized bump), Koga (episode 37) and a woman (episode 129), although his tail was visible in all the transformations. He is also able to transform to a pink balloon-like shape with limited flying ability to carry one light person like Kagome. Shippo has also transformed into a spider (episode 13), thinking that InuYasha was afraid of spiders. In InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time, he transforms into a horse to carry Kaede. Near the beginning of the second move, it is seen that he turns into a large duck-like creature carrying Kagome (who comments on the incomplete transformation in which his ribbon is visible in which Shippo replies, "Give it a rest") in order to confront Naraku. Also in the same movie, he turns into a bow for Kagome (at her request), but he feels pain when she actually tried using him in battle. This originally occurred in episode 10 as Shippo's own idea (it was also oddly shaped: Kagome at first thought it was a snail).

Shippo's answer to the Kaze no Kizu. He learned this new attack while fighting a lizard youkai (episode 130). Shippo simply inflicts a painful but not deadly bite. This technique may release some of the youkai's energy every time it strikes, as Shippo says that he saw the Kaze no Kizu, but since he has so little it has no noticeable effect (the lizard was for the most part annoyed at him).