Hinata Hyuga Overview

Hyuga means "toward the sun" and is the name of a city in the Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan. "Hinata", her given name, is a pun, as it is another way to read this kanji and means "a sunny place".

Hinata generally ranks among the top ten in Shonen Jump's character popularity polls.

Background Information

Hinata is the oldest daughter and heiress to the Hyuga clan. Along with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka, she is part of Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8. As a member of the Hyuga clan, she possesses the Byakugan, which gives her an almost 360° field of vision, and specializes in the Gentle Fist fighting style, which allows her to damage her opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with even a slight tap. While Hinata is technically the heiress to the Hyuga clan, her father deemed her a lost cause in her early teens – apparently of even lesser skill than her younger sister, Hanabi, and not even comparable to her cousin Neji – and thus left her in the care of Kurenai when she became Hinata's sensei, stating, "Do what you want with her. She is of no use to me."

In the beginning, Hinata lacked self-confidence and gave up easily. Though she stayed at the training grounds longer than anyone else and worked hard to improve her skills, she would give up when faced with any real competition. In an attempt to change herself, Hinata entered the Chunin exam, where she finally finds the will to never give up. She finds inspiration in Naruto, her academy student crush, whose constant determination and confidence she admires. Hinata's strong affections for Naruto seem to be a rather glaring exception, as no other introduced girl of around Naruto's age has displayed anything of the sort for him.
“ Humans are separated by differences they are born with but I want to believe that people can change and wanted to express that. Hinata's theme is 'by believing in yourself, you can become a new person.' ”

—Masashi Kishimoto

Hinata seems to share similarities with a somewhat established stereotype (or archetype, depending on how one looks at it) of typical manga/anime girls - characterized by cuteness to the point of adorability (or an eerie beauty, as in the case of Rei Ayanami), introversion, dark hair, a fierce resolve to work harder, and a crush on the unaware main character. The "Sailor Hinata" incident is consistent with this, as the uncharacteristic encounter where the main character is shocked by a side of the character he hasn't seen before, often involving nudity, is a recurring theme as well. Compare Shinobu Maehara, Nodoka Miyazaki, and partly Ami Mizuno (who is, ironically, Sailor Mercury).

Hinata's hobby is pressing flowers. Her favorite foods are senzai (soft bean jam) and cinnamon rolls; her least favorite foods are crab and eel. Her favorite phrase is "self-confidence".