Kikyō

Kikyo (桔梗, Kikyō Kanji Meaning "Bellflower") was a Miko (巫女, lit. "Shrine Maiden") from a small Japanese village during the Sengoku Jidai period. During her life, she was a calm and reserved priestess who rigorously defended the village from yōkai who would otherwise wreak havoc on the tiny community.

Summary
During their youth, Kikyo and her younger sister Kaede attended Yōkai Taijiya (lit. demon exterminators), a school for priestesses. There, she met Tsubaki, who would later become a dark priestess. Kikyo's great spiritual power and purity became well known, and thus the Jewel of Four Souls (四魂の玉, Shikon no Tama) was entrusted to her, much to Tsubaki's dismay. It became Kikyo's duty to spend her life guarding the Shikon no Tama, protecting it from the wicked humans and demons who sought it for their own selfish means. However, her duty as the jewel's protector also meant that she could not show any signs of weakness, lest demons or evil men took advantage of her.

Kikyo spent most of her time killing off demons who tried to steal the Jewel. However, the one demon that she refused to kill was InuYasha, because she sensed that he was only half demon, with an abornal life of solitude much like herself. She also tended to Onigumo, a paralyzed thief with terrible burn scars all over his body.

Later on, Kikyo confronts InuYasha and tells him about how she has to hide her real self in order to protect the jewel, and Inuyasha sympathized with her. Eventually, InuYasha and Kikyo fell in love. Sometime during this period, Tsubaki attempted to attack Kikyo, assuming that she was weaker after falling in love. However, Kikyo reflected the curse back to Tsubaki, and then ordered her to leave.

(Anime Only)

Kikyo and InuYasha sailed to an island that only appears 50 years, she was then attacks by an unknown demon and her DNA was stolen in the process.

Kikyo suggests using the jewel to turn InuYasha into a human, which InuYasha agrees to. Had that plan succeeded, the jewel would cease to exist, Kikyo would be relieved of her duty as the protector of the jewel, and she would be free to live as a normal human being with InuYasha. She promises to deliver the jewel to InuYasha on a certain day. However, the thief Onigumo, who desired both Kikyo and a corrupted Jewel, decided to use that day to gain control of both. He offers his body to a horde of demons, and the demon shape-shifter Naraku was born. Naraku, disguised as InuYasha, struck down Kikyo, and then attacked InuYasha as Kikyo. Kikyo, who thought that InuYasha had betrayed her, used the last of her powers to shoot a sealing arrow at InuYasha and pinned him to a tree, which effectively sealed him to the tree for 50 yrs, as he was left in a permanent sleep. She then order Kaede to burn her body with the Shikon Jewel. Unfortunately, because Kikyo was full of bitter hatred at the time of her death, the Shikon Jewel that was entrusted to her also became corrupted.

Resurrection

Fifty years later, an Oni Witch named Urasue stole Kikyo's ashes and graveyard soil to create a new body out of clay and bones. However, Urasue is disturbed to find out that the body she created will not completely animate without its soul. She quickly realizes that it is because her soul has already been reincarnated into another body, and that kagome's soul, being the reincarnation of Kikyo, is needed in order to completely animate Kikyo's clay body. When the lifeless body was infused with Kagome's soul, Kikyo was revived. Having yet to discover what truly happened fifty years before, her immediate priority was to kill InuYasha. She nearly succeeded in this task until Kagome's body began recalling their soul back to her own body, which effectively stopped Kikyo from completing this task. Kikyo managed to retain a part of her soul, and thus was able to escape into the mist, where she was pursued by InuYasha. Quickly thereafter, Kikyo fell off a nearby cliff, presumed dead by the group.

Kikyo is seen alive, residing in a small village while tending to the wounded and curing the sick. She is faced with an internal struggle with what she has become, not a living woman, nor a dead person, but the walking dead. She was loved by the children and the villagers respected her, however, a curious monk sensed something abnormal about the Priestess and intended to find out her true nature. As a means to sustain her clay body, she has to absorb the souls of deceased women. In order to achieve this, Kikyo makes use of her soul collectors, or the Shikigami. She was confronted by this monk when absorbing souls into her body. This monk tries to lay her soul to rest by attacking her with one of his spiritual demons, however, Kikyo uses her spiritual power to blast the demon to pieces. The monk is killed by a flying piece of the demons flesh that strikes him in the neck. Before he dies, the monk asks Kikyo why she continues to wander this earth as the walking dead. He tells her that time continues for the living, but it does not continue for the dead, thusly the dead do not belong in such a place, and such an existence is tragic. On many occasions, Kikyo has tried to bring Inuyasha with her to the underworld. On one occasion, she paralyzed kagome with her touch and bound her to a tree with her shikigami. Inuyasha arrived, but could not hear nor could he see kagome due to the fact that she was invisible. Kikyo tells Inuyasha that he must despise her for what she has become, refferring to herself as the walking dead. Inuyasha tells her that it is her spirit that he cares for, not what appearence she takes on, and kikyo talks inuyasha into coming with her to the underworld. Kikyo almost succeeds in her task to die with Inuyasha, however, kagome is able to reach inuyasha with her voice. Kikyo leaves the scene with her soul collectors, telling Inuyasha to remember the feel of her lips against his, for it was real.

Kikyo resides in a temple, healing the wounds of soldiers. When men from the palace ask Kikyo to heal their master's disease, Kikyo unwillingly accompanied them to the palace, only to discover a dark aura around the castle. Kikyo is disturbed to find that the master of this castle is already dead from the neck and down. As it turns out, the master of this castle is the man who once called himself Onigumo before he was born as Naraku. Kikyo tried to leave the palace, but couldn't and thus, Naraku erected a barrier that prevents her Shikigami from accessing it, which renders her powerless. Naraku set her up to battle Kagome, however, when Naraku gave her a soul attached with a tainted Shikon Jewel shard, she instantly purifies the jewel and strikes Naraku's puppet. When Kagome arrives, she is attacked by Kikyo, and loses custody of her shikon jewel shards all her jewel shards. Once Inuyasha arrives to save Kagome, she leaves while laughing at InuYasha, as he couldn't fight a woman he once and still loves. Kikyo went back to the palace, and breaks the barrier around it. she gave Naraku the shards and revealed to him that she knows that she's a half demon before she departs. Kikyo, now finally feel free from what she wasn't able to be before, states that once Naraku gains all the shards of the sacred jewel of four souls, she will purify him with the jewel and send his soul to the netherworld.

When Naraku confronts Kikyo again and threatens to kill her, she announces that he couldn't kill her, as Naraku still has the heart of Onigumo and Onigumo loved her with all his wicked heart. Due to this fact, Naraku sent a giant Shikigami to steal the souls that Kikyo uses in order to survive, however, Kikyo manages to escape and InuYasha manages to save her.

Throughout the story, Kikyo would always use Onigumo as an excuse for Naraku not willing to kill her face to face, however, when Naraku got rid of his heart, he confronts Kikyo and tries to kill her, but stopped after he finds that he is weaker without his heart.

Later, after a failed attempt by Naraku to kill her at Mt. Hakurei, she is seen with two Shikigami that have human form. They are named Kochou and Asuka and aid her in task that she can not perform due to the spread of miasma within her body. Kochou and Asuka assist kikyo by bringing kagome to a waterfall, where Kikyo's body lay submerged under the water. They tell kagome that she is the only one able to save Kikyo, and states that by rubbing some of the soil from Kikyo's grave site into her wounds, she will successfully save Kikyo. Kagome agrees to perform this task, and in doing so, witnesses in a dream the events that occurred between Inuyasha and Kikyo fifty years before. She passes out during the process of purifying the wounds Naraku inflicted upon Kikyo, but seemingly saves Kikyo by temporarily purifying the wounds in Kikyo's chest.

Later during the manga, the wounds that kagome tried to purify re-open, causing kikyo's body to slowly decay. Kikyo fuses the soul of midoriko, the powerful priestess who created the sacred jewel, into her own body to completely heal the wounds Naraku inflicted upon her back at mount hakurei. In doing so, she restores her strength and spiritual power so that she can defeat Naraku before she dies. Inuyasha arrives to witness the wounds in Kikyo's chest healing. Kikyo informs inuyasha that naraku can not be killed with his sword. She also informs him that the only way to completely destroy Naraku is by purifying his soul with the shikon no tama. Kohaku, willed to the scene by Midoriko's will, overhears what kikyo told inuyasha and decides to follow kikyo in order to aid Kikyo's plan to defeat Naraku.

Kikyo continues to travel in search of Naraku with the intent of purifying him along with the jewel. In order to complete this task, the jewel would have to be fully complete, and intends to use the jewel in kohaku's neck as a tactic to defeat Naraku. She allows Kohaku to travel by her side while keeping the jewel in kohaku's neck pure and unreachable to Naraku's grasp. They encounter koga, and kikyo attempts to fire her arrow at Koga's legs, however koga is able to escape completely unscaved. Kikyo tells Koga that her plan is to use the entire shikon no tama to defeat Naraku, however koga seems unaffected by her words. They later encounter Sango and kagome, while Miroku and Inuyasha battle Naraku. Miroku opens his wind tunnel and in doing so, sucks in an enormous amount of miasma. Miroku is near death, however kikyo is able to save him.

They encounter Naraku's spiderwebs during their travels together. He uses these spiderwebs as a way to contaminate Kikyo. However, kikyo has already realized Naraku's plan and remains under her own spiritual barrier. She attempts to save a child from the contaminated webs and in doing so, she contaminates herself. She places a barrier over Kohaku in order to protect him from Naraku's reach, however, due to the fact that she is entangled in Naraku's spiderwebs, her spiritual powers diminish drastically and the barrier over Kohaku is broken by one of Naraku's incarnations. She tells kagome, who has also been contaminated by Naraku's webs, that the only way to save her life is by acquiring the bow from mount azusa, but only if it is truly what she wishes. Kagome travels to mount azusa, where she is tested by an illusion cast upon her by the Spirit Guardian of mount azusa. After passing the test, kagome and Inuyasha return to find that Naraku has already captured Kikyo. The strong connection between Kagome and Kikyo is shown when Kagome is successfully able to tell what Kikyo is thinking, and follows her commands by shooting her with the bow and arrow she obtained from Mount azusa. Kikyo, shot by the bow from mount azusa, fires the arrow from her own body at Naraku. The jewel is purified before it enters Naraku's body, but Naraku successfully contaminates the shikon jewel before he leaves the scene, rendering kikyo completely powerless and now dying. The wounds Kikyo sustained from saving Miroku from naraku's miasma spread, and she lays motionless in the arms of Inuyasha for one final kiss before she dies and bids Inuyasha and his friends a final farewell with her soul.

Reincarnation as Kagome
Kagome Higurashi, the main protagonist of Inuyasha and a miko just like Kikyo, is the modern reincarnation of Kikyo's spirit. The Tree of Ages is in her backyard, as is the Bone-eater's Well, which becomes the portal between her time and the Sengoku period (Feudal Era of Japan) approximately 500 years ago. She is able to free Inuyasha from the tree to which he had been bound by Kikyo, has the power to purify the Shikon no Tama and fires sacred arrows from her bow.

She unwillingly helps revive Kikyo into human form when an ogress pulls out a small part of her soul, filled with the memories and quirks of Kikyo that still lingered inside Kagome.

Appearance


Kikyo is clearly wearing the tradional dress of a Miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day, except for the lack of the archaic slit-shoulder seam. She has pale white skin. Her hair is long, black, straight, and reaches pass her waist when let down. She also appears very tall (in her past life, young Kaede is about half her height).

Kikyo wears a white jacket with sode-kukuri (cords) through the sleeves and the open shoulders similar to Inuyasha's and Jaken's. Strings called muna-himo are attached to each lapel, and are tied in front to keep the garment closed.
 * Jacket

Kosode (literally: "little sleeve") were originally worn as underwear but by the Kamakura era, became accepted outer layer garments; more dressy with less sculpted sleeves. Kosode of the Heian and Kamakura Periods were always white. Kikyo's kosode would be very much like a modern Kendo or Naginata Keikogi, with the sleeve fitting somewhat closely like a modern loose shirt, and extending to slightly past the wrist.
 * Kosode

The slits in the side of the hakama show the white kosode, and the openings at the sleeves and shoulders of the hitoe (jacket) show it as well. This is a deliberate fashion effect.

Kikyo wears bright red hakama, which include the small board at the lower back.
 * Hakama

On her feet, Kikyo wears common tabi (socks) and rice straw sandals.
 * Tabi

Kikyo wears a red Obi, or belt, over the other garments.
 * Obi

Powers and Abilities
Kikyo carries a traditional red Saigu-Yumi (literally Priestess Bow) and a quiver of Hamaya ("evil-destroying arrow" or "demon-breaking arrow"). She has the ability to imbue each arrow with great spiritual power that has destroyed, disabled or sealed any Yokai or other evil to date.


 * Sacred Arrow: The sacred arrow is an arrow used by Priestesses like kikyo and kagome. It can easily break barriers, destroy spells, and obliterate demons when struck.
 * Purification Powers: These powers come in a variety of different forms when used by Kikyo. When Kikyo was ressurected, she used her purification powers to strike Urasue as well as Inuyasha with bolts of purification. These powers killed Urasue and injured Inuyasha during this occasion. On another occasion, when Kikyo and kagome were trapped alone in a cave together, Kikyo used these powers to create an orb of light from her hands in order to destroy insects that were attacking kagome.
 * Archery: Coming from an era of endless wars, kikyo has mastered the ability of archery. She can easily shoot enemies from long or short distances and has an uncanny ability to strike demons even from longs distances.
 * Sealing Arrow: The sacred arrow is an arrow that places an enemy under a spell of sleep for eternity. It's said that these arrows are meant to seal demons that are otherwise invincivle.


 * Spiritual Powers: Kikyo is able to erect barriers and perform several spells or enchantments that can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes. Likewise, Kikyo has the power to break seals, barriers, spells, detect jewel fragements of the shikon no tama, etc.
 * Mayose: The Mayose is a spell cast on a twig that can only be performed by a powerful priestess with great knowledge. The twig grows into a tree that reaches the clouds once it is enchanted with a special spiritual spell. It is used to lure and purify demons of a specified type when the demons climb to the top.


 * Kyudo: This ability was used on Tsubaki the dark priestess when Kikyo was still alive. She infuses her spiritual power into the bow, which will relfect any oncoming demonic energy back at the demon or person.


 * Shikigami: Kikyo controls Shikigami, a demon which collects soul for her to use. She is also able to create human like Shikigami that she uses to perform various tasks for her, which she used most when she hid herself. Another Shikigami kikyo created was St. Hijiri, who much like herself, carried imense spiritual power. She used St. Hijiri as a distraction when Naraku's miasma threatened her life.


 * Healer: Kikyo is a extremely skilled healer and is able to treat and save even those on the brink of death. She is able to see the beings from the underworld and can dispose of them with a single touch.