Tsubaki

is the one and only dark priestess in the InuYasha series. She is also the arch rival of Kikyo.

History
In her youth, Tsubaki was a gifted priestess, her talents were magnificent and she progressed really quickly in her training. Tsubaki was seen as a high class priestess who was shown to have respect from other priestesses, even Kikyo, however, she saw Kikyo as a rival as Kikyo's spiritual powers rival hers Not knowing Kikiyo's powers had far surrpassed her's.

When Kikyo was given the Sacred Jewel to guard, Tsubaki was jealous of Kikyo, being given such an important job. Tsubaki confronted her master to inquire as why Kikyo was given the Sacred Jewel to protect and not her, but Tsubaki's master didn't say anything. Tsubaki stormed off, leaving her master behind feeling sad for his disciple. It can be assumed that the reason why Tsubaki's master didn't tell Tsubaki why she was given the jewel is because he didn't want to upset her, due to her heart not being pure.

Tsubaki later confronted Kikyo in a forest and attempting to cast a curse on her, however, Kikyo used her bow to block the curse and send it flying back at Tsubaki which gave her a scar on her right eye. This caused Tsubaki to hunger for revenge on Kikyo seeing her as a mortal enemy ever since. Somewhere between the past events and current events, Tsubaki made a deal with a demon and sold her soul to retain her youth and beauty.

In the Story
When Tsubaki encountered Kagome Higurashi (Kikyo's reincarnation), she took every opportunity she could to get her revenge, thus, making her a victim to Naraku's manipulation. She is given an almost complete Shikon no Tama.

Tsubaki places a curse on Kagome and during her battle with Inuyasha, she threatens Inuyasha with Kagome's life, until Kagome attacks her with her sacred arrow, because of this Tsubaki begins to focus her attack on Kagome.

During battle, Tsubaki was underestimating Kagome's skill and taunts that her skills do not compare to those of Kikyo. In the end, Tsubaki was defeated by Kagome's spiritual power. She underestimated her ability and her curse was inflicted back at her just like what happened 50 years ago. In the manga, she isn't seen again.

In the anime however, she appears, and was able to escape to the shrine where she used to train. Tsubaki tricked the two priestess trainees into helping her fight Inuyasha, while she plans to awaken the sealed demon. Kagura then appears and claims to take back the Sacred Jewel, but Tsubaki refuses to part with it. Kagura then tells her how to effectively use the Sacred Jewel.

Tsubaki unlocked the seal that trapped the ogre demon in the Forbidden Tower, and to increase her power, absorbs the ogre. When InuYasha and his group arrived, she transforms into a half-ogre form and attacks InuYasha and the rest, however, in the end she was defeated by Inuyasha's Backlash Wave. During her attempt to use the Sacred Jewel, a Demon Wasp emerges out her eye and takes the Sacred Jewel, thus taking her spiritual powers along with the Shikon no Tama. Tsubaki's appearance begins to return into her actual age. In her last breath, she regrets trusting Naraku, underestimating and losing to Inuyasha, and she turns into dust as she shouts that she was the most powerful priestess.

Relationships

 * Tsubaki hated Kikyo and saw her as a rival. Tsubaki hated her so much to the point she wanted her to die and wanted her afterlife to die too. This conflict can be seen as a one-sided conflict, as Kikyo didn't expresses any anger towards her and was seen feeling sympathy for her when she died.


 * Due to Kagome being the reincarnation of Kikyo, Tsubaki despises Kagome and attempts to kill her just like how she tried to kill Kikyo, however, despite the hatred she seemed to respect her power as in her last dying breathe, she said she regretted underestiming Kagome's ability.

Powers and Abilities
As a Priestess, Tsubaki had a range of Spiritual powers and she was shown to be quite a powerful priestess in her youth. She was shown to have a high level of spiritual power when she easily broke the numbers of seals that was placed to trap the Ogre Demon created by Sages before her.


 * Shikigami - Tsubaki's proficiency in black magic comes in the form of summoning a demon puppet which comes in the form of a serpent-like creature capable of cursing even the most pure of essences, such as tainting the Shikon Jewel and Kagome.
 * Sutra Magic - Tsubaki was seen to be able to use sutra.
 * Spiritual Power - Tsubaki's spiritual powers had once made her on par with her rival, Kikyo. However it had been diminished significantly when her Shikigami was reflected back at her.
 * Demon summoning - At the height of her black priestess power, Tsubaki had the ability to harbor a slew of demons in her cursed eye, all bound by her whims.

Manga vs. Anime

 * In the anime, it was said that the reason why Kikyo lost her powers when she fell in love with InuYasha (which wasn't mention in the manga) is because she placed a curse on Kikyo.

Trivia

 * Tsubaki is the first and only dark priestess shown in InuYasha
 * Sharon Alexander, who plays Tsubaki in the English Dubbed version of Inuyasha, also plays Kanta