Kaede

"It's been fifty years since that day... Inuyasha is still sealed to the Tree of Life. Inuyasha is as he was then. At that time, sister knew her life was over. Then why did she choose to use a sealing arrow and not a purifying arrow? Why did she seal Inuyasha to the tree which transcends time, the Tree of Life? And why... although he hated my sister for sealing him onto the tree, Inuyasha's face still looks so peaceful? I still don't get it... I wonder if a day will come when I will fully understand...?"

- Kaede contemplating her confusion on her sister and Inuyasha's circumstances.

was a priestess who lived in a village near the Bone-Eater's Well. She was the first to encounter Kagome and she often provides important advice and background information to Inuyasha's group to assist in their journey; she was Kikyō's younger sister.

History
As Kikyō's younger sister, Kaede would assist her with various tasks such as gathering herbs or holding her arrows. Kaede also travels with Kikyō to a priest's shrine to learn to be a priestess, and there she and Kikyō met the dark priestess Tsubaki for the first time.

Sometime after this, Mistress Centipede tried to kidnap Kaede as a bargaining chip to get the Shikon no Tama from Kikyō, but Inuyasha saved her. He brushed off his heroic deed by saying he wanted the Shikon no Tama for himself, but in reality, he had grown to care for Kikyō. After Kikyō fell in love with Inuyasha, Kaede and Inuyasha were hinted to have gotten close, as Kikyō instructed Kaede not to tell Inuyasha about Onigumi because he would get jealous.

Kaede loses her right eye after an attack on Kaede's Village. Kaede had tried to shoot a demon that was about to attack Kikyō, but missed. The demon then went to attack Kaede, but Kikyō shot it in time. The arrow failed to purify the demon's jaki, resulting in an explosion that rendered Kaede permanently blind in the right eye. In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyō's death, suggesting that the wound occurs when Inuyasha attacks the village to steal the Shikon no Tama; supplementary information states that she "lost her elder sister and her eye in an incident fifty years ago." The anime shows the incident occurring when Kikyō shot an arrow at a demon near Kaede—the attack wounded Kaede's right eye and left it blind. Her parents died when she was very young and Kikyō was her only family.

During the Story
After Kikyō's death, Kaede becomes a strong priestess in her own right and defends the village against demons. When Kagome Higurashi arrives, Kaede recognizes her as the reincarnation of her sister. When Kagome frees Inuyasha, Kaede places the "Beads of Subjugation" onto him to give Kagome the power to control him with a spoken word. Kaede is well-respected and held in high regard by the villagers and the members of Inuyasha's group, whom she often advises about demons and other spiritual anomalies. Though Inuyasha is easily annoyed with her, he listens to her when necessary and doesn't hesitate to protect her from a threat. Later on in the series, Kaede took on a running gag where people would usually mistake her as a demon and not a priestess, due to her old age.

The Final Act
During Kikyō's final death, Kaede sees soul collectors flying around her village as she sees the spirit of Kikyō who came to bid her a farewell; using the last of her strength, Kikyō finally bids her sister a farewell saying sorry for causing her pain. Three years later, Rin lives with her in the village to become accustomed to living alongside other humans; Kaede is also training Kagome to become a full priestess.

Hanyō no Yashahime
Kaede continues to teach Kagome to strengthen her spiritual powers from time to time, as well as her skills in healing. She had witnessed Sesshōmaru suddenly return and leave with his newborn half-demon twin daughters because of Kirinmaru and Zero. One of Sesshōmaru's daughters, a 10 year-old Setsuna returned to her village to live with her 4 years ago, but didn't stay long.

As Sesshōmaru's other daughter, Towa returns from the modern era, she meets Moroha, whom she quickly recognized as Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter.

Personality
As seen, Kaede is a kind priestess who tends to people all over the village. Although a patient person, Kaede can sometimes be very serious and aggressive. Being the sister of a priestess, Kaede adopts many similar personalities and characteristics from her sister, often calling Kikyō her idol.

As Kaede states in Yashahime, she has seen so much death in the Sengoku jidai, that she no longer has any great emotional concern if someone is alive; though she still cares for others who need her care. Though this may have to do with her age, as she has reached her 8th decade of life, a rarity for her era.

Physical description
Kaede bore a very striking resemblance to her sister Kikyō in her youth. In her old age, her long hair which she keeps tied behind in a long ponytail has grayed and her facial appearance has altered slightly, as her face dons various aged creases and wrinkles, fair skin, and dark brown eyes. Kaede is of short stature with a surprisingly slim build for her age, however, has a slightly bigger build that has accumulated with old age.

Outfit
Kaede's clothing is identical to Kikyō's. She is normally seen wearing the traditional dress of a miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day. Kaede 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 in place. Kaede wears bright red hakama, which includes the small board at the lower back. On her feet, Kaede wears common tabi (socks with a split for the big toe) and rice straw sandals. During a battle prior to Kikyō's death, Kaede lost an eye. She now wears an iron tsuba (sword guard) as an eye-patch.

In her youth, Kaede had long black hair that was tied into a loose ponytail by a white ribbon with bangs hanging above her forehead, and wore an orange kimono with black markings, a brown obi, and straw rice sandals.

Powers & Abilities

 * Great Spiritual Power: Kaede is a priestess of considerable power, and she has many spiritual abilities that she uses for combat and healing. Although not nearly as powerful as Kikyō, Kaede possesses very high spiritual powers, being able to sense demonic auras and other supernatural occurrences. Kaede, later on, taught these same skills and abilities to Kagome (Kikyō's reincarnation) who later became powerful in their use herself.
 * Sutra Magic: Kaede is capable of using sutra spells to ward off demons; she was once shown doing this in tandem with Miroku.
 * Spiritual Barrier: Kaede is shown to be capable of conjuring a large barrier around her village to prevent anything from attacking its inhabitants. Creating the barrier, however, seems to have weakened her considerably and places strain on her elderly body.
 * Subjugation spell: In the manga and the anime series, it was Kaede who cast the subjugation spell on Inuyasha, which is activated by Kagome whenever she tells Inuyasha to "sit."
 * Spiritual Awareness: Just like Kikyō and Kagome, Kaede can see things that are normally invisible to normal people, such as the supernaturally imperceptible hair of Yura - something notable as Kaede doesn't have the use of her right eye anymore. She can also identify people she previously knew even after their spirits embody a new incarnation or after their exterior presentation has otherwise totally changed. For example, upon meeting Kagome for the first time, Kaede correctly identified her as the reincarnation of her long-dead sister Kikyō. And she was able to sense Onigumo's presence when she met Naraku for the first time, calling the half-demon by the name of his human self before Naraku even presented himself; Kikyō would later do the same when meeting Naraku for the first time after her resurrection.
 * Peak Human Endurance: When she was but a child, Kaede was able to endure having her right eye lost to a demon and recovered enough to rejoin the battle for the Shikon Jewel. Later on in her advanced age, Kaede would endure an attack that incapacitated her right arm by Yura but still capable of fighting.
 * Master Archer: Kaede wields a bow and arrow with much skill and accuracy, being able to shoot a target with precision despite her missing eye. Due to her old age, her accuracy has somewhat decreased. This skill most likely made her very formidable in her prime considering that she was personally tutored by her sister, Kikyō, who is well known for being more powerful than any average priestess.
 * High Intellect: Even when Kaede was only ten years old, she displayed great knowledge and insight on life in the feudal era. After aging fifty years, Kaede became heavily experienced and intellectual, and as such many of the villagers and members of Inuyasha's group would often come to her for advice whenever they faced great obstacles. This ranged from matters concerning the quest for the Shikon Jewel shards or emotional problems that their immaturity created.

Weapons

 * Longbow and Arrows: Being trained in the similar ways of the priestess as her older sister, Kikyō, Kaede utilizes a bow and arrow as her main weapons.
 * Sealing Arrow: Though not having actually used it herself, Kikyō had taught her the arrow of sealing should there be a demon her spiritual powers can't defeat but only seal away. At one point, se had used the very same one her elder sister had shot to seal Root Head to draw it to the surface.
 * Beads of Subjugation: Kaede was the one who placed the beads of subjugation on Inuyasha when he attempted to take the Shikon Jewel after killing Mistress Centipede. She took the beads from her attire and magically had it transport itself onto Inuyasha's neck and had Kagome utter the words of subjugation.

Weaknesses

 * Emotions: According to Tsubaki, when a priestess abandons all human emotion (e.g. love) her true power emerges.
 * Mortality: Despite her spiritual powers, Kaede is still human and shared many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, blood loss, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.).
 * Overexertion: Exerting one's spiritual powers beyond a certain point can cause extreme physical exhaustion and, if taken to the extreme, death.
 * Spiritual Powers: Despite having great spiritual power herself, Kaede still proved susceptible to the effects of spiritual power. For example, Kaede could be kept at bay through spirit shields.

Relationships
Kikyō was her only family left after her parents and idolized her sister because of her bravery. After Kikyō's death, Kaede became a miko, and held that title for 50 years. After Kikyō's resurrection, she didn't recognize Kaede initially, though they met a few times later. When Kikyō's soul finally passed on, she apologized to Kaede for the mistakes she made.
 * Kikyō

When Inuyasha was first freed from Kikyō's spell by Kagome, he did not recognize Kaede because she had aged 50 years, though he remembered who she was when she explained everything. Inuyasha was often rude to Kaede, referring to her as an "old hag" on numerous occasions. Despite Inuyasha's rudeness, he did care for Kaede; he rushed over to hear when he smelled her blood after she was attacked by Urasue.
 * Inuyasha

Kaede was the first person that Kagome encountered when she first was dragged into the Feudal Era. Kagome cares deeply for her and vice-versa; Kaede's village was where Kagome and her friends normally were, so Kaede and Kagome spent a lot of time together. At the end of the series, after Kagome decided to live in the Feudal Era permanently, Kaede began teaching her how to become a true priestess.
 * Kagome Higurashi

As a monk both he and Kaede have connections to sensing demon auras.
 * Miroku


 * Sesshōmaru

She met Inuyasha's half older brother Sesshōmaru as he brought Kohaku to the village that he and the others told her about Magatsuhi, and leave Rin and Jaken behind to take care of Kohaku. After the final battle with Naraku, she advised him to let Rin learn how to live amongst humans first so she can choose to resume traveling with him or live in a human village.

At the side of the elderly Kaede, there is often a helper of the village called Rikichi, which helps in matters that concern the welfare of the village, including the extermination of demons of low rank. Rikichi has great respect towards the priestess Kaede and on one occasion defends her to an attack.
 * Rikichi


 * Moroha

Despite the fact that Kaede did not raise Moroha as a baby, Kaede specially cares for her whenever she visits her home. Kaede sees Kagome in Moroha, while she is growing.

Enemies

 * Naraku

Kaede met Naraku as a severely wounded bandit named Onigumo 50 years prior when she was still young. Kikyō had found the wounded bandit and decided to nurse him out of pity inside a cave. Kaede later helps and assist Kikyō in healing Onigumo despite not liking him. Kaede initially wanted to tell Inuyasha about Onigumo but was told not to by Kikyō since she thought Inuyasha would become jealous. After learning that Naraku once was Onigumo, she shared the information to the resurrected Kikyō who was longing for the truth about her death.

Trivia

 * Kaede shares her name with a character from Urusei Yatsura, another series by Rumiko Takahashi.
 * Her seiyū, Hisako Kyōda, voiced several characters from Takahashi's previous series. They include Yatsude from Urusei Yatsura, Sawa Kannagi from Mermaid Saga, Yukari Godai from Maison Ikkoku, Sentaro Daimonji's Grandmother from Ranma ½, and Kayoko from the short story Extra-Large Size Happiness as part of the Rumiko Takahashi's anthology series .
 * In the English dub, Kaede speaks with a faux "old english" accent, frequently using "Ye" to refer to other people. She is the only person in the series to speak in such a way.
 * In Kagome's dream (when Tsubaki placed a curse on her), Kaede appeared in the modern world buying a gift from Kagome's grandpa for her Grandson Shippō. In the dream sequence, Kaede is shown as having both of her eyes.
 * During the early episodes of the English dub, Kaede would speak with a Medieval dialect. This was subsequently dropped as the series continued.
 * She is renamed as "Geumsamae" in the Korean dub.
 * She was featured as a young woman in .
 * Kaede long-lived for someone in her Era, having reached 80

Hanyō no Yashahime

 * Episode 1 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 2 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 3 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 4 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 5 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 7 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 15 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 20 (Hanyō no Yashahime)
 * Episode 21 (Hanyō no Yashahime)