Shikon no Tama

The Jewel of the Four Souls (四魂の玉, Shikon no Tama), also known as the Sacred Jewel or Shikon Jewel, is a powerful marble-sized jewel which grants whoever possesses it with immense power. Shikon, is formed from the Japanese words, 'shi' meaning four, and 'kon' meaning soul. 四 (in Chinese writing system (ancestral to Japanese) means four (shi). 魂 (in Chinese writing system (as well as Japanese) means soul (kon). 玉 (in Chinese and Japanese) Jade or royal stone (tama). Making the Shikon no Tama.

In the series, only a few, (such as Kagome), can sense the presence, (or 'kehai'), of the jewel and its shards.

The jewel played a central part of the entire series.

The Four Souls
The four souls described are from the of Naohi (直霊): Aramitama (荒魂, Courage), Nigimitama (和魂, Friendship), Kushimitama (奇魂, Wisdom) and Sakimitama (幸魂, Love). When a person contains these four spirits at their maximum, such as Midoriko, they unite to form a really strong and powerful balance within the soul that can be used for either good or evil.

Form of the Shikon Jewel
Physically, it is a sphere that appears to be made of some sort of crystalline material prior to the accident that shattered it. When purified, the jewel is a soft pink color, however the more tainted the soul and wishes of the person holding it, the more the color turns to a lurid black-violet. It is somewhere between a marble and a ping-pong ball in size when complete, but the shards of the Jewel of Four Souls are irregular in size and shape. It was created to be held by a priest, priestess or monk with exceedingly strong and powerful spiritual powers. However, to make it unhealthy it usually makes the host demonic and or not themselves.

Creation of the Jewel
The jewel had come into existence during the Heian Period of Japan by the battle of the great priestess Midoriko and a strong and powerful yōkai. She was able to seize the souls of yōkai and purify them, this power coming from having a positive balance of the four souls within her heart, and in a time of many yōkai ravaging the earth those who possessed spiritual powers such as hers were considered to be as powerful as one hundred samurai. Her spiritual power alone paled that of any other person alive, and it was said she could purify and destroy ten yōkai at once. Her final adversary and the one that claimed her life was created by many yōkai joined and anchored within the evil heart of a human who secretly lusted for her, similar to how Onigumo loved Kikyō and created Naraku.

After seven days and seven nights of fighting, Midoriko realized that she would be unable to fight off the yōkai, and as she was drawn into the creature's massive jaws, she seized the spirit of the yōkai and bound it within her own with the last of her power, killing both of them and creating the Shikon Jewel, which burst from her chest. Within the jewel, her soul and the souls of the yōkai she bound within it still battle on. The state of this battle is influenced by the person who possesses the jewel.

History of the Jewel
The jewel was controlled by various humans and yōkai for several centuries until it ended up being rediscovered by Sango's grandfather in the centipede yōkai, Mistress Centipede. Before the series begins, the Yōkai taijiya (demon slayers) entrust Kikyō with the guardianship of the jewel due to her purifying powers, but it leads to her untimely demise. Naraku deceives Kikyō and Inuyasha, who had fallen in love with her, into hating each other by making them believe they had betrayed one another. The purpose of his plan is to steal the jewel and corrupt it with their hatred and bitterness. Inuyasha is sealed to a tree for fifty years, and Kikyō is killed by Naraku, although she believes Inuyasha is responsible for her death.

A special episode in the anime series suggests this fate is due to a curse from Tsubaki that would cause Kikyō, should she ever fall in love, to lose her powers as a priestess and have an unnatural and untimely death; this is not in the manga.

It is also notable that, since the jewel was created, no good wishes has ever come from whoever possessed it. Since many people desire the jewel, it only causes despair and danger to anyone who possesses it.

Specific Powers Granted by Shards

 * Animating a severed head: (Shibugarasu)
 * Using the Bone Eater's Well: (Kagome, Yura)
 * Possession: (Tsukumo no Gama, Tsubaki, Kagome via Hari/Failed, Kagome via The Infant/Failed)
 * Enhanced Powers/Strength to both persons and objects: (Hiten, Manten, Spider Demon, Bankotsu, Kōga, Banryū, Tessaiga, Sacred Arrows, Tsubaki)
 * Bringing inanimate objects to life: (Noh Mask, Kōtatsu's ink, Ninmenka)
 * Turning animals into demons: (Weasel Demon)
 * Bonding a human arm to a demon body: (Sesshōmaru)
 * Making docile demons become vicious/insane: (Rōyakan)
 * Relieving pain/being unable to detect reopening wounds: (Sango)
 * Prolonging Life: (Rasetsu)
 * Resurrection of the Dead: (Kohaku, Band of Seven)
 * Infecting one of Kikyō's souls in order to control her: (Naraku) *Note; this attempt to control Kikyō failed.*
 * Super-speed: (Kōga)
 * Making skin hard as stone: (Tōkajin)
 * Healing wounds: (Renkotsu, Mōryōmaru)
 * Prolonging the switch between split-personalities: (Suikotsu)
 * By-passing/breaking seals: (Yōmeiju, Menōmaru)
 * Creating "incarnations": (Naraku)
 * Transformation into stronger forms: (Mistress Centipede, Shibugarasu, Naraku)
 * Staying alive despite bodily destruction: (Naraku)

Wishes Made on the Jewel

 * Wishes made by Kikyō:
 * To make Inuyasha into a full human and live together as ordinary people. (Unfufilled)
 * To see Inuyasha again. (Fulfilled)
 * To no longer fight. (Magatsuhi sealed her reincarnation's powers)


 * Wishes made by Naraku:
 * To have Kikyō. (Unfulfilled)
 * To have himself and Kagome replace Magatsuhi and Midoriko as the battling spirits within the Jewel. (Partially fulfilled, before the Jewel was destroyed)


 * Wishes made by Kagome:
 * The jewel's destruction. (Fulfilled)

Events during InuYasha
The jewel was burned with Kikyō, but returned fifty years later through a reincarnation of Kikyō's soul in Kagome, coming back from the future because of the jewel's power and the interference of the yōkai, Mistress Centipede (Mukade Jōrō). Kagome eventually unsealed Inuyasha, however, the jewel was lost to a carrion crow. While attempting to retrieve it by shooting the crow with an arrow, Kagome accidentally shatters the jewel into hundreds if not thousands of shards (Shikon no Kakera) which scatter themselves across Japan. Inuyasha's group (which includes Miroku, Kagome, Shippō, Kirara and Sango) are attempting to collect the shards and stop Naraku from getting the jewel for himself. As of the latest episode of the anime adaption of Inuyasha, Naraku has completed a corrupted Shikon No Tama. When Naraku was killed, Kagome was absorbed into the jewel to start a new battle between good and evil.

Inuyasha followed her in and finds out that the jewel is trying to make Kagome make a wish so it can start the battle all over again. Because unlike most beliefs, Midoriko is still alive and fighting the demons within the jewel. The jewel wants Kagome to take her place and replace the demons with Naraku instead. Kagome finds out that the jewel does not really grant one's true wish. She realizes that Kikyō wished to be with Inuyasha and Naraku's wish probably wasn't an evil one as he had intended it to be. She remembers her grandfather telling her that the Shikon Jewel can only be purified by one soul that wishes to save everything. It's then that Kagome realizes the wish and makes it after Inuyasha joins her side. She wishes for the Shikon Jewel to be gone forever, thus freeing Midoriko's spirit so that she can pass on to the afterlife; Naraku is shown to have awakened and finally is content by the warmness that the Shikon Jewel shined as it is destroyed. Three years later eighteen-year-old Kagome returns to the past in which she lives with Inuyasha by her side every day as long as she could, ending the series once and for all.

Trivia

 * In total Inuyasha's group collected 13 jewel shards before they were stolen by Naraku. (Miroku collected three on his own before giving them to Kagome).
 * Naraku collected all but thirteen of the shards on his own; the first ten collected by Inuyasha's group were given to him by Kikyō while he stole the remaining ones to complete the jewel.
 * The Shikon Jewel is said to be able to turn a half-demon into a pure human or demon.

Reference
Esfera dels Quatre Esperits Perla de Shikon 四魂之玉 Ngọc Tứ Hồn Shikon no Tama