Tsubaki

"I made a deal with a demon, and gained the eternal beauty you see before you... and some demonic power!!"

- Tsubaki

was the only seen dark priestess. She was the arch rival of Kikyō.

History
In her youth, Tsubaki was a gifted priestess, her talents were magnificent and she progressed quickly in her training. Tsubaki was seen as a high class priestess who was shown to have garnered respect from other priestesses, even Kikyō; however, she saw Kikyō as a rival, as Kikyō's spiritual powers rivaled hers, and took many of the awards for slaying demons Kikyō had slain. She even placed a curse on Kikyō such that she would die of a bloody death were she to ever fall in love, which comes to pass.

Tsubaki feared that, with the passage of time her beauty would be gone, making her wish to stay with the Shikon no Tama to prevent this from happening (which may be stated as the reason her master chose Kikyō the task to guard the jewel instead of her, because he knew Kikyō would never use the jewel for her own benefits).

When Kikyō was given the Sacred Jewel to guard, Tsubaki was jealous of Kikyō having been given such an important task. Tsubaki confronted her master to inquire as to why Kikyō 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 her why she was given the jewel is because he didn't want to upset her, due to her heart not being pure enough.

Tsubaki later confronted Kikyō in a forest and attempted to cast a curse on her using her Shikigami, thinking her powers would be weakened after hearing of her infatuation with a half-demon. However, Kikyō used her bow to reflect the curse and sent it flying back at Tsubaki, which gave her a scar on her right eye.This caused Tsubaki to hunger for revenge on Kikyō, 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
Tsubaki is summoned by Naraku who knows of the dark priestess' powers. He recounts Tsubaki's tale of how she fought Kikyō fifty years prior and that she, Tsubaki, now holds a grudge against her. Naraku asks Tsubaki if she will help him in return for the, now nearly complete, Shikon no Tama. She accepts his proposal, as long as she gets the jewel.

Tsubaki places a curse on Kagome with her Shikigami upon her return from the Bone-Eaters Well, needing some of her blood in order to achieve the curse. 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 underestimated Kagome's skill and taunted her with the fact that her skills did not compare to those of Kikyō. In the end, Tsubaki was defeated by Kagome's spiritual power. Because she underestimated her abilities, her curse was thrown back at her just like it was 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, Momiji and Botan, into helping her fight Inuyasha, while she plans to awaken the sealed demon. Kagura then appears to take back the Sacred Jewel, but Tsubaki refused to part with it.

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 transformed into a half-ogre form and attacked 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 Saimyōshō emerges out of her eye and takes the Sacred Jewel, thus taking her spiritual powers along with it. Tsubaki's appearance begins to turn into her actual age. With 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

 * Kikyō- Tsubaki hated Kikyō and saw her as a rival. Tsubaki hated her to the point of wanting her to die and this continued even after she (Kikyō) was reborn. This conflict can be seen as one-sided, as Kikyō didn't express any anger toward her and was seen feeling sympathy for her when she died.


 * Kagome- Due to Kagome being the reincarnation of Kikyō, Tsubaki despises Kagome and attempts to kill her just like she did Kikyō, however, despite the hatred she seemed to respect her power as with her dying breath, she said she regretted underestimating Kagome's ability.


 * Naraku- Tsubaki, despite being given the almost complete sacred jewel by Naraku, does not trust him that much. At first, she is impressed with his cruelty towards Inuyasha and Kagome, due to his plot forcing Kagome to try and kill Inuyasha like Kikyō did 50 years ago. But after her failure, she begins to realize she is just another pawn to him.

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, Kikyō. 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 special, it was said that the reason why Kikyō lost her powers when she fell in love with Inuyasha (which wasn't mentioned in the manga) is because she placed a curse on Kikyō.
 * In the Manga, Tsubaki does not die. She is simply defeated.  This makes her one of the very few Inuyasha antagonists who survive in the series.

Quotes

 * "So stubborn. Even as her body is manipulated, she still clings to her own will."
 * "I will do anything to make the complete shikon jewel mine."
 * Kagura: "The old hag transformed herself?!" Tsubaki: "Watch your tongue, you wench! Because this is my true form!"

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.
 * Tsubaki places a curse on Kikyō in the anime, Kikyō believes it is for if she fell in love. However Tsubaki says "Never let any man desire you or you are sure to die a violent death." this statement however can be more attributed to Onigumo implying Tsubaki is the reason he came into Kikyō's life. Yet Tsubaki herself had no knowledge of Naraku or Onigumo.