Kaede

is a secondary character in the series. In the story, she provides important advice and backgrounds for the story to progress. She is 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.



Kaede loses an eye sometime during her childhood, due to an accident. 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 Jewel; 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 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 regards 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
In 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. In The Final Act ending set three years later, Rin lives with her in the village to become accustomed to living alongside other humans, and, when the time comes, Rin can decide to either continue living in the village or rejoin Sesshōmaru; Kaede is also training Kagome to become a full priestess.

Outfit
Kaede's clothing is identical to Kikyō's. She is 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 include 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.

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.

Powers & Abilities
Kaede is a miko of considerable power, and she has many spiritual abilities that she uses for combat and healing.

Spiritual Power: Although not nearly as powerful as Kikyō, Kaede possesses spiritual powers, being able to sense demonic auras and other supernatural occurences.

Bow and Arrow: Kaede wields the Bow and Arrow with much skill and accuracy, being able to shoot any target with precision despite her missing eye. Due to her old age, her accuracy has somewhat decreased.

Sacred Arrow: Kaede, like many priestesses, applies her spiritual powers to her bow and arrow to produce sacred arrows. Her sacred arrows, however, are not as powerful as those of Kikyō and Kagome. When Kaede was 10, her arrows had a small pink aura, with about half the brightness of Kikyō's arrow. Her sacred arrows no longer have any spiritual light, which is due to her old age.

Sutra Magic: Kaede is capable of using sutra spells to ward off demons; she was once shown doing this in tandem with Miroku.

Barrier: In several InuYasha episodes (including movies) Kaede is shown 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 body.

Eyesight: Just like Kikyō and Kagome, Kaede can see things that are normally invisible to normal people. Examples include spirits, or Yura's Hair.

Anime vs. Manga
In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyō's death. In the anime, however, her eye seems to have been lost for quite some time. Also, the anime shows that her right eye is damaged instead of her left, however, as the manga progresses somehow Kaede's damaged eye turns out to be the right as well.

Quotes

 * "Inuyasha, ye must be strong...and ye better not forget where ye buried me!"


 * "Now that the sacred jewel has appeared again in this world, the evil beings who desire its power will soon be flocking here."


 * "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...?"


 * "That was the first time I'd seen the Sacred Jewel. And after she was given custody of it, Sister Kikyō's fate changed drastically. She would watch other girls her age indulge in make-up, paint their faces white, and enjoy their youth.
 * "Stupid is as stupid does. Ye need to learn to be more careful with your speech."

Trivia

 * 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.
 * In a scene in The Final Act episode 8, Kaede and Kikyō's final farewell looks very similar to a scene in Dragon Ball GT when Piccolo says his final goodbye to Gohan.
 * When Kikyō was revived she did not know Kaede was her sister because of her change of appearance.
 * She was featured as a young woman in The Holy Pearl.
 * She has the same name as a a teenage female ninja who appeared in Urusei Yatsura, who accidentally lost her important scroll when knocked with Ataru Moboroshi.