Kaede

Kaede is a secondary character in the Manga and Anime of InuYasha, in the story she provides advice and backgrounds for the story to progress. She is Kikyo's younger sister.

Background
Kaede(楓) is Kikyo's younger sister and assists her with various tasks such as gathering herbs or holding her arrows. Kaede also travels with Kikyo to a priest's shrine to learn to be a priestess. Kaede loses an eye sometime during her childhood. In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyo'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 occuring when Kikyo shot an arrow at a demon near Kaede - the attack wounded Kaede's right eye and left it blind. she had resemblance on Kagome's younger brother Souta

Current Events
After Kikyo's death, Kaede becomes a Miko 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 mistaken her as a demon and not a priestess, due to her old age.

Kaede's Outfit
Kaede's clothing is identical to Kikyo's. She is wearing the tradional dress of a miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day. * Jacket 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. * Kosode Kosode (literally: "little sleeve") were originally worn as underwear but by the Kamakura era, became accepted outer layer garments; more dressy with less sculpted sleeves. Kosode of the Heian and Kamakura Periods were always white. Inuyasha's kosode would be very much like a modern Kendo or Naginata Keikogi, with the sleeve fitting somewhat closely like a modern loose shirt, and extending to slightly past the wrist. The slits in the side of the hakama show the white kosode, and the openings at the sleeves and shoulders of the hitoe show it as well. This is a deliberate fashion effect. * Hakama Kaede wears bright red hakama, which include the small board at the lower back. A Miko is one of the few women who would wear hakama. *Tabi On her feet, Kaede wears common tabi (socks with a split for the big toe) and rice straw sandals. *Eyepatch During a battle prior to Kikyo's death, Kaede lost an eye. She now wears an iron tsuba (sword guard) as an Eye-Patch.

Relationships
Kikyo and Kaede: Kikyo and Kaede had a good sisterly bond, Kaede always tried her best to help her sister and Kikyo protected her. Kaede anguished when Kikyo died. When Kikyo was revived she (at first) didn't show much concern for Kaede. In one episode Kikyo told a little girl (who she was treating nicely) that she used to have a sister at her age, this shows that Kikyo still cares for Kaede. Kaede in return is sad that Kikyo will not face her death and insists to keep on living. Just before Kikyo died a second time, she projected a vision to Kaede, telling her that she'll be dead soon. At this time, Kaede is shown in her younger self (50 years back) and after the vision ended, she cries.

Kaede and Shippo: Shippo treats Kaede like a grandmother and Kaede treats Shippo like her grandchild. This relationship is shown when a manifestation of Kagome's curse (from Tsubaki) shows them this way.

Kaede and Kagome: Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation. Being the latter's sister, Kaede helps Kagome every time she can and gives wise advice to guide Kagome through her journey. She often teaches her about medicinal herbs and certain Miko practices. Kagome sees Kaede as a wise priestess and a Grandmother figure (calling her "Kaede Oba-Chan" in the Japanese versions).

Kaede and Inuyasha:  Although Inuyasha seems to treat Kaede with disrespect (often ending with Kagome giving him the Sit! command). He seems to respect her knowledge and cares for her. This may be due to the fact that she is Kikyo's sister, whom he loved. She also recalls many events that only Inuyasha and herself lived through out of the group.

Kaede and Miroku: Kaede and Miroku respect each other. They often ackknowledge each others' spiritual prowess and somtimes work together, such as when thhey cast an invisible barrier to hide InuYasha from the giant wolf demon Royakhan.

Powers & Abilities
Kaede is a Miko of moderate power, she has many spiritual abilities that she uses for both combat and other uses.

Spritual Power: 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.

Sacred Arrow: Kaede, like many preistesses, applies her spiritual powers to her bow and arrow to produce sacred arrows. Her sacred arrows, however, are not as powerful as those of Kikyo and Kagome.

Sutra Magic: Kaede can use sutra spells to ward off demons. she was once shown doing this in tandem with Miroku.

Barrier: In the first Inuyasha movie, Kaede created a large barrier around her village to prevent the moth demons from attacking the villagers. Creating the barrier, however, seemed to have weakened her considerably.

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

Anime/Manga Differences
In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyo'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.

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 Shippo.
 * When Kaede was still young, Kikyo was the one who gave her wise advice. Now that she's older, Kaede is the one giving wise advice instead.
 * During the early episodes of the English Dub, Kaede would speak with a Medieval dialect. This was subsequently dropped as the series continued.


 * In the episode The Tragic Love Song of Destiny, Part 2, Kaede lost her eye when Kikyo shot an arrow at a demon. The explosion of the demon caused Kaede to lose an eye.


 * She is renamed as "Geumsamae" in the Korean Dub.