Kikyo
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is a character in the manga and anime series InuYasha.
Shrine Maiden Kikyo
Kikyo was the miko entrusted by the demon exterminators to guard and purify the fabled Jewel of Four Souls (Shikon no Tama).Kikyo slew many yōkai that tried to gain possession of the jewel; however, she could not force herself to kill Inuyasha, a han'yō who is half-human and half-yōkai. She felt as though InuYasha was idled from his kind, as she was with hers. On several occasions she would immoblize Inuyasha when he attempted to steal the jewel, and had brief conversations with him. Inuyasha had followed her for a long period of time. Soon they spent more time together, and the two of them began to have feelings of love and compassion for each other. Kikyo told Inuyasha that the Shikon Jewel could be used to make him completely human, as opposed to his original intention of becoming a complete yōkai. Kikyou speculated that if the jewel were used to turn Inuyasha into a human, it would be purified and vanish, which would free Kikyou from her duty to protect the jewel and she could then live as a normal woman with Inuyasha. He agreed, believing this was the better option.
The following day, Kikyo arrived at the area where they had agreed to meet, but Inuyasha was not present. When she went out into a field to attempt to find him, she was attacked by Naraku, disguised as Inuyasha. She collapsed to the ground as he escaped with the jewel, proclaiming that he had "absolutely no intention of becoming human" and that the jewel needed to "absorb even more bitter blood", thus effectively framing Inuyasha for the evil deed. Kikyō stumbled back to the village in pain, only to find that the real Inuyasha, who was also tricked by Naraku in thinking that Kikyo wanted to kill him, had attacked the village and was escaping with the Shikon jewel.
Drawing on her last strength, Kikyo fired a sealing arrow (Fūin No Ya) at Inuyasha to seal him to the Sacred Tree (Goshinboku). She collapsed the instant after Inuyasha was sealed, and instructed her younger sister Kaede to burn the Shikon no Tama with her body to assure that none can exploit the terrible powers the jewel holds. With that, she died. In the anime (but not in the manga), this tragic fate of Kikyo was foretold through a curse laid by Tsubaki, when she told Kikyō that "a miko must abandon her heart to achieve power ... this includes love as well" and "You must extinguish love. You must never hold a man dear," or else she would "suffer an untimely death."
Re-incarnation in Kagome
In present day Tokyo, the Higurashi family now resides in a shrine compound that houses the Tree of Ages and the ancient well. Kagome Higurashi, a Jr. High-school student who just turned 15, has to retrieve their family cat Buyo from the well. She was ready to leave the well with the cat when a centipede yōkai Mistress Centipede (Mukade Jōrō) emerged from the well, dragging a very confused Kagome through the time slip and back to the Sengoku period (Feudal Era of Japan) approximately 500 years ago.
Kagome was proven to be Kikyo's reincarnation, not only from her distinct resemblance to Kikyo (far more evident in the manga; the character designer for the anime chose to make Kikyo and Kagome different in appearance in order to emphasize they are not the same person), when the Shikon no Tama was revealed to be concealed within her body, due to the fact that Kikyo was burned with the jewel after she died, and the fact she was able to release Inuyasha from the arrow Kikyo used to bind InuYasha to the Tree of Ages.
It has been seen more than once Kagome is not an ordinary reincarnation. She possesses an unusually strong soul, perhaps even more so than Kikyo, and is notably quite large. It is evidenced when Kanna's mirror could not contain it all and that Kagome was able to part with a portion of it so that Kikyo could be sustained in the world of the living. Furthermore, Kagome's actions have often unwittingly echoed that of Kikyo's in the past and she has often been called upon to perform tasks that Kikyō herself can only instruct Inuyasha or Kagome in performing.
After Resurrection
Kikyo had been dead for fifty years already until the yōkai Kijo Urasue attacked her village and stole Kikyo's ashes along with some burial soil from her grave. Using her powerful magic, she re-created Kikyo's body in the hopes that Kikyo would find and retrieve the shards of the Shikon Jewel (which was incidentally shattered by Kagome) but, to the old yōkai's dismay, Kikyo's soul had not returned to her body.
Angered for a while, until Kagome and Inuyasha, along with Shippō and Kaede, were attacked by Urasue's guards. With a quick attack, the yōkai had Kikyo's reincarnated soul and eventually (with Inuyasha's unknowing help) totally revived Kikyo, who immediately killed Urasue and went on to attack Inuyasha. Kagome however somehow managed to get most of her soul back after Kikyo's assault. With only one part of soul within her Kikyo fled, fueled by the bitter hatred she felt for Inuyasha at the moment of her death.
However, despite this hatred that she bears for him, she cannot deny her feelings of love and well being for him as well, for it is her wish to die with him and descend into hell, where they can be together forever. Kikyo attempted to do this once, yet Kagome interupted the process.
Kikyo's body is not made of flesh and blood, she only has a bit of soul and strong willful determination. As a result of this, she must find ways to sustain her "unlife" until she can kill Naraku. Kikyo fulfills this need by using Shinidamachu (dead soul insects, known as Soul Collectors in the dub of the anime.) to collect the souls of deceased women, allowing her to move and continue her journey.
It is important to note that the Kikyo appearing after her death is very different from the one who had just died. She no longer smiles and hardly shows any emotion except pain or panic when being attacked by an opponent. She even killed an innocent priest who was trying to save her soul, by releasing her from her desire to live. She later walked away without so much as sign of regret. However, this changes as the story progresses and Kikyo adapts more and more to her undead existence. A lot of this change can be attributed to the different characters she meets along the way.
Whenever she is not going after Naraku, she can be seen aiding the wounds of soldiers, quite possibly to make up for the priest she killed. After Tsubaki was destroyed by Inuyasha, Kikyo says that "Tsubaki lost because she was obsessed with the Sacred Jewel. Obsessed. Just as I am obsessed". It is left to interpertation what Kikyō is refering to in regards to her own obsession.
After Mt. Hakurei
After Mt. Hakurei collapses, Naraku nearly slays Kikyō again by infecting her with his powerful shoki, which neither Kikyo nor Kagome's holy powers were strong enough to purify. She survives the attack while still being infected by Naraku's shoki which was slowly killing her and later appears as Hijiri-sama (聖様, 'Her Holyness') with her two assistant shikigami, Kochō (胡蝶) and Asuka (飛鳥). Her shikigami soon ask Kagome to help save Kikyō. Kagome for Inuyasha's sake agrees to help Kikyō, and she is able to survive Naraku's shōki and continue on; the shoki infection was stopped for a small amount of time, but later resurfaced since Naraku's demonic powers went beyond the spiritual powers of both Kagome and Kikyo.Since Kikyo is made of graveyard soil, in the manga she was able to visit Onigumo's grave and absorb some of the soil into her clay body. The soil in the cave had absorbed Onigumo's original love for Kikyo. By empowering herself with it, she had effectively become untouchable by Naraku and his incarnations. When she first visited Naraku, and handed him a large portion of the Shikon Jewel, one of Naraku's incarnations escaped from her jar and touched Kikyo's legs. It was instantly destroyed by the new protection she had. However, this protection was gone after Naraku had become more powerful as he was able to pierce her without being harmed, since he had become more powerful than her. However, Kikyo found another way to use Naraku's vulnerablility to Onigumo's soil against him.
She gives Inuyasha an arrow that has soil from the cave of Onigumo for Kagome to use in the boundary between this world and the next against Naraku that almost destroys him, after which Hakudōshi is charged with her destruction until his betrayal of Naraku.
Nevertheless, Naraku's shōki still remains and gets worse even though Kagome had purified it. Kikyo uses her Shinidamachū to recover the rest of Midoriko's soul to help her overcome the poison. However, Kikyo states that she doesn't know how long Midoriko's strength will last, since even Midoriko is weaker than Naraku, who is constantly increasing his power by absorbing other yokai. By seeing to it that Naraku would possess the full Jewel, Kikyo could purify both the Jewel and Naraku at once, destroying them both. Kohaku, Sango's brother who was kept alive by a shard of the Jewel that was embedded in his back, joined her in her quest when he overheard Kikyo talking about how the Shikon Jewel needed to be complete in order to destroy Naraku.
Travelling with Kohaku
Naraku stated how the shard in Kohaku's back radiated such "dreadful purity" and if that shard were taken and combined with the nearly completed Shikon jewel, then both Naraku and the Shikon Jewel would be purified at once. It is for this reason that Naraku returned to Mount Hakurei to reclaim his negative heart as a countermeasure to Kikyo's plan.Naraku uses his human heart's power to send webs after Kikyo that would corrupt her. Kikyo was eventually overpowered by Naraku's malice and to protect Kohaku she sent him away with her shikigami; however they were easily dispatched as their powers proved useless against Byakuya. However, Sesshoumaru interferes and Byakuya is unable to capture Kohaku.
When Inuyasha and Kagome arrive, she discovers Naraku has also corrupted Kagome with his webs in order to render them both unable to purify the Shikon Jewel and Kagome unable to purify Kikyō as the girl had been able to do in the past. To rectify this, she sends Kagome to recover a sacred bow from Mt. Asuza that can be used to purify her shouki wound. However, while Kagome and InuYasha are gone Naraku reappears captures Kikyo along with Kōga, Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara. However, Kikyo notices that Koga shards were purified as part of Midoriko's will meaning that she could use his shards to purify the Shikon Jewel just as she had attempted to do so with Kohaku's shard.
Final Moments
At the end of chapter 462, Kagome is shocked to find that the Jewel is now inside of Kikyo's body. In chapter 463, with the help of Kagome's sacred arrow, Kikyo purifies the Jewel, and fires the arrow out of her body and at Naraku. His shouki is only able to corrupt half of the Jewel, and Kikyo's spiritual power and Naraku's jyaki begin to battle within the Jewel.
However, Naraku's darkness proves too powerful and overcomes Kikyo's power, completely corrupting the Jewel. Kikyo weakly tells Kagome that the rest is up to her, and that the bow from Mt. Asuza now belongs to Kagome. Shocked, Kagome asks what Kikyo means, but before the miko can continue, Naraku claims that Kikyo's lost to his jyaki and he strikes out at her with one of his tentacles. Inuyasha slashes through it before it reaches Kikyo and Kagome, but Naraku merely laughs and tells Inuyasha that he'll need to start thinking of how to defeat him without Kikyo.
Sesshomaru, in an overgrown field with Kohaku and Rin, comments that the scent on the wind has changed and that it is too late. Kaede also notices some sort of change, noting that the sunset is the color of blood.
With Naraku gone, a devestated Inuyasha holds a content Kikyo in his arms with his hair covering his face. InuYasha then asks the others to leave them in private. Kagome has her face in her hands, attempting to hide her tears as she laments over being unable to save Kikyo. In thought, Kikyo wishes for Kagome not to cry, for her soul has been saved.
Alone together, smiling, Kikyo tells InuYasha of how she wished to become an ordinary woman when the Jewel vanished. InuYasha tells her that ever since he was born, Kikyo was the very first woman that he loved. His tears splatter on Kikyo's cheek, and she comments that this is the first time she's seen him make such a face and cry.
At that, InuYasha cries that he was unable to save her. Kikyo continues to smile at him, saying that she is happy he came for her. Looking very happy with a smile on her face, Kikyo then kisses Inuyasha one final time, and she calls his name in her thoughts as she looks at him with tear-filled eyes.
Still smiling, Kikyo peacefully disappears into a bright cluster of souls and light, which the Shinidamachuu whirl around as it glows among the group. Shippo says that it looks as if her soul is bidding farewell to them all, and Kagome notices how warm it is. The Shinidamachuu then carry Kikyo's soul into the sky. Inuyasha is thoughtful as he looks into the sky, saying that Kikyo will not suffer anymore, and that her soul doesn't want them to mourn. She emparts her final words to Inuyasha, saying that she would always protect him.
Relationships
Seikai - Kikyo had been living in a small village after slipping out of InuYasha's grasp after her resurrection. Seikai, a monk who she'd noticed spying on her, believes that Kikyo is some sort of demon, and purposely drops a scroll before her, asking Kikyo to pick it up for him. He tells her that the scroll contains a sutra that will instantly reveal a demon's true form should a demon touch it. He is shocked to find that when Kikyo touches the scroll, nothing happens. When she returns it to him, however, he feels an enormous amount of energy shoot through his body.Later, Seikai confronts Kikyo and tries to "save her soul" by exorcising her. He ends up accidentally getting killed by her as a result. There are however signs that she feels sorry for what she has done after she notices the little girl, Sayo, who witnessed the event. Kikyo apologized for giving Sayo a bad memory, and she left Sayo's village.
Suikotsu - This man was a doctor who enjoyed playing with children, a trait that Kikyō could relate to since she too had an affinity for children when she was alive. Suikotsu had two personalities and the good took the form of a doctor, while the evil one took the form of a Shichinintai. The doctor due to his pure heart had a pure shikon shard in his neck that kept him alive. However, this shard was removed by Jakotsu. Kikyō bid him a sad farewell, but took joy in the fact that death meant a well deserved release for this tragic soul.
Rasetsu - In the anime, This man was tricked by Naraku into thinking that paradise awaited him on the path of Mount Hakurei. He met with Kikyō and told her that he was the one who burned Onigumo and threw him of a cliff into her hands. Before he died he gave her a lock of his hair so that she may deliver it to Mount Hakurei. Surprisingly Kikyō did indeed put aside her hunt for Naraku and her desire for Inuyasha in order to serve his dying wish. However, in the manga, he had no such connection to Kikyou and Naraku and simply gave Kikyou his hair. Since Rasetsu regretted the villainous life he lived, it is quite likely that his desire for paradise was met even though all Kikyo found when she arrived at Mount Hakurei was a trap set by Naraku.
Saint Hakushin - Saint Hakushin was a man of immense spiritual power, and when he died, be became a living Buddha. He was tricked by Naraku into creating a holy barrier (which was the most powerful barrier in the Inuyasha series as its reach extended across the perimeter of an entire mountain) that protected him from his enemies.
In life, he was meant to become a living Buddha whose death would bring prosperity across the land, but just before his death he started longing for life and developed a hatred for the people who desired his death. Out of all the characters in the entire series, this was the person whom Kikyō could relate to the most, as she too was once a holy being who had fallen from grace. She told him that it wasn't wrong for him to have desired life, and that it was better to live as saint like he had done than to die a martyr. Thanks to Kikyō, his soul was finally able to find peace.
Onigumo - Kikyō supposedly met Onigumo when he came to her village to rest on his travels. Later, when she found his body at the bottom of a cliff, she tended for his wounds and at the same time, he developed feelings for her. Of course, Kikyō did not develop the same feelings.
Naraku - Naraku is the main target of Kikyō. After Kikyō dispatched Inuyasha, he thought she would use the Shikon Jewel to heal herself. That way he could have possession of both Kikyō and the Jewel. However, without Inuyasha, she lost all meaning in her life and asked that the Jewel be cremated with her so that it would go with her to the next world. Some have speculated that the main reason Naraku is so bitter and cruel is that he never received affection from Kikyō the way Inuyasha did, which prompts his contempt of all life, and especially that of Inuyasha.
Inuyasha - Kikyō met Inuyasha while guarding the Shikon Jewel. The two quickly fell in love. However, they were tricked by Naraku and ended up hating each other (see Shrine Maiden Kikyo). The two still have feelings for one another despite all that has happened. Inuyasha clearly loves Kikyō, yet Kikyō seems less interested in a relationship. Kikyō has a habit of testing InuYasha's feelings for her. She once told him that she'd tried to kill Kagome, and later gave Naraku a large shard of the Shikon Jewel. If she hadn't committed this act Naraku could have been killed by Inuyasha or others very quickly in the series. It is also stated that the main reason Naraku was able to deceive them so easily was because Kikyō and Inuyasha never trusted one another completely. It is still shown many times in the series that they both still care deeply for one another.
Kagome Higurashi - Kikyō and Kagome's relationship is a bit unsteady and their desire for Inuyasha keeps a rift between the two. Kagome often worries that Inuyasha may one day leave her for Kikyō. Kikyō has also expressed concerns that are not unlike Kagome's worries. She questioned Inuyasha, after Kagome disrupted her taking him to Hell with her, "Does that girl mean more to you than I do?". Kikyō often has shown a habit of testing who Inuyasha loves more, herself or Kagome. Even so, as Kikyou was dieing, Kagome felt an extreme sadness.
Kohaku - Kohaku has started travelling with Kikyō. Kohaku has a pure Shikon Jewel shard in his back which Kikyō intended to use to destroy Naraku. At the beginning it seemed that he was just another pawn in her game of revenge against Naraku, however, it has been shown that he and Kikyō have been getting closer and closer. Naraku turned Kohaku into a puppet who killed his own father and many other innocent humans during Naraku's raids across different villages. However, Kohaku has started healing from those emotional wounds due to his companionship with Kikyō. Next to Inuyasha, Kohaku may as well be the closest thing Kikyō has to a loved one. This relationship doesn't seem that ludicrous when compared to visions of Kikyō's past life that show her affinity for children.
Special attacks
- Hama no Ya (破魔の矢) - The magic arrow of a shrine maiden, though Kikyo is actually an exception- her purifying powers (that are similar to Midoriko's) are unique to her and Kagome, being her reincarnation- other mikos do not have the same extent of purifying ability to destroy demons. Kikyō can slay yōkai using her arrows enchanted with her spiritual powers. Usually yōkai are completely obliterated when struck.
- Fūin no Ya (封印の矢) - Arrow of sealing. She used this arrow to seal InuYasha to the Sacred Tree (Goshinboku) after Naraku tricks her into believing that InuYasha attacked her.
- Purification: Being the powerful shrine maiden she is, Kikyō has the ability to purify anything she touches (i.e. the Shikon no Tama, minor yōkai, or possibly spirits) in the case of minor yōkai Kikyō's capable of annihilating them with a touch. In episode 15 (The Resurrection of the Tragic Shrine Maiden, Kikyo / Dub: Return of the Tragic Priestess Kikyo). The ability is shown again later on in the series when she destroys a demon (who resembles Jaken) crawling over a wounded soldier by touching it.
- Miko Powers (Hama no reiryoku): In the episode where Kikyo is resurrected, she uses some type of power. It is different from the purification, as it is used as an attack. Kikyō killed Urasue and hurt Inuyasha with that attack.
- Barrier (kekkai) : Kikyō is able to create a barrier, which aids her in hiding her aura.
Name
- Kikyo's name (Kikyō) means "Chinese Bell Flower" in Japanese.
Voice actors
- Japanese Seiyū: Noriko Hidaka
- English voice actor: Willow Johnson
- Italian voice actors: Barbara De Bortoli (ep. 1-26); Francesca Guadagno (ep. 27-167)
- Hungarian voice actor: Szíbó Gertrúd
- Latin American Spanish voice actor: Georgina "Gina" Sánchez (debut role)
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Listed in approximate order of appearance.
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