Kikyo
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Kikyo (桔梗 Kikyō) is a character in the anime and manga series InuYasha.
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Priestess Kikyo
She was the miko (Japanese for priestess) entrusted by Sango's village of demon exterminators to guard and purify the fabled Jewel of Four Souls (Shikon no Tama) or Shikon Jewel, which was created during a battle long ago, between hundreds of yōkai and a very powerful miko by the name of Midoriko.
Kikyo slew many demons that tried to gain possession of the Jewel; however she force herself to kill InuYasha, a hanyo who is half-human and half-demon. On several occasions she immoblized InuYasha and had brief conversations with him. She realized that InuYasha had a good nature at heart and she felt that he could complete what she lacked in life. 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 sacred Jewel that she was protecting could be used to make him a human, which was the opposite of his original intention of becoming a full yōkai. He agreed, believing this would allow them to be together.
The following day, Kikyo arrived at the area where they had agree to meet, but InuYasha was not present. Instead, she was severely attacked by someone who appeared to be InuYasha. She collapsed to the ground as Naraku, disguised as InuYasha, escaped with the Jewel while proclaiming that he never wanted to become human, thus effectively framing InuYasha for the evil deed. Kikyo 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 released an arrow of binding, sealing InuYasha to the Time Tree in what was meant to be an eternal slumber. She collapsed the instant after InuYasha was sealed, and faintly instructed her younger sister Kaede to burn the Shikon Jewel with her body to assure that none can exploit the terrible powers the Jewel holds. With that, she passed away. In the anime (but not in the manga), this tragic fate of Kikyo was fortold through a curse laid by Tsubaki, when she told Kikyo 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 Time Tree and the ancient well. Kagome Higurashi, a middle-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 wormhole and back to the Sengoku period (Feudal Era of Japan) approximately 500 years ago. Kagome was proven to be Kikyo's reincarnation in that the Shikon Jewel was within her body; she awoke InuYasha and the adventure for her began.
After resurrection
Kikyo, however, 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 Jewel of Four Souls (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 Shippo (Shippō) and Kaede (Kikyo's sister), 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.
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Being as how Kikyo is not made of flesh and blood she only has a bit of soul and strong willful determination, she must find ways to sustain her "unlife" on this mortal coil until she can kill Naraku or die with InuYasha by using Shinidamachu (Shinidamachū, dead soul insects) to collect the souls of deceased women, allowing her to move and continue her journey.
After Mt. Hakurei collapses, Naraku (nearly) slays Kikyo again, but she later appears as Hijiri-sama (聖様, 'Her Holyness') with her two assistant shikigami, Kocho (胡蝶 Kochō) and Asuka (飛鳥). Her shikigami soon ask Kagome to help save Kikyo;. Kagome did not hesitate for even a moment to help Kikyo, and she is able to survive Naraku's shōki and continue on.
She gives InuYasha an arrow that has dirt 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 Hakudoshi is charged with her destruction until Hakudoshi's betrayal.
Nevertheless, Naraku's shōki still remains and gets worse even though Kagome had purified it. Kikyo uses her Shinidamachu to recover the rest of Midoriko's soul to help her overcome the poison.
Special attacks
- Hama no Ya (破魔の矢) - The magic arrow of a priestess. Kikyo can slay demons using her arrows enchanted with her spiritual powers. Usually demons are completely obliterated when struck.
- Fūin no Ya (封印の矢) - Arrow of sealing. She used this arrow to seal InuYasha to the Time Tree (Goshinboku) after Naraku tricks her into believing that InuYasha attacked her.
Name
- Kikyo's name (Kikyō) means "Chinese bellflower," a plant that is commonly used in Chinese herbal medicine.
Voice actors
- Japanese Seiyū: Noriko Hidaka
- English voice actor: Willow Johnson