About

During their youth, Kikyo and her younger sister Kaede (whose parents when died they were younger) attended Yōkai Taijiya, a school for preists and priestesses. There, she met Tsubaki, who would later become a dark priestess. Kikyo's great spiritual power and purity became well known, and thus the Jewel of Four Souls was entrusted to her, much to Tsubaki's dismay. It became Kikyo's duty to spend her life guarding the Shikon no Tama, protecting it from the wicked humans and demons who sought it for their own selfish means. However, her duty as the Jewel's protector also meant that she could not show any signs of weakness, lest demons or evil men take advantage of her.

Kikyo spent most of her time killing off demons who tried to steal the Jewel. However, the one demon that she refused to kill was Inuyasha, because she sensed that he was only half demon, with an abnormal life of solitude much like herself. She also tended to Onigumo, a paralyzed thief with terrible burn scars all over his body.
Later on, Kikyo confronted Inuyasha and told him about how she had to hide her real self in order to protect the


Jewel, and Inuyasha sympathized with her. Eventually, Inuyasha and Kikyo fell in love. Sometime during this period, Tsubaki attempted to attack Kikyo, assuming that she was weaker after falling in love. However, Kikyo reflected the curse back to Tsubaki, and then ordered her to leave.

Kikyo and Inuyasha sailed to an island that only appears every fifty years. Kikyo suggested using the Shikon Jewel to turn Inuyasha into a human, which Inuyasha agreed to it.


Had that plan succeeded, the Jewel would have been purified and ceased to exist, Kikyo would be relieved of her duty as the Guardian of the Jewel, and she would be free to live as a normal human being with Inuyasha. She promised to deliver the Jewel to Inuyasha on a certain day. However, the thief Onigumo, who desired both Kikyo and a corrupted Jewel, decided to use that day to gain control of both. He offered his body to a horde of demons, and the demon shape-shifter Naraku was born. Naraku (disguised as Inuyasha) struck down Kikyo, and then attacked Inuyasha while disguised as Kikyo. Thinking that Inuyasha had betrayed her, Kikyo used the last of her strength and spiritual powers and abilities to

shoot a sealing arrow at Inuyasha and pinned him to a tree, which effectively sealed him to the Sacred Tree (or Tree of Ages) for fifty years, as he was left in an eternal sleep. She then ordered her younger sister Kaede to burn her body along with the sacred Shikon Jewel, so that its immeasurable power would never be used for evil again.

Unfortunately, because Kikyo was full of bitter hatred at the time of her death, the sacred Shikon Jewel that was entrusted to her also became corrupted.