Kagome Higurashi
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| Kagome Higurashi 日暮かごめ |
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| Alternate Name(s) | |
| Age | 15 |
| Race | Human |
| Weapons | Bow and Arrow, Spiritual Powers |
| First Appearance (Anime) | The Girl Who Overcame Time...and the Boy Who Was Just Overcome |
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Kagome Higurashi (日暮かごめ Higurashi Kagome?) is a character in the fictional manga and anime series InuYasha.
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[edit] Plot
Kagome is the grand daughter of the keeper of Higurashi Shrine, a shintō shrine near Tokyo. On her fifteenth birthday, she is pulled into a well (The Bone Eater's Well) by a centipede yōkai (demon), known as the Mudake Jōrō (Mistress Centipede), and is taken into feudal Japan, specifically the Sengoku period. In the past, she finds what seems to be a sleeping hanyo (half demon) who is pinned to a tree by an arrow. She is captured and taken into the nearby village and is confronted by Kaede, the shrine maiden of the village. Kaede at first thinks that Kagome is a yōkai, due to her strange-looking modern clothing, but she changes her mind when she notices that Kagome bears an uncanny resemblance to her long dead sister, Kikyō.
That night, the centipede yōkai attacks the village, and Kagome flees into the forest where Inuyasha is pinned. This time, however, he is awake and calls her "Kikyō". When the centipede yōkai catches up to Kagome, the villagers unsuccessfully try to defeat it. When the centipede bites Kagome, the Shikon no Tama (The Jewel of the Four Souls) falls from her wound and is eaten by the centipede. Kaede realises that Kagome is Kikyō's reincarnation, as the Shikon no Tama was burned with Kikyō's body 50 years ago. Inuyasha, the hanyō, then asks Kagome to remove the arrow so that he can slay the yōkai and recover the Jewel for himself. She does so, and Inuyasha defeats the yōkai, but then demands that she hand over the Jewel to him, for the Shikon no Tama has the power to grant anything that the user desires.
As Inuyasha advances on Kagome, Kaede magically summons kotodama no nenju (rosary beads; lit. "power of the spoken word" or "prayer beads, as some people call them) around his neck that binds him so that whenever Kagome says a certain command, Inuyasha is instantly forced to the ground. In the Japanese version the word is 'osuwari' (お座り, sit), and in the English versions "sit" or "sit, boy" are used. This is an intentional joke as Inuyasha is an inugami, and 'osuwari' in Japanese is a command that is generally given to domesticated dogs to make them sit, so basically a running gag. However, it should be noted that, in some cases, she has used the command in order to save his life. She uses "Sit, boy!" more often in the anime,though.
The day after their chance meeting, a yōkai-crow attacks and swallows the Jewel, forcing Kagome and Inuyasha to attempt to retrieve it together. During the battle, Kagome shoots an arrow at the crow, using a piece of its flesh (It's foot) to assure accuracy. The arrow strikes and shatters the Shikon no Tama into many shards ("Shikon no Kakera") that are scattered across Japan and even to worlds beyond.
Kagome then sets out with Inuyasha to recover the shards so that other yōkai cannot use it for malice (though Inuyasha consistently claims his true intention has always been to become a yōkai using the Jewel), occasionally returning to the modern era for supplies or because she and Inuyasha get angry at each other. On their journey they meet many people and pick up many friends and companions along the way.
The focus of the journeys of Kagome and her companions changes slightly as they learn about the presence of Naraku, an evil hanyō that has not only greatly disrupted the lives of each of Kagome's friends but also seeks the Shikon no Tama for himself.
[edit] Personality
Kagome is generally a good-humoured person and is a slate of kindness. She has a tendency to argue with Inuyasha quite often and can be very stubborn and short tempered. Not surprisingly, given her own feelings towards Inuyasha, she has mixed feelings towards Kikyo and has shown a darker side of herself in matters that concern Kikyo herself and the relationship between Inuyasha and Kikyo. Though she is confident in her abilities, Kagome is insecure and tends to become jealous whenever Inuyasha is with Kikyo, and wondering if she is inferior to her past life.
All in all, Kagome is a good person, who can't hate anybody for long. She'll give anybody a chance and knows when to do the right thing, and since she can keep Inuyasha down with her 'sit' commands, she's been able to open her friends up too.
[edit] Relationships
- Inuyasha - He initially was angry about how Kikyo had betrayed him and projected it at Kagome, due to the fact that Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation, and she looks (and as Inuyasha claims "smells") a lot like her, but eventually he realized that she was not Kikyō and slowly opened his heart as she showed him kindness and compassion. However, their friendship and love don't stop Kagome from yelling "Sit!" or "Sit boy! (or "Osuwari!" in Japanese) when she feels that Inuyasha is being especially unruly. She is also jealous and upset when he goes after Kikyo on occasion, although he shows his jealousy in a much more direct manner when confronted with anyone who wants Kagome's affection, generally by outright challenging the potential suitor. A large part of their fights (and the reason for the strain) is that they refuse to discuss anything concerning an actual relationship. The truth is, Kagome does love Inuyasha, and tries to avoid the topic of love more than he does.
From a typical viewpoint, the relationship between Inuyasha and Kagome is somewhat complicated. They clearly care for each other, as they both become jealous when the other shows affection for another person. Inuyasha becomes jealous about Kagome's relationship with Koga (even though she is not in love with him), while Kagome's jealousy stems from Inuyasha's relationship with Kikyo. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo often speculate that Kagome and Inuyasha love each other, but Kagome and Inuyasha tend to avoid discussing the issue. Both of them become embarrassed whenever someone mentions that they "love each other", which seems to confirm the truth of such statements. Small actions such as holding hands, frequent physical contact below the shoulder, and a girl allowing a boy to rest his head on her lap represent and communicate deep and obvious feelings of love in Japanese culture. [original research?]
- Shippo - She treats Shippo almost like a little brother, bringing him candy and toys from the modern era and forcing Inuyasha to "Sit" whenever he bullies Shippo, although one must note that in the manga, she rarely uses "Sit" on him merely for bullying Shippo. He is a kitsune (yōkai-fox) and they love to play tricks. Some also see Kagome as a surrogate mother to him rather than a sister. Shippo has never stated how he sees Kagome.
- Miroku - While he is at times a lecherous nuisance, she respects his knowledge and actions and knows that he would gladly give his life for his friends if the need arose.
- Sango - She and Sango quickly become close friends, as she is the only other female character in the group. Unlike Inuyasha, she never has fights with Sango. Often, in many times, they consult and confide with each other upon love interests and other important topics, like the Shards of the Shikon Jewel's whereabouts, and they often gang up upon both the male characters, Inuyasha and Miroku, if they do something insulting, like sexual advances or going astray on trivial stuff. In a word, they are almost like foster sisters, with Sango being the older one and Kagome the younger.
- Koga - Kagome likes Koga as a friend and trusts him. However, his claims that they are in love have caused a strain between her and Inuyasha, even though she really isn't interested in Koga. Koga is also engaged to someone else: Ayame, a female yōkai-wolf who is the granddaughter of the yōkai-wolf elder. Ayame only appears in the anime, however; in the manga, Kagome is the only female interest of Koga's.
- Yuka, Eri and Ayumi - In the modern era, they are her three friends although they tend to be more than a little nosy about Kagome's "boyfriend" and why she isn't interested in Hojo. Kagome's value for these three girls seems to stem from her desire to borrow their notes when she's away from class.
- Hojo - He is one of Kagome's male classmates, and often brings herbal medicines and similar items to treat her 'sicknesses'.
- Akitoki Hojo Hojo's ancestor (Who looks like Hojo with longer hair), who was in love with Kagome. Kagome was totally indifferent, though he convinces a woman (future wife) to change her name from Suzaku to Kagome, seeing how his run-in with the demon ninja Suzaku was rather unpleasant.
- Kikyo - Kagome and Kikyō have a complicated relationship. They both respect each other's abilities and potential, and in some occasions they didn't falter when they had to cooperate. However, there is tension between the two because of their similar connection with InuYasha. Kagome fears his feelings for her could never be greater than the ones he has for Kikyō, as she once wished Kikyo would disappear - and is immediately shocked by the bitterness of her own thought. Kikyō's worries about Kagome however, are not much different; during the time she tried to take Inuyasha with her to Hell, Kikyo asked Inuyasha if Kagome meant more to him than she did. Their relationship gradually improves, especially as the goal to completing the Shikon Jewel becomes closer and Kagome overcomes her heart's illusion of Kikyo, though a slight tension between them still exists. Upon Kikyo's defeat and death, Kagome is grief-stricken and begins to cry because she was unable to save Kikyo; Kikyo, however, thinks to herself that Kagome should not cry for her, because her soul has in fact been saved.
- Jinenji - Kagome, who throughout the series has an affinity for male half demons, found it easy to bond with him. She pitied him because of all the scars she saw on his body, caused by humans who feared him. He also gave her medicine to cure the poisoned Kirara, and managed to save her life from the Demon Larvae Mother who was trying to eat her.
[edit] Outfit
When traveling to the past, and in general, Kagome is almost always seen in her school uniform, a traditional sailor fuku, albeit with a much shorter skirt than is typical. The first theatrical adaption of the series suggests this is intentional on her part, or perhaps the animators consider it her official costume.
On other rare occasions, Kagome wears a simple skirt and sweater combination. She has also once worn Inuyasha's haori (red cloak) as a dress. She once received a gift of shrine maiden clothes from Kaede, consisting of a red hakama and a white blouse. However, both Kagome and InuYasha disliked the clothes because they only strengthened her resemblance to Kikyō. To date, she has only worn them when she needed to. She is also seen wearing a pink dress during one of the later episodes, when doing a school play.
She is also seen in other clothes when at home in the modern era. It is most likely because she is not at school and all her uniforms are in the wash from getting dirty in the feudal era. She also once wore a different uniform called "civvies" (informal civilian clothing, distinguished from military uniforms) given to her by her friends when her uniform got stained with Inuyasha's blood.
[edit] Special attacks and abilities
- Purification/Miko Powers (Hama no reiryoku) - Anything she touches is purified. By gathering an enormous amount of concentrated powers into her right palm, she can direct it at her opponents. She only did this when the jewel was inside her body. This was used on the Mukade Jōrō and Urasue to some effect. She also uses this to purify the Jewel.
- Spiritual Powers - Can easily get through some barriers, spells, or illusions including those created by Kikyo (because she and Kikyo share one soul). Can sense evil auras and is unaffected by them and, if possible, is able to surround herself with her own spiritual powers to ward of any evil or make a giant spiritual orb that Kikyō once made.
- Jewel Detecting - Senses/feels and knows the exact location and how many shards of the Jewel there are in an area or direction. While other characters have shown a vague ability to see Shikon shards, only Kagome and Kikyō are able to sense the shards remotely.
- Time Travel - Can travel back and forth 500 years from the future. The circumstances in which this can be done differ in anime and manga. In the anime, at first it seems that she can only travel when she has a Shikon Jewel shard with her. Inuyasha isn't bound by this restriction and can travel back and forth without a Jewel shard. It is assumed that Kagome uses Midoriko's power to do this which is inside the Jewel just as Naraku and other demons use the power of the demons souls inside the Jewel to enhance their own powers.
In the manga, however, this restriction was never defined. Even when Kagome had no shards at all, she was able to travel back and forth. The anime seemed to have dropped the fabricated restriction later in its production.
- Rosary/"SIT" (Osuwari) Power: The string of beads placed around Inuyasha's neck by Kaede is empowered to "subdue" him at a word from Kagome. The first word which came to mind was "Osuwari" - Japanese for "sit", the word one would use to tell a pet dog to sit down. Whenever Kagome says the word, the beads slam Inuyasha to the ground.
Weapons and Weapon's Techniques
- Bow - A basic bow that uses as a melee weapon and to release the arrow. Once she infuses her powers with the bow, she can reflect an enemy's attack. Kagome uses a shortbow, while Kikyō uses a longbow.
- Arrows - A basic arrow imbued with her holy powers.
- Hama no Ya (Demon Destroying Arrow) - Infuses her powers within the arrow to penetrate any demonic force and purify any object. Note: The spiritual powers of a shrine maiden are from her own soul.
- Hama-Bakuryūha (Sacred Exploding Dragon Wave) - This isn't really an attack as much as it is a combined effort between Inuyasha and Kagome, which is only used in the movies and episode 140. Basically consists of Kagome firing one of her Hama no Ya in the center of InuYasha's Bakuryūha before it connects.
[edit] Voice actress
- Japanese Seiyū: Satsuki Yukino (credited as Satsuki Yukino)
- English Voice Actress: Moneca Stori
- Italian Voice Actress: Federica de Bortoli (ep 1-26); Maria Letizia Scifoni (ep 27-167)
- German Voice Actress: Ulrike Jennie
- Hungarian Voice Actress: Molnár Ilona
- Spanish Voice Actresses: Ana Lobo (normal), Leyla Rangel (some eposides)
- Catalan Voice Actress: Gemma Ibáñez
- Filipino Voice Actress: Donna Alcantara
[edit] Trivia
- Kagome's given name, because it is written in hiragana, has the least defined meaning of the characters in InuYasha. "Kagome" is a meaningless phrase—it is a children's song, but is also a homophone for a "woven bamboo pattern". But some people believe her first name means "basket".
- In the official manga and anime, Rumiko Takahashi made sure Kagome's skirt is always in place and never reveals her underwear, no matter how windy or extreme the environment. But in "The Last Banquet Of Miroku's Master," when 'The Three Kagomes' were dancing, the side of her leg was shown.
- Kagome posseses a resemblance to Akari Unryu and Hinako Ninomiya from Ranma ½. And even more so to Maison Ikkoku's Kyoko Otonashi,and Kasumi Tendo from again Ranma ½ and even the Kunoichi Kasumi the protagonist of Dead or Alive (video game series)
