“

It has been 50 years since Inuyasha was sealed to the Sacred Tree. He looks exactly the same as he did then. 50 years ago, my sister knew that she was going to die. So why did she choose to use the arrow of sealing rather than a Sacred Arrow to destroy him? Why did she seal Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree-- a tree of ages said to be able to transcend time? And if Inuyasha was filled with hatred with my sister, who took back the Sacred Jewel and sealed him to the Sacred Tree, then why does he wear such a peaceful expression? It seems I understand very little after all. I wonder sometimes if I ever will.

”

—Kaede contemplating her confusion on her sister and Inuyasha's circumstances.^[src]

Kaede (楓（かえで）, "Maple") is a priestess who lived in a village near the Bone-Eater's Well. She is the first to encounter Kagome and she often provides important advice and background information to Inuyasha's group to assist in their journey. She is Kikyō's younger sister.

History

As Kikyō's younger sister, Kaede would assist her with various tasks such as gathering herbs or holding her arrows. Her parents died when she was very young and Kikyō was her only family. Kaede also travels with Kikyō to a priest's shrine to learn to be a priestess, and there she and Kikyō met the dark priestess Tsubaki for the first time.

Sometime after this, Mistress Centipede tried to kidnap Kaede as a bargaining chip to get the Shikon no Tama from Kikyō, but Inuyasha saved her. He brushed off his heroic deed by saying he wanted the Shikon no Tama for himself, but in reality, he had grown to care for Kikyō. After Kikyō fell in love with Inuyasha, Kaede and Inuyasha were hinted to have gotten close, as Kikyō instructed Kaede not to tell Inuyasha about Onigumo because he would get jealous.

Kaede loses her right eye after an attack on her village. Kaede had tried to shoot a demon that was about to attack Kikyō, but missed. The demon then went to attack Kaede, but Kikyō shot it in time. The arrow failed to purify the demon's jaki, resulting in an explosion that rendered Kaede permanently blind in the right eye. In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyō's death, suggesting that the wound occurs when Inuyasha attacks the village to steal the Shikon no Tama; supplementary information states that she "lost her elder sister and her eye in an incident fifty years ago." The anime shows the incident occurring when Kikyō shot an arrow at a demon near Kaede—the attack wounded Kaede's right eye and left it blind.

During the Story

After Kikyō's death, Kaede becomes a strong priestess in her own right and defends the village against demons. When Kagome Higurashi 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 regard 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 mistake her as a demon and not a priestess, due to her old age.

The Final Act

During Kikyō's final death, Kaede sees soul collectors flying through her village as she sees the spirit of Kikyō who came to bid her a farewell; using the last of her strength, Kikyō finally bids her sister a farewell saying sorry for causing her pain.

Three years later after the death of Naraku and destruction of the Shikon Jewel, Rin began to live with her in the village to become accustomed to living alongside other humans; Kaede is also training Kagome to become a topmost priestess, even stronger than Kikyō ever was.

Hanyō no Yashahime

Kaede continues to teach Kagome to strengthen her spiritual powers from time to time, as well as her skills in healing. She had witnessed Sesshōmaru suddenly return and leave with his newborn half-demon twin daughters because of Kirinmaru and Zero. One of Sesshōmaru's daughters, a ten year old Setsuna returned to her village to live with her four years ago, but didn't stay long as she returned to the Hanyō Hidden Village after almost killing two bandits who attacked the village. Setsuna would return for good shortly thereafter, and Kaede would explain Setsuna's heritage to Hisui while the girl was briefly in Tokyo during the Reiwa era.

As Sesshōmaru's other daughter, Towa returns from the modern era, she meets Moroha, whom she quickly recognized as Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter.

Kaede was shocked to see Inuyasha and Kagome are back and still alive, but she said no they're not as Kagome tells Kaede to evacuate the villagers to a safe location, Kaede thinks there's another war but Kagome said no which means that Kirinmaru is coming as he's planning for the Degenerate Age. As hordes of demons attacked, she was finally able to fire one sacred arrow after another to exterminate them, a greater feat she said was the extent of her very limited powers.

Personality

As seen, Kaede is a kind priestess who tends to people all over the village. Although a patient person, Kaede can sometimes be very serious and aggressive. Being the sister of a priestess, Kaede adopts many similar personalities and characteristics from her sister, often calling Kikyō her idol.

As Kaede states in Hanyō no Yashahime, she has seen so much death in the Sengoku jidai, that she no longer has any great emotional concern if someone is alive; though she still cares for others who need her care. Though this may have to do with her age, as she has reached her 8th decade of life, a rarity for her era. Still, she seems to wish the world were more peaceful; she was distressed when she saw the ten-year-old Setsuna almost kill two fleeing bandits who had attacked the village, expressing dismay that Setsuna would go to such lengths at such a young age.

Physical description

Kaede bore a very striking resemblance to her sister Kikyō in her youth. She had long black hair that was tied into a loose ponytail by a white ribbon with bangs hanging above her forehead. In her old age, her long hair has grayed and her facial appearance has altered slightly, as her face dons various aged creases and wrinkles, fair skin, and brown eyes. Kaede is of short stature with a surprisingly slim build for her age, however, has a slightly bigger build that has accumulated with old age.

Outfit

Kaede's clothing is identical to Kikyō's. She is normally seen wearing the traditional dress of a miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day. Kaede wears a white hakui (robe) with red sode-kukuri (cords) through the sleeves and 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. Kaede wears bright red hakama, which includes the small board at the lower back. On her feet, Kaede wears common tabi (socks) and straw sandals. During a battle prior to Kikyō's death, Kaede lost an eye. She now wears an iron tsuba (sword guard) as an eye-patch.

In her youth, Kaede wore an orange kimono with black markings, a brown obi, straw sandals, and usually a green furoshiki which is tied over her shoulders.

Powers & Abilities

• Great Spiritual Power: Kaede is a priestess of considerable power, and she has many spiritual abilities that she uses for combat and healing. Although not nearly as powerful as Kikyō, Kaede possesses very high spiritual powers, being able to sense demonic auras and other supernatural occurrences. Kaede, later on, taught these same skills and abilities to Kagome (Kikyō's reincarnation) who later became powerful in their use herself.
  • Sutra Magic: Kaede can use sutra spells to ward off demons; she was once shown doing this in tandem with Miroku.
  • Spiritual Barrier: Kaede is shown to be capable of conjuring a large barrier around her village to prevent anything from attacking its inhabitants. Creating the barrier, however, seems to have weakened her considerably and places strain on her elderly body.
  • Subjugation Spell: It was Kaede who cast the subjugation spell on Inuyasha, which is activated by Kagome whenever she tells Inuyasha to "sit."
• Spiritual Awareness: Just like Kikyō and Kagome, Kaede can see things that are normally invisible to normal people, such as the bright light coming out of the Bone-Eater's Well and the supernaturally imperceptible hair of Yura -- something notable as Kaede doesn't have the use of her right eye anymore.
• Peak Human Endurance: When she was but a child, Kaede was able to endure having her right eye lost to a demon and recovered enough to rejoin the battle for the Shikon Jewel. Later on in her advanced age, Kaede would endure an attack that incapacitated her right arm by Yura but still capable of fighting.
• Master Archer and Markswoman: Kaede wields a bow and arrow with much skill and accuracy, being able to shoot a target with precision despite her missing eye. Due to her old age, her accuracy has somewhat decreased. This skill most likely made her very formidable in her prime considering that she was personally tutored by her sister, Kikyō, who is well known for being more powerful than any average priestess.
• High Intelligence: Even when Kaede was only ten years old, she displayed great knowledge and insight on life in the feudal era. After aging fifty years, Kaede became very experienced and intellectual, and as such many of the villagers and members of Inuyasha's group would often come to her for advice whenever they faced great obstacles. This ranged from matters concerning the quest for the Shikon Jewel shards or emotional problems that their immaturity created.

Weapons

• Bow and Sacred Arrows: Being trained in the similar ways of the priestess as her older sister, Kikyō, Kaede utilizes a bow and arrow as her main weapons.
  • Sacred Arrow: Kaede can charge arrows with her spiritual powers, enhancing their effectiveness against demons. Her sacred arrows, however, are not as powerful as those of Kikyō and Kagome. When Kaede was a child, her sacred arrows had a small pink aura, with about half the brightness of Kikyō's own sacred arrow. Her arrows no longer have any spiritual light, which is probably due to her old age and not wanting to expend her spiritual power.
  • Arrow of Sealing: Though not having actually use it herself, Kikyō had taught her the arrow of sealing should there be a demon her spiritual powers can't defeat but only seal away.
• Beads of Subjugation: Kaede was the one who placed the beads of subjugation on Inuyasha when he attempted to take the Shikon Jewel after killing Mistress Centipede. She took the beads from her attire and magically had it transport itself onto Inuyasha's neck and had Kagome utter the words of subjugation.

Weaknesses

• Emotions: According to Tsubaki, when a priestess abandons all human emotion (e.g. love) her true power emerges.
• Mortality: Despite her spiritual powers, Kaede is still human and shared many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, blood loss, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.).
• Overexertion: Exerting one's spiritual powers beyond a certain point can cause extreme physical exhaustion and, if taken to the extreme, death.
• Spiritual Powers: Despite having great spiritual power herself, Kaede still proved susceptible to the effects of spiritual power. For example, Kaede could be kept at bay through spirit shields.

Relationships

Family

Kikyō

Kikyō was her only family left after her parents and idolized her sister because of her bravery. After Kikyō's death, Kaede became a miko, and held that title for fifty years. After Kikyō's resurrection, she didn't recognize Kaede initially, though they met a few times later. When Kikyō's soul finally passed on, she apologized to Kaede for the mistakes she made.

Allies

Inuyasha

When Inuyasha was first freed from Kikyō's spell by Kagome, he did not recognize Kaede because she had aged fifty years, though he remembered who she was when she explained everything. Inuyasha was often rude to Kaede, referring to her as an "old hag" on numerous occasions. Despite Inuyasha's rudeness, he did care for Kaede; he rushed over to her when he smelled her blood after she was attacked by Urasue.^[1]

Kagome Higurashi

Kaede was the first person that Kagome encountered when she first was dragged into the Feudal Era. Kagome cares deeply for her and vice-versa; Kaede's village was where Kagome and her friends normally were, so Kaede and Kagome spent a lot of time together. At the end of the series, after Kagome decided to live in the Feudal Era permanently, Kaede began teaching her how to become a true priestess.

Myōga

A flea yōkai and a servant of Inuyasha's and his father's, she learned that someone was searching for his father's tomb. After that, she was surprised that Kagome could pick up the Tessaiga and learned from Myōga that Tōga had it forged for the purpose of protecting Inuyasha's mother. In the movie Affections Touching Across Time, she and Myōga ride on Shippō as they hurried to Kagome, as Myōga knew that Kirara has the same spell, but then they stop as the Bone-Eater's Well has been covered up because of the Tree of Ages had awakened. Myōga sniffed that it was Inuyasha, and Kaede and Shippō followed him to the Sacred Tree of Ages where they saw him unconscious. After the defeat of Menōmaru and the destruction of the Tree of Ages, Myōga and Kaede are having a tea. After the battle inside the stone oni, as Kaede asked Sango of how's Miroku doing, Sango answered that he still have some Saimyōshō poison in his system, as Myōga said that there's nothing to help him to suck his blood away the poison from Saimyōshō. Since Inuyasha is sulking about or other, he tells Kaede that Inuyasha upset because he couldn't overcome the demonic aura of the Sacred Jewel shard. Shippō said that makes sense to him that he can't believe his demonic nature got the best of him before Inuyasha punch Shippō's head while hit on Myōga.

Rikichi

At the side of the elderly Kaede, there is often a helper of the village called Rikichi, which helps in matters that concern the welfare of the village, including the extermination of demons of low rank. Rikichi has great respect towards the priestess Kaede and on one occasion defends her from an attack.

Sesshōmaru

She met Inuyasha's older half-brother Sesshōmaru as he brought Kohaku to the village that he and the others told her about Magatsuhi, and leave Rin and Jaken behind to take care of Kohaku. After the final battle with Naraku, she advised him to let Rin learn how to live amongst humans first so she can choose to resume traveling with him or live in a human village. After Sesshōmaru said that he expected that Magatsuhi's true form survived and abducted Rin, Kaede asked him that is he suggesting that Magatsuhi's true form was hiding Miroku, but Sesshōmaru knew that Magatsuhi's true form hiding Rin all the time. Three years later after the defeat of Naraku, she advised him that to let Rin learn how to live amongst humans first so she can choose to resume traveling with him or live in a human village. As Sesshōmaru visit Rin, Kaede was surprised of an another present like a new kimono to Rin. Four years later, as the twins were born and they were in danger because of Kirinmaru's older sister Zero, that he takes the twins safely, she called him a 'a fool' asked where he's going to do with them, and Sango asked what's going on, and he said that it's "a rite of courage and cowardice."

Rin

Rin was a young orphan girl who traveled around with Sesshomaru, Jaken, and A-Un and temporary Kohaku. After the defeat of Naraku, Kaede strongly suggested to Sesshomaru that Rin needs to get reaacustomed living with humans again. Kaede took it upon herself to raise Rin. Rin assisted Kaede with everyday jobs, including special occasions such as the birth of Sango and Miroku's son and helped clean after his birth. Years later, Kaede was present when Rin gave birth to Towa and Setsuna. Later that night, after the twins were born, Rin had disapeared and Kaede didn't know if Rin left on her own or if she was taken but never found out and suspected Rin might have died. After several years, Rin and Sesshomaru's youngest daughter, Setsuna arrived at Kaede's village. Setsuna told Kaede she would be living with her for a while. Another several years passed and Kaede met Towa. While on a night of the new moon, Kaede said Towa looked so much like Rin, they lived together for many years and she had a kind and caring soul. Currently, it is unknown if Kaede now knows that Rin is still alive, which means that she has fully recovered from the Silver Scale Curse.

Moroha

Despite the fact that Kaede did not raise Moroha as a baby because of Kirinmaru, Kaede specially cares for her whenever she visits her home. Kaede sees Kagome in Moroha, while she is growing.

Enemies

Naraku

Kaede met Naraku as a severely wounded bandit named Onigumo 50 years prior when she was still young. Kikyō had found the wounded bandit and decided to nurse him out of pity inside a cave. Kaede later helps and assist Kikyō in healing Onigumo despite not liking him. Kaede initially wanted to tell Inuyasha about Onigumo but was told not to by Kikyō since she thought Inuyasha would become jealous. After learning that Naraku once was Onigumo, she shared the information to the resurrected Kikyō who was longing for the truth about her death.

Quotes

---

---

---

---

Trivia

• Kaede shares her name with a character from Urusei Yatsura, another series by Rumiko Takahashi.
• Her seiyū, Hisako Kyōda, voiced several characters from Takahashi's previous series. They include Yatsude from Urusei Yatsura, Sawa Kannagi from Mermaid Saga, Yukari Godai from Maison Ikkoku, Sentaro Daimonji's Grandmother from Ranma ½, and Kayoko from the short story Extra-Large Size Happiness as part of the Rumiko Takahashi's anthology series Rumic Theater.
• In the English dub, Kaede speaks with a faux "old English" accent, frequently using "Ye" to refer to other people. She is the only person in the series to speak in such a way.
• 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 Shippō. In the dream sequence, Kaede is shown as having both of her eyes.
• She is renamed as "Geumsamae" ("Goldencup St. John's wort") in the Korean dub, which means "passion", "love sorrow" or "unchanging love" in meaning of flowers.
• She was featured as a young woman in The Holy Pearl.
• Kaede long-lived for someone in her Era, having reached 80.

Media appearances

Manga

Anime

InuYasha Episode 1 (First appearance) Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 7 Episode 11 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 (Appears in a flashback) Episode 23 Episode 38 Episode 47 Episode 48 InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 (Illusion) Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 70 Episode 71 Episode 75 Episode 78 (Appears in thoughts) Episode 80 Episode 82 Episode 83 Episode 89 Episode 92 (Appears in a flashback) InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass (Credits only) Episode 126 Episode 127 Episode 129 Episode 135 Episode 137 Episode 147 Episode 148 Episode 150 Episode 151 (Appears in a flashback) Episode 160 Episode 167 InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island (Credits only)

InuYasha The Final Act Episode 170 Episode 175 Episode 184 Episode 185 Episode 186 Episode 187 Episode 188 Episode 189 Episode 192 Episode 193

Hanyō no Yashahime

References

See also

InuYasha
Series	Anime (InuYasha The Final Act • Hanyō no Yashahime) • Manga
Characters	Inuyasha • Kagome Higurashi • Miroku • Sango • Shippō • Kirara • Kikyō • Sesshōmaru • Jaken • Rin • A-Un • Kohaku • Kōga • Naraku
Films	Affections Touching Across Time • The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass • Swords of an Honorable Ruler • Fire on the Mystic Island
Video Games	InuYasha • Naraku no Wana! Mayoi no Mori no Shōtaijō • A Feudal Fairy Tale • The Secret of the Cursed Mask • Feudal Combat • Secret of the Divine Jewel • CR InuYasha Judgement Infinity