Kagome Higurashi (日暮 かごめ) is the modern-day reincarnation of the feudal era miko, Kikyō, and the main female protagonist of the series InuYasha. She was born in modern Japan as a teenager and was unknowingly born with the legendary Shikon no Tama inside her body until the day of her fifteenth birthday, when a yōkai pulled her into her family's sacred well, taking her roughly five hundred years back in time. They emerge in the feudal era, where the demon extracts the newly reborn gem from Kagome.
Kagome accidentally shatters the jewel into hundreds of fragments that disperse all throughout Japan. Together with the hanyō Inuyasha, she had to recover all the shards of the Jewel before they fall into the evil influence of the evil mastermind Naraku.
Personality[]
Although she was just a normal, modern girl, Kagome was strangely unfazed by the horrors, violence, and death in the Warring States era because of her strong spirit. Her heart is pure and kind, with it even being revealed that the only dark part that she ever had in her heart was her secret jealousy she had over Inuyasha's relationship and feelings towards Kikyō, but even this she eventually moves past. Even with this, she was not without her flawed, quirky side, which is typical of a girl her age.
She was unforgiving of anyone who opposed her sense of justice, even when there was a large difference in power. A notable example of this was when she almost killed Naraku out of her disgust and fury towards his evil, manipulative nature. Since then, she had wanted him destroyed as much as her companions. Without waiting for someone to help her, she jumps into situations that sometimes put her in danger. However, she never learns her lesson. Kagome's reckless courage is known to always be in full force. Although she did not know left from right in the Warring States era at first, and people kept calling her Kikyō's reincarnation because of her striking resemblance as well as spiritual power to her, she felt no fear and stayed strong. She takes great pride in just being herself, and is adamantly persistent at being much more than a "Kikyō look alike", for she is completely different from Kikyō and was outraged at both Inuyasha (at first) and the dark priestess Tsubaki for seeing her as such.
Because of her empathetic, gentle heart, Kagome never hesitated to help those in need of help. However perverse, of whatever race, tribe, or appearance they may be, she treated them all with warmth and respect. She was never afraid to voice her opinion on what's right and what's wrong, making her somewhat opinionated and stubborn. Somewhere along the way, she broke the tension between herself and Inuyasha, who at the time was deeply wounded from the supposed betrayal he had suffered and trusted no one, being used to being alone. With her ability of making people feel accepted and at ease, she gained true friends. Kagome's talent of changing others who suffered misfortune is constantly shown, as she changed all of her friends in some way: Jinenji (by accepting his half demon nature and being one of the first to show kindness to him), Miroku (refused to let him be alone once finding out about his Wind Tunnel and insisted on him coming with, which in turn caused him to be more open), Sango (showed sympathy and kindness towards her after Sango's family was murdered as well as Kohaku's fate as their worst enemy's subordinate), Shippō (doted on him which caused Shippō to see her as a mother figure), and most of all, Inuyasha. In the anime, Kagome is seen as a matchmaker of sorts and meddles in other people's situations if she wants (Miroku and Sango's relationship in particular).
In the Warring States Era infested with evil spirits, Kagome gradually became a sort of conduit between people and demons. Inuyasha is poor at expressing himself without pride or gentle words, and Kagome with her perception of Inuyasha's true feelings, interpreting his words is one of her important roles. Despite being exasperated with Inuyasha's rudeness and tactless words, she nevertheless learns to put up with it, especially when she learns of his more gentle side.
Joy, sadness, welled-up rage... Kagome's emotions are always rich and somewhat uncontrollable at times, strangely similar to Inuyasha's own lack of self-control. Even if she doesn't say a word, Kagome's feelings are easy to read. Her honest, emotional expressions cause those around her to soften, even in tough situations, and they cause others to be honest as well. Kagome has a weakness for anything cute, whether a demon or otherwise, which has been shown in both the anime and manga. Kagome is usually seen as a calm, compassionate person, but has a hidden violent side to her when her short temper is brought into play. Inuyasha is the cause of this usually, because of his blunt, ill-mannered, childish nature which she can almost never tolerate nor has the patience for, though there are times she does regret this. Despite her genuine love for him, Kagome uses Sit! on him frequently in the anime, which she almost never regrets or apologizes for (unless it was by accident). She has been shown to apologize once or twice to Inuyasha, but never really seems to mean it, which causes him to be annoyed. Her wild, turbulent and erratic emotions towards him can range from concern over him to relief at seeing Inuyasha safe to anger over his reckless behavior (making her a hypocrite considering her own reckless courage), and then burst out sobbing her mixed emotions. Kagome was often greatly disgusted towards her friend Miroku's lecherous ways, and never hesitated to criticize him over it, but over time, became resigned towards it, knowing he was never going to change. She could be blunt and make a harsh point to someone, even to a friend.
When Kagome is involved in battles, she used her knowledge to the fullest and analyzed the situation to the best of her ability, unlike that of Inuyasha who just recklessly jumps in without thinking. When she is backed into a corner, she figured out solutions and dared to execute it, often producing unexpected good results. While she does not have particularly great cunning or intelligence like Miroku does, Kagome's words are somehow able to move others. She instilled confidence and unconscious obedience with her positive and cheerful character. The somewhat simple-minded Inuyasha or Kōga cannot resist Kagome's encouragement. Kagome has stated in Movie 3 that she hates to fight, but at the same time wouldn't leave Inuyasha to fight alone. She also can be slightly manipulative at times, as she would smoothly tell Kōga what he wants to hear despite it not coming from the heart, and it has the desired effect.
Kagome is clumsy in love. She is shown to almost never able to hide her feelings of love, even when she tries to. Her curious school friends always coerced her into reporting her love life, even against her protests. Even if she does not tell them anything, her friends can guess what is going on from her facial expressions. Her classmates could easily see her love for Inuyasha, even when Kagome herself was not fully conscious of it. Her relationship with Inuyasha is, at first, simply companions on a journey, and they constantly quarreled at the beginning, always arguing and bickering with each other. As she came to understand Inuyasha's reliable strength and surprisingly vulnerable side, small feelings of love towards him began to grow inside her which only grew stronger as time passed. Kagome, however, soon became hurt by what Inuyasha said and did to protect Kikyō, but was even more pained by the jealousy in her own heart at this. It was Kagome's first time ever falling in love but also the first time she had ever felt truly bitter over something. Despite her envy that hurt her deeply, she refused to leave Inuyasha's side even if meant her pain due to his feelings for Kikyō. Her refusal to leave Inuyasha surprises her friends because of all the pain these situations cause her, but she is shown to love Inuyasha too much to be without him, despite the pain it often causes her. All she is shown to truly want is for Inuyasha to be happy, so she henceforth figured that he would be happy if he had both her and Kikyō, all the more reason she refuses to leave his side. She has reached the breaking point more than once in the triangle situations between herself, Inuyasha, and Kikyō, but is devoted to stand by Inuyasha despite his feelings for Kikyō and often just handles the emotional pain it brings on her in the best way she can, truly showing how strong a character she is. When he was tired, she healed him, and when he is hurt she embraced him. Whatever the case she kept watch over Inuyasha and was always a source of comfort. She accepted all the worry and pain inside of herself, and gave him enormous love so that they could remain together, even as friends, yet always hold out on the hope that they can be more.
Both Kikyō and Kagome have the same feelings towards Inuyasha. Because of that Kagome decided she would do everything in her power to help him and be dedicated, even saving Kikyō's life on several occasions both for him and for the fact that it is the right thing to do. Kagome's love for Inuyasha is such that she can accept Inuyasha's love for Kikyō as well as her own jealous heart, which goes to show how selfless a character she is.
She is the one the others turn to whenever they need emotional support or advice, and she is also the one everyone in the group quickest to defend or worry for.
LOTM: The Angels Return[]
In this story, Kagome is paying for her abuse to Inuyasha. Now HE tells HER to sit. Angewomon tried to talk sense into her, but Kagome would have none of it! We could only wonder how long until all consequences would catch up to her...and what would happen?
As it turned out, Angewomon was right about consequences being worse, for Kagome met her end in Jigsaw's deadly love triangle trap. But it didn't stop there. Her soul managed to still be able to walk around in the world of the living...and throw a fit at Inuyasha for his decision. Finally, the half-demon yelled at her to "go to Hell". This was heard by Knockout, who was still greatly displeased for how Kagome had spoken disrespectfully about the Autobots. Granting Inuyasha's wish, Knockout delivered a final punishment on Kagome in Drag me to Hell style!
Trivia[]
- While Kagome's given name is only written in hiragana as かごめ, based off the stated meaning presented in the series, it is almost certainly derived from the kanji 籠目, (lit. "basket eye"), which refers to a "kagome lattice" (an arrangement of interlaced lath triangles whereat each point two laths cross has four neighboring points) and a kind of lattice-style woven basket used as a birdcage, a nod to the children's game, "kagome kagome" (かごめかごめ), similar to Blind man's buff, which refers to a 'bird' trapped in a cage. This a metaphor for the fact that for most of her life, the full extent of Kagome's spiritual powers were sealed away at birth by Magatsuhi, the evil incarnation within the Shikon Jewel, and her future capacity to know where her "target" is.
- According to the anime, Kagome's mother named her "Kagome" as in a 'kagome mon' (籠目紋), a Star of David-like crest that appears at the intersection of patterns throughout a kagome lattice.
- Her full name, which uses the characters for "evening" and a star shape, could plausibly be interpreted as "Evening Star", i.e. the planet Venus.
- In the beginning of the Manga, in 1997, the franchise's Mangaka, Rumiko Takahashi, originally drew Kagome wearing socks from the Japanese school fashion fad, "Kogal", but shortly into the series, Kagome's socks became normal. By the events of end of the Manga, in 2008, Kagome was shown with a flip-phone cellphone model from 2008.
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