Midoriko

Midoriko (&#32736;&#23376;) was a great miko (Shrine Maiden) from the past in the anime series InuYasha. During a battle between herself and y&#333;kai, the battle was sealed into the Jewel of the Four Souls (&#22235;&#39746;&#12398;&#29577;, Shikon no Tama) a.k.a. the Shikon Jewel.

She was able to seize the souls of y&#333;kai and purify them, this power coming from having a positive balance of the four souls (See Jewel of Four Souls) within her heart, and in a time of many y&#333;kai ravaging the earth those who possessed spiritual powers such as hers were considered to be as powerful as 100 samurai. Her spiritual power alone paled that of any other person alive, and it was said she could purify and destroy 10 y&#333;kai at once. Her final adversary and the one that claimed her life was created by many y&#333;kai joined and anchored within the evil heart of a human who secretly lusted for her, similar to how Onigumo loved Kikyo (Kiky&#333;) and created Naraku.

After 7 days and 7 nights of fighting, Midoriko realized that she would be unable to fight off the y&#333;kai, and as she was drawn into the creature's massive jaws, she seized the spirit of the y&#333;kai and bound it within her own with the last of her power, killing both of them and creating the Shikon Jewel, which burst from her chest, similar to how it burst from Kagome's chest in Chapter 2 of the original Manga. Within the jewel, her soul and the souls of the y&#333;kai she bound with it still battle on, and this is why the state of the jewel depends on who possesses it.

The anime series also shows that Kirara was once her pet long before Sango was born.

Kikyo later uses her Shinidamachu (shinidamach&#363;) to recover the rest of Midoriko's soul to help her survive Naraku's sh&#333;ki.

There has been some speculation in the fandom that Midoriko is an ancestor of either Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sango. Several cases can be made for any of these possibilities; however, there is no indication in the series that Midoriko even bore children, much less any sort of concrete link between Midoriko and any of the main characters. Some have even made the case that Midoriko was Inuyasha's mother. This however was disproven as of Inuyasha Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler.

Though the two women are drawn similarly by the anime artists, Inuyasha's mother, Izayoi, is revealed in the third movie to be a princess (daughter of a feudal lord) who fell in love with Inuyasha's father. She is presumed to have died of natural causes, and is shown in Inuyasha's memories to have raised him for at least part of his childhood in a feudal court. By all accounts, she was a gentle soul and was in no way equipped to fight demons as Midoriko was. The Shikon no Tama is reputed to have existed for centuries before Inuyasha was born, and was created by Midoriko's death. Izayoi did not die until after Inuyasha was born, as clearly shown in the third movie. Therefore, any resemblance to Midoriko on a physical level is simply coincidence.