A shrine maiden who loved InuYasha and was killed by Naraku (disguised as Inuyasha) who made the two fight fifty years prior (in InuYasha's time) to the story's start. She is brought back to life by the ogress Urasue. Although she looks alive, her body is still "dead," and she must ingest the souls of the dead to move.
Her body (an authentic one) is made of mud and leaves and is considered a clay doll with a portion of Kagome's soul. Still under the impression that Inuyasha had betrayed her, she tried to kill him and drag him to hell upon her reunion with him, but later on, pursues Naraku and decides to dedicate her time on the earthly realm to kill him after hearing from her sister Kaede about Naraku's involvement on what happened 50 years ago.
Though she acts cold toward Inuyasha and in numerous times implied that they were through, she still has feelings for him, and at the begining of the series displays jealousy toward her reincarnation, Kagome. Though instead of acting upon her feelings and jealousy she distances herself from Inuyasha and his group and continues to pursue Naraku alone, and during her journey, she gradually casts away her bitterness and returns to her older compassionate self. In the manga, she helps Kohaku and in the end dies peacefully in arms of InuYasha after being attacked by Naraku.
"Kikyou" means "bellflower." Although Kikyou is considered to be a supporting character, she is in fact, a main one. Her theme appears together with the themes of Kagome, Shippo, Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku in "Inuyasha´s Renga" (ost 2), that is the theme of the main characters.
