Kagura (InuYasha)

Kagura (神楽, かぐら, Kagura, lit. the dance of the gods) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series InuYasha.

Overview

Kagura the wind sorceress is the second detachment of Naraku, and is a wind-yōkai (demon). She is first seen in volume 15 of the manga on page 55. From very early on, her chief desire is to kill Naraku in order to free herself from his control. However, because Naraku carries her heart, her defiance could lead to her death in a heartbeat. Like the wind she was born of, she wishes to be as free and will gain that freedom any way she can.

With her scarlet eyes and jade earrings, she was designed to resemble one of the Shinto dancers of her namesake, kagura. Like most of Naraku's children, she has a spider-shaped scar on her back - the result of Onigumo's presence within Naraku.

Kagura's primary weapon is her fan, which allows her to create and manipulate powerful winds. It was created by Naraku using his bones in a manner similar to Abi-Hime's halberd. It is a durable weapon; in the manga, it successfully blocked Sango's Hiraikotsu. Some speculate that even though she is a wind sorceress, her power emanates from her fan rather than being intrinsic. She has said that she can't perform her supernatural abilities without it, though it is likely a deception. She has been shown to be able to manipulate the wind without her fan, in one case, she controls the wind around herself without the fan to prevent InuYasha from using the Kaze no Kizu on her. She is also able to fly upon her feather without the assistance of her fan. Her fan is, therefore, most likely used to direct her attacks more easily, in the same way Kagome can take up any bow and shoot purifying arrows — the wind attacks come from Kagura's power, not her fan.

Despite such impediments, she works toward his death, mostly by manipulating the two camps opposed to Naraku, those of InuYasha (She finds out about the night he loses his powers, but chooses to keep it a secret so InuYasha can defeat Naraku) and Sesshomaru for whom she possibly develops some romantic feelings. When seriously injured after a battle at Goryomaru's compound, she goes in search of Sesshomaru, who saves her (possibly because of Rin's intervention) after she falls into a river. When Rin asks if she went to Sesshomaru to be saved, she mentally replies, "No, I just thought that before I die ... I could see his face one more time." Slight arrogance and foolhardiness define her personality, and she likes to make wisecracks.

File:Kaguramanga.jpg

Kagura (Manga)

In the manga, Naraku charges her with her final job, which is to guard Goryōmaru at a prison. Hakudōshi convinces her to release him secretly, because he is secretly plotting with Akago to destroy Naraku. During this time, Kohaku inadvertently reveals to Kagura he has recovered his memory. The two end up becoming unlikely allies, sharing information as to Naraku's weaknesses and somewhat gaining the other's trust due to their common desire for his destruction. Kagura grows protective of Kohaku and ultimately defies Naraku openly in order to protect him and allow him to escape. As a result, Naraku grants Kagura her wish by giving her back her heart - but then pumps her full of his corrosive shōki, by impaling her with his tentacles, ensuring her death, and leaves her to enjoy her freedom in what little time she has it.

Catching the scent of Naraku's shōki, Sesshomaru tracks Kagura down in this state, and when she tells him Naraku is not there he reveals that he knew it was her. He considers trying to use Tenseiga to save her life, but the sword is unable to do so and does not respond. (Notably, this is one of only two times Sesshomaru has attempted to use Tenseiga to save a life without the sword prompting him.) However, Kagura seems content to have seen Sesshomaru one more time. She thinks: "In the End, I was with you..." She dies peacefully as the free wind, her body dissolving into the air as InuYasha and the gang stand helplessly on the side. When InuYasha later asks if Kagura was suffering, Sesshomaru says that she was smiling. And Kagura's last thoughts were: "I am the wind. The free wind..."

Later on, while Sesshomaru is battling Mōryōmaru, the latter taunts him about Kagura's death, saying that her death was meaningless and her dying wish futile. The taunts anger Sesshomaru to the point that he breaks his sword Tōkijin with the force of his attack on Mōryōmaru, and succeeds in damaging Mōryōmaru's armored shell. Following this battle, Tōtōsai approaches Sesshomaru, telling him that he has finally displayed the compassion which will enable him to use Tenseiga as a weapon. It is because of Kagura and Sesshomaru's concern for her, in other words, that Sesshomaru is able to learn the powerful Meidō Zangetsuha technique. Only in the manga does Kagura die; she was still alive at the end of the anime as it ended before reaching that point.

Name

Kagura (神楽, かぐら) means "the dance of the gods". Ka is from the word kami ("god(s)") and the dance is an ancient Shinto ritual — the oldest known to this day. Her name is pronounced "KAH-gu-ra". However, most characters pronounce her name so fast it's pronounced more like "KAH-gra".

Appearance

File:Kagura.gif

Kagura (Anime)

Kagura's hair is black and typically worn up a knot with two feathers in it. She has green earrings made up of five green beads and her eyes are distinctly red with no reflection showing. Like all of Naraku's detachments, Kagura has a spider shaped scar on her back. The kimono she wears resembles those worn by kagura dancers, her namesake. Kagura wears a kimono with three layers. Occasionally, she will drop the right sleeve of the outermost layer to increase her movement in battle. In episode 40, she in seen without the outer layer of her kimono. The inner layer was initially red while the outer layer was blue with a white pattern. Her kimono changes after her initial encounter with InuYasha; the inner layer is blue and the outer layer has a dark-pink and white striped pattern. The innermost layer, of which only the neck is ever seen, has always been a light shade of green. There are about four different kimonos she has been wearing, nearing the end of the anime, she was wearing a kimono with thick and thin bands on it with a sort of symbol. In the manga, the kimono she wore on the day of her death was the one decorated with pink butterflies and yellow rings. She is perpetually barefoot throughout the series.

Abilities

Kagura can create and control the winds, giving her a broad range of abilities. She always carries a large folding fan which she uses to summon and focus her powers.

Main (Wind) Attacks:

Dance of Blades (Fujin no Mai, "dance of the wind")

Kagura's basic attack. With a sharp wave of her fan, she flings multiple crescent-shaped wind blades towards her enemies. These missiles strike with deadly, often explosive force.

Dance of the Dead (Shikabane-Mai)

Kagura animates and controls corpses or soulless beings (those taken by Kanna's mirror) to fight for her or serve as messengers.

Dance of the Dragon (Ryuuja no Mai)

Her strongest attack, where she forms several twisters or one huge twister to launch at her enemies. It is used to suppress the wind scar, hold off a strong assault or trap a foe within the vortex. The twisters are at high speed and are entirely under Kagura's control.

Kagura also has the ability to enlarge one of the feathers she wears in her hairband. Once expanded, the feather can be used as a sort of magic carpet for Kagura and at least one passenger to ride, powered by the winds she creates.

Relationships

Naraku

Despite the fact Naraku created her, Kagura despises him because she is nothing but a dispensable tool to him. Because he holds her heart, she cannot hope to defy him without fear that he can easily kill her.

Kanna

The first detachment of Naraku, Kagura's older sister. Unlike Kagura, she is loyal, likely because she does not care about her fate. She looks younger than Kagura, but is often the wiser of the two. Kagura finds her somewhat creepy and submissive while Kanna seems to consider Kagura foolhardy. They do not seem to have a particular opinion of the other, especially since Kanna thinks nothing of obeying Naraku's orders to lure her sister towards Naraku when he separated into the countless demons and punished her for disobeying him. Of Naraku's detachments, they are the only two besides Hakudōshi to survive multiple battles.

Sesshomaru

Kagura initially intends to use Sesshomaru in the same way she hopes to use InuYasha, encouraging him to destroy Naraku so that she can be free. Impressed by his strength, she approaches him, offering a shard of the Shikon Jewel if he will kill Naraku. He flatly refuses. However, after seeing him in action several times, Kagura's opinion of Sesshomaru only grows, and she becomes convinced that only he will be able to kill Naraku. She helps Sesshomaru on several occasions by providing him with information, and seems to develop feelings for him.

Kohaku

Sango's younger brother, who is resurrected by Naraku with a shard of the Shikon no Tama. After he secretly recovers his memory, he works to destroy Naraku by learning of Naraku's secrets. He inadvertently reveals the truth to Kagura and the two become somewhat allied, probably because of the similarity of their situations. She protects Kohaku from Hakudōshi, helping him escape when Hakudōshi plans to take his jewel shard even though such an act of open defiance puts her own life in danger and she could have protected herself by remaining uninvolved.

Koga

The leader of the Yōrō-Zoku (wolf-yōkai tribe). He despises Kagura because she slew his kin and set him up to fight InuYasha (whom he already disliked) while she has a very low opinion of him and thinks he is weak.

Goshinki

Kagura's younger brother, Naraku's third detachment. He does not last more than one battle against InuYasha and his friends. Kagura thinks that Goshinki is nothing but a brainless glutton until he reads her mind.

Akago and Hakudōshi

Originally one entity, a baby that can read minds and find darkness in people's hearts and use it to take control of them. A priest slices the child in two and Kanna and Kagura each take a half, Kanna's half remaining the baby Akago while Kagura's half becomes Hakudōshi. Kagura does not trust Hakudōshi anymore than Naraku, despite the fact he appears to be defying Naraku as well.

InuYasha

While Kagura is not exactly an ally of InuYasha, she has no intention of destroying him because he may be the key to freeing her from Naraku. When she learns that he will become a human during the night of the new moon, she chooses not to tell Naraku knowing that InuYasha could very well be her trump card. InuYasha, while initially he sees her only as an ally of Naraku, manages to gain some sympathy for her, particularly when he realizes she has been protecting Sango's brother Kohaku and she wishes for Naraku's destruction.

Kikyo

Kagura often refers to her as "that woman" and Kikyo knows Kagura only as an agent of Naraku. They have had several encounters, one of which had Kikyo firing a warning arrow at her when Kagura attempted to attack a weakened InuYasha. In the second InuYasha movie, Kagura appears to acquire an item from Kikyo. Rather than fighting Kagura, Kikyo simply gives her the item and goes on her way, leaving the wind-sorceress puzzled but slightly grateful.

Kaguya-hime

In InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, Kagura and Kanna were walking through a forest when Kanna felt she was being called to a mirror decides to awaken princess Kaguya-hime. When awake Kaguya tells Kagura that she is able to grant Kagura true freedom. So Kagura eagerly agrees to gain that promised freedom from Kaguya. However, after Kaguya is freed from her mirror, Kagura asked for the freedom that she had been promised, but is turned down by Kaguya. When Kagura and Kanna are up in Kaguya's castle, Kagura tried to steal Kaguya's soul and fails. Then, Kaguya puts a spell on them both.

Music

InuYasha Ongaku Hen Ni

• "Kaze Tsukai Kagura" (「風使い神楽」, Wind-User Kagura) — Kagura's theme, a fast-moving piece that gives the effect of a strongly blowing wind.

Eiga InuYasha: Kagami no Naka no Mugenjō Ongaku Hen

• "Ubawareta Koromo" (「奪われた衣」, "Stolen Night") — An orchestration of Kagura's theme that plays when Kagura, Kanna and Kaguya attempt to steal the sleeve from InuYasha's robe.

Voice actresses

• Japanese seiyū: Izumi Ōgami
• English: Janyse Jaud
• Spanish: Diana Pérez
• Portuguese: Raquel Marinho
• German: Tatjana Pokorny
• Italian: Cinzia De Cariolis
• Hungarian: Csampisz Ildikó