Kikyo

Kikyō (桔梗, "Chinese Bellflower") is a shrine priestess who lived 50 years prior to the main events of the series. She was responsible for purifying the Shikon Jewel and was the former lover of Inuyasha. After being deceived and fatally injured by the half-demon Naraku, Kikyō bound Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree with a sacred arrow and sacrificed her own life to keep the Jewel from returning to the realm of the living. Shortly after the Jewel was brought back to the Feudal Era, Kikyō was resurrected by the demon ogress Urasue. After learning of the circumstances of her death, she resolved to destroy Naraku and to purge the Shikon Jewel from the world.

Appearance
Kikyō is a beautiful pale-skinned woman with long black hair that is often tied into a low loose ponytail by a white ribbon with bangs hanging above over forehead and brown eyes. She is 169 cm (5'6), very tall for a Japanese woman in the Sengoku Jidai, making her a centimeter taller than Inuyasha.

Outfit
Kikyō wore the traditional dress of a miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day except for the lack of the slit-shoulder seam. Kikyō wore a white jacket with sode-kukuri (cords) through the sleeves and open shoulders (similar to Inuyasha's and Jaken's outfits). Strings called muna-himo were attached to each lapel and tied in front to keep the garment closed. Kikyō's kosode would be very much like a modern Kendo or Naginata Keikogi, with the sleeve fitting somewhat closely like a modern loose shirt and extending slightly past the wrist. The slits on the side of her hakama, and the openings at the sleeves and shoulders of her hitoe (jacket) showed the white kosode she sported. This was a deliberate fashion effect. Kikyō wore a bright red nagabakama (a very long hakama), which included the small board on the lower back. Like a majority of other characters, she also was perpetually barefoot throughout the series, however this was changed in the anime where Kikyō wore common tabi (socks) and rice straw sandals. Kikyō sported a red Obi, or belt, over all her other garments.