Kanna (神無, "God of Nothingness") was the first incarnation of Naraku. As a "concealed incarnation" of Naraku, Kanna had no scent and no demonic aura, making her undetectable to Inuyasha's senses and was also immune to demonic aura-related effects such as the Hakurei-zan barrier. Kanna was the only incarnation that Naraku trusted with important information about his actions, allowing her to give orders in his place. Even though she was a void, she still had her own emotion of sadness that she could not express. She was created from Naraku after he had gathered enough Jewel Shards to make him strong enough to make incarnations.
History
During the story
Kanna was seen walking with her mirror and some Saimyōshō towards a village, where she stole the souls of the inhabitants and turned them against Inuyasha and his friends. She was also tasked to take the Shikon Jewel fragment from Kagome but was unable to do so when her mirror almost burst, unable to contain Kagome's soul. When Kagome fired one of her arrows into the mirror, Kanna was forced to release the villagers' and Sango's souls or risk its destruction. She disappeared along with Naraku and Kagura.
After her initial appearance she used her mirror to spy on various things for Naraku.
Shichinintai Arc
After Inuyasha was able to destroy Naraku's barrier he retreated to the sacred mountain, Mount Hakurei, but not before resurrecting the Band of Seven and recruited the mummified priest Hakushin to add additional reinforcement. With Hakushin, Naraku created the sacred barrier to mask himself within the mountain, and expel his human heart out of him to become invincible. Since Hakushin's holy barrier prevented Naraku, Kagura and all other demons inside the mountain from leaving, Kanna, having no demonic aura, was used along with Kohaku to give Naraku's orders to the Band of Seven. She also told Bankotsu how to make his weapon stronger by embedding the Shikon fragments in its blade.
During the time that Inuyasha battles with Jakotsu in the middle of the mountain, Kanna informed Kagura that Miroku and Sango had entered the mountain and were trying to find Naraku. Later, after Naraku's new body was formed, Kagura takes the Infant to safety, while Kanna remained with Naraku until he successfully expelled Onigumo's Heart.
Akago Arc
Kanna's next task was to use the tainted Shikon Shard to control Kagome at the mountainside temple, a scheme that was once used by Tsubaki. Kagome, however, still maintained her heart and rejected the shard. Kanna escaped along with the baby and Kagura on Kagura's plume.
When the baby was cut in half, Kanna took one of the halves that regenerated and told Kagura to take the one that would regrow into Hakudōshi, saying that the Infant splitting in half was meant to be. Later, at a castle-town, a royal woman has a still-birth. Kanna then steals the souls of the vassals surrounding the woman, leaving only the mother alive. Kanna, along with Kohaku, gave the Infant to the woman, telling her that her child is actually alive, then wiping her memories. Naraku instructs Kanna and Kohaku to stay in the village, and protect the infant at all costs.
After Princess Abi attacks the castle, Naraku realizes his heart (the Infant) is no longer safe at the castle. He ordered Kohaku to slay every inhabitant and Kanna to suck out their souls to prevent Inuyasha group from finding any information about Naraku's heart, or that the baby survived. After leaving the castle, Kanna took the Infant and hid in a cave high up in a cliff wall. During this time, she was given Moryomaru by Hakudoshi. Later on while holding Naraku's heart, Kanna ran into Kikyō on an unnamed mountain area while making another escape and is attacked by Kikyō's sacred arrow. The baby was later given to Mōryōmaru, who killed and absorbed Goryōmaru per Naraku's command. While the rest of her siblings chose to betray Naraku, she was the one of the only ones who remained loyal to him. She felt sorry for Kagura because she had no real freedom.
Discovering Her own Heart
"I have... I have nothing. I have nothing." - Kanna
After Hakudōshi and Kagura's deaths and Byakuya's creation, she was ordered by Naraku to pretend to help Mōryōmaru strengthen his armor, telling him about twin demons, whose blood would make the armor even stronger. Naraku knew that the Infant couldn't read her mind due to the thought she doesn't have heart (which is later proven not true). After this, Kanna remained unseen, as Naraku had no use for her at the time. In the anime, Kanna had no appearances after the deaths of her siblings, until episode 10.
Kagura, did you get your freedom..?
Following the death of Kikyō, Kanna ventured to the flower field where Kagura had died at, reciting a poem as it rained. She found Kagura's fan, holding it and wondering if Kagura was now free and became the wind. It was at this time, Kanna realized she had nothing herself. Kanna walked off in the rain, until she saw a glistening pond by night fall, She tossed the fan into the water, bidding farewell to her sister. Byakuya of the Dreams arrived soon after, with an order from Naraku; she was to lure in Inuyasha's group and unleash her mirror.
In the manga, Kanna never performed a memorial for Kagura; she was waiting in a tree for orders when a gust of wind blew. She thought it was Kagura, but it was Byakuya with the same order.
Kanna's End
"Fools. Do they pity Kanna? But Kanna cannot feel a thing, be it pain, fear or sorrow. She cannot even understand the reason for your pity." — Naraku
Kanna with her transformed mirror
It becomes clear that she was fated to die by Naraku when she finally started to express her emotions (he reveals that her only purpose for existence is to destroy Inuyasha's group). In chapter 478 of the InuYasha manga (Kanna's Gravestone), Kanna becomes more dangerous than anyone expected. She battles the group using a glass demon that came from her mirror.
Kanna's Mirror Demon using the stolen powers of Inuyasha's sword
The glass demon copies the power of Tessaiga, robbing it of nearly all of its powers, including the Kaze no Kizu, Crimson Tessaiga, the Dragon-Scale power, and the Kongōsōha, leaving the real Tessaiga nothing more than an apparent shell. It also appears that if the glass demon is hurt, the injuries are inflicted on Kanna since a black mark appeared on her neck after Kagome's arrow struck the glass demon in the same place with no apparent effect on it, and the same thing occurred when Inuyasha struck the glass demon's left shoulder, which turns the demon into a fighting voodoo doll.
Kanna's heart, crushed by Naraku
When the group finds Kanna, she fires a ray of light from the sky down at Inuyasha. He reflects it with Tessaiga back at the glass demon. Kanna continues to receive damage to herself and the Tessaiga cracks from all of the light blasts. Kagome deduces that Kanna was ordered by Naraku to sacrifice her life in order to break Tessaiga. Because she continued to take most of the mirror demon's damage, Kanna indirectly loses her left hand and right arm during the battle; she also lost eyesight in her right eye. With her mirror defeated, Kanna is allowed to leave by Inuyasha's group, who tell her she's free; the very mention of freedom makes Kanna think of Kagura. In chapter 480, she was forced to die at Naraku's command, by shattering herself and the glass demon into hundreds of shards.(In the anime, he destroys her heart when Kagome tried getting closer to hear Kanna when she was saying something.) A shard manages to hit Kagome's right eye and through the shard, Kanna communicates to her the secret to defeating Naraku.
Other than that, Kanna has never shown signs of betrayal to Naraku and was his most loyal, trustworthy detachment (besides Byakuya). In the anime though, it start to appear sometime during the time Kagura left.
Kanna rested in peace
Although Naraku had commented upon Kanna's death that she had no thoughts and feelings; it was assumed that she did not care about either living or dying. However, after Kanna had communicated with Kagome just prior to her death, Kagome stated Kanna did not want to die and had feelings of her own. Kagome continues her wish to defeat Naraku and finally allows Kanna to rest in peace.
Legacy
Naraku managed to retrieve a shard of Kanna's mirror demon, instructing Byakuya to give it to Sesshōmaru. Once the shard was crushed and sprinkled over Tenseiga, it allowed the blade to copy/ steal Tessaiga's abilities just as the mirror demon itself had done. The shard's remains were later removed by breaking Tenseiga against Tessaiga.
Personality
Kanna originally had barely any sense of self, doing as Naraku ordered of her. She knew Naraku could kill her and Kagura at any time he wished; "It's in Naraku's hands, both life and death." As she harbored no ill will towards her creator, she was trusted above all her siblings, being allowed to give Kagura and Kohaku orders from him. Despite Naraku believing she wouldn't develop a will or emotions of her own, Kanna eventually did and began to question her own existence.
She appeared to have an ear for poetry, reciting some of the poems in InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass. In InuYasha: The Final Act, Kanna recites the same poem twice in "Naraku's Heart" and another one in "Flowers Drenched in Sadness". Each poem reflected something from each episode, such as Kagura's desire for freedom and questioning her own existence.
Powers & Abilities
Kanna carried a mirror that could steal the souls of those reflected in it. Once a soul was trapped by her mirror, Kanna could control that person's body to carry out her bidding. However, the mirror could be overwhelmed by an especially powerful soul such as Kagome's or Kikyō's incarnated soul. It couldn't steal souls from those who wear powerful items such as the Celestial Robe. It could also allow her to display what the Saimyōshō are seeing or anything being reflected by a mirror-like surface. It can also reflect almost any attack back at the sender; it can repel the Wind Scar, but not Sacred Arrows as they are powered by soul and thus would be swallowed into the mirror.
The mirror could also create a glass demon to copy the abilities of whatever it reflects, though Kanna herself suffered damage when the glass demon was wounded, making it a walking Voodoo doll. Also when Kanna had summoned the glass monster she could create a shadow of her mirror to shoot rays of light at her opponent but if something is sent into the mirror's shadow, the mirror itself breaks. She could also use the mirror's shadow to create a powerful barrier that reflected any attack back.
Because Kanna was a nihility demon, she possessed no scent or jaki (demonic aura), making it impossible to detect her without actually seeing her. She could even disappear and reappear at will indicating that, like Naraku, she also had the ability to teleport. Naraku took advantage of this by using her as a spy and sending her on secret errands. Another benefit of this property was that she was completely, or nearly completely, unaffected by spiritual powers. During the Shichinintai arc, she was able to wander freely inside of St. Hakushin's purifying barrier while Naraku, Kagura and Naraku's minions were confined to Mt. Hakurei's interior.
Relationships
Kanna is seen throughout the series as the most trusted of Naraku's incarnations. Kanna's mindless, soulless actions and personality make her a very valuable minion to Naraku. She does not complain or wander or think for herself like all of the other incarnations of the series. This is confirmed when she states to Kagura that "We are nothing more than Naraku's tools."
In the beginning, he entrusts Kanna with stealing Kagome's soul, in order to put an end to her troublesome spiritual powers. Later in the series he trusts her with duties he thinks are unfit for Kagura, such as accompanying Kohaku while running Naraku's errands during the Band-of-Seven arc, and caring for the Infant, who is later discovered to be Naraku's heart. After Kagura's death at Naraku's hands, Kanna begins to think about the meaning of her life and the possibility of her freedom. In the end, Naraku tries to sacrifice her in order to kill Inuyasha and his friends, but Kanna purposely fails in her last action and tells Kagome the secret to destroying Naraku for good.
Although never stated, it is possible that Kagura and Kanna are very close, as Kagura never had any ill thoughts about Kanna, (but we do know she had unkind thoughts of Goshinki, Musō, The Infant, and especially of Hakudōshi). In addition, Kanna sometimes seems to show concern for Kagura's well-being, such as warning her when it is unwise to defy Naraku. Kanna and Kagura's possible closeness is supported in the 2nd movie, in that even after Naraku's "death", they remain together as opposed to parting ways after they both have their freedom. It is also possible Kagura's betrayal and death inspired Kanna to betray Naraku; she finds Kagura's fan in a field of flowers and, looking at it, wonders aloud if Kagura gained her freedom and became the wind. Kanna later drops the fan into a lake, saying her last farewell to her sister. Kagura's death may have also caused Kanna to question her existence; when her death and "freedom" drew close, Kanna said Kagura's name in response. They are the first two incarnations of Naraku, and both of them live the longest as compared to all the other incarnations, many of which are killed after their first encounters with Inuyasha and his friends.
Kagome and Kanna never had much of a relationship mainly because they rarely encountered each other. But as the series progressed and after Kagura died, Kagome became more worried about Kanna. As shown during Kanna's final battle, when Kanna unleashed a mirror shadow on Inuyasha, Kagome warned Kanna about shooting the opening and when she died, Kagome screamed Kanna's name in clear disbelief. And after she died, Kanna spoke her last words to Kagome, telling her about the light that can kill Naraku. In the end, Kagome felt deep remorse over Kanna's death and expressed her deepest sympathy for her.
Manga vs. Anime
Kanna is given more characteristics in the anime than manga, as the reason for her to betray Naraku was because of Kagura. It was revealed that she started to develop her own emotion over time and before she died, she gave a smile because she finally had her own freedom. Also, when Naraku ordered Kanna to walk toward Inuyasha's group to kill them, she instead stood still and refused, proving that she does indeed have her own heart.
Quotes
- "Your soul is mine."
- ―Kanna
- "Her soul...won't be contained."
- ―Kanna
- "The longer I endure this world, the more beautiful the midnight moon."
- ―Kanna
- "Flowers wither and lose their color, much as I reflect in vain time lost to the long rain."
- ―Kanna
- "Kagura, are you free now..? Did you ever... Become the wind?"
- ―Kanna
- "Kagome...the light...the light will kill Naraku."
- ―Kanna
- "As I pass through the lengthy struggle of life in this fleeting world, I cannot help but long for the midnight moon I once saw."
- ―Kanna
- "Freedom...?"
- ―Kanna
- "It's in Naraku's hands. Both life and death."
- ―Kanna
- "We are all merely Naraku's tools..."
- ―Kanna
Trivia
- Kanna is the longest surviving detachment of Naraku's, outlasting all other incarnations except Byakuya, who is created shortly before her death.
- Her Korean voice actor Oh Ju-Yeon also played young Kaede.
References
- ↑ InuYasha Profiles, page 210