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Urasue (裏陶うらすえ, "Lining Ceramic/Divination") was an evil demon ogre sorceress who ultimately resurrected Kikyō.

History[]

She grave-robbed the dirt and bones from Kikyō's grave in the interest of bringing her back from the dead so that she could use Kikyō to find the Sacred Jewel shards for her. However, after creating a body, Urasue realized that Kikyō's soul had been reincarnated into Kagome. This infuriated her so she kidnapped Kagome and tried to get Kikyō's soul from her body by putting Kagome into a tub filled with herbs that were supposed to extract her soul. She created a body by baking with human remains and graveyard soil.

After Kikyō was resurrected, Urasue was killed by her own creation, being attacked by Kikyō's purification powers and appearing to have been burned to a crisp. Although Urasue played a small role in the series overall, she was still important to the storyline due to the fact that she was the one who brought Kikyō back from the dead.

It was revealed that Urasue "adopted" two dead humans to help with her nefarious goals. Enju, a former potter, aided in creating clay bodies that could then be animated and controlled.[1] Kawaramaru acted as a general of sorts, and commanded an army of clay soldiers, as well as a demon from Hell, that attacked and killed humans across wide areas of Japan. These clay soldiers did not feel pain and would not stop fighting unless they were severely immobilized.

Inuyasha and his companions eventually battled with Kawaramaru. Since Enju did not want to create soldiers and had been coerced by her "brother" Kawaramaru, Enju was left to return to a free life of making pottery.

Physical Description[]

Urasue was elderly, with graying hair, large eyes with red pupils, a pointed nose, a protruding chin, an enormous amount of wrinkles, long bony hands with sharp nails, and an old woman's voice with a high, raspy tone.

Outfit[]

Her clothing is not far from the common of the time, although a blue cloak with a star motif that she wears together with his kimono stands out.

Personality[]

Being an ogress, Urasue is naturally very wicked and greedy, doing whatever is necessary to execute her plans, having no regard for the well-being of those affected by her actions. She has vast knowledge of the dead and necromancy, being able to spot characteristics in the undead during her spells, for example, when the air swirls around as Kikyō is revived, she instantly states "She must have suffered a great betrayal in her death.", which later proves to be true.

Like most other demons, Urasue craves power, as she revives Kikyō for the sole purpose of gathering Sacred Jewel shards so she can become an even more powerful sorceress. In the Manga she even hints at aspiring to conquer the world, however after seeing how easily Kikyō killed her, this would have been very unlikely.

Powers & Abilities[]

  • Flight: Like many strong demons, Urasue has the ability to fly and, while not very swift on her feet, she is quite agile when flying. Similar to Sesshōmaru, Kyūki, Hoshiyomi, Inuyasha, and Kirinmaru.
  • Superhuman Strength: Despite her advanced age, Urasue is incredibly strong, able to effortlessly wield her giant scythe, as well as lift huge jars of herbs which she uses in her rituals.
  • Demon Magic: As a demon sorceress, Urasue is proficient in dark spells and magic, including resurrecting the dead.
    • Necromancy: Using black magic, she was able to create clay-soldiers, with human bones baked into the clay. Inuyasha, Shippō & Kaede fight these soldiers, but they prove to be quite weak and easily defeated. Urasue chooses quantity over quality for her minions. The exception to this is Kikyō, who was resurrected using exactly the same process, but her strength is most likely due to the fact that she has a soul, unlike the clay-soldiers who only attack enemies aimlessly.
    • Teleportation: Similar to Sesshōmaru and Hoshiyomi's method, Urasue can visibly teleport by engulfing herself in a ball of blue flames.

Weaknesses[]

  • Spirtual Power: Urasue was apparently susceptible to spiritual energy, seeing as how Urasue was fatally wounded by Kikyō's great spiritual power.

Weapons[]

  • Scythe: Urasue uses a giant scythe which she wields skillfully.

Manga vs. Anime[]

  • The details of Urasue's death are different in the anime and the manga. In the manga, after Kikyō blasts her with her spiritual power, Urasue's body is destroyed, leaving only a severed head. In the anime, Kikyō blasts Urasue with her spiritual power, causing her to spin around in circles and fall to the ground, her whole body burnt to a crisp.

Trivia[]

  • Due to her human appearance, it's heavily implied that Urasue was born human and used the dark arts of necromancy to become an Yōkai/Oni, much like Onigumo before he became Naraku. Another more likely possibility is that she really is an Oni and, like many demons, her outward appearance is merely a disguise and not her true form.
  • Her seiyū, Yoshiko Ota, also voiced Kin Ono from Rumiko Takahashi's previous work Ranma ½.
  • Urasue's appearance is modelled after an Onibabā, named "Ibaraki-dōji", as depicted in a ukiyo-e woodblock-print by Yoshitoshi (Yoshitoshi: The Flying Demon), in the Edo period.
  • She has the power of necromancy, similar to Jakotsumaru, and Kirinmaru.

Media appearances[]

Manga

Anime

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 In the anime only

References[]

  1. InuYasha anime; Episode 92
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