Ito

Ito is Aya's elder twin sister and a character in the Mushishi episode Pickers of Empty Cocoons.

Appearance
Ito looks much like her sister, Aya. She has long black hair and dark brown eyes. She wears her bangs in a messy straight-cut.

Biography
At two years old, Ito and her sister Aya are tested for the ability to see mushi, as is the custom in their family. Both are able to see the uro that the elder has in a jar, so he determines that when they are ten, he will return to take one of the girls as an apprentice. In the following eight years, Ito and her sister learn how to collect cocoons and harvest silk from them, but are cautioned not to pick empty cocoons.

When Ito and Aya turn ten, the elder returns. Because the family couldn't decide which child should go, the head of the family decides to send the younger of the children, Aya. Ito sees that Aya is scared, and states that she will go instead. Aya is upset by this and demands to go with Ito. The head of their family understands that the children will be lonely apart, especially if their master dies, and with the parents' approval, sends both girls.

Ito seems resolute when they reach the house in the mountains, but both she and Aya relax upon finding out that the elder has collected stories to tell them. She works hard and asks to help relocate the uro after her sister gets to the first time, and takes the elder's warnings seriously, watching over Aya as she does. One day, Ito finds Aya pinning up the laundry to dry, and sits down to rest while it dries. However, a sheet comes unpinned and blows over her. Ito sees uro mushi reproducing rapidly around her and lays still. She tries to warn Aya before she lifts the sheet, but she is too late, and the uro drag her along into their uro passageway.

For the next five years, Ito is trapped in the passageway, until she emerges from a silk cocoon, still ten years old. Because of one of the letters Aya tried to send with the uro, the villagers manage to send her home.

Character
Ito is shown to care a great deal about her sister and to have a strong resolve.