Maho's mother is the daughter of the village headwoman Shirasawa and the mother of a young boy named Maho. She is a woman who once traveled to a volcano with her husband before presumably settling in her mother's village, where she later gave birth to her son. Her physical appearance is characterized by dark hair and pale skin. Her life takes a tragic turn when she becomes infected by a species of Mushi known as the Ah, a condition that ultimately leads to her death.

The infection first took hold during winter, two years prior to the events of the story involving her son. Over the course of a year, the Mushi slowly drained her vitality, gradually weakening her until she was completely bedridden. As her illness progressed, she was frequently observed covering her ears, which was a way to block out the overwhelming and painful noises produced by Mushi that only she could hear. Remarkably, she demonstrated resourcefulness by discovering on her own the specific weakness of the Ah that afflicted her. However, by the time she found this potential solution, her physical condition was far too advanced and her body too weak for any attempt to fight back to be successful.

In her final moments, an eerie silence fell as the loud noises she had endured for a year stopped abruptly, though her horns remained. Rather than relief, this sudden loss of noise caused her to panic. Her primary motivation in her dying moments was to protect her young son from suffering the same fate. She covered his ears and instructed him to focus on a particular internal sound whenever he felt pain or fear. She described this sound as being like lava that could melt anything, which she associated with a happy memory of visiting a volcano with her husband, finding that this memory could melt away uneasiness and hardship. Ironically, while this advice was given out of love and desperation, it was the act of covering his ears in grief after her death that would inadvertently allow the same Ah to infect Maho.

Maho's mother plays a crucial role in the narrative as the origin of the central conflict, having passed her affliction and her coping mechanism to her son. Her key relationships are with her son Maho and her own mother, the village headwoman Shirasawa. Her development is defined by the steady progression of her mysterious illness, moving from initial infection to a state of severe debilitation, and finally to a desperate, selfless act of maternal protection. Her notable abilities are not supernatural but rather a strong will and perceptiveness, allowing her to understand the nature of the Mushi that plagued her, even if she was too weak to act on that knowledge. She is remembered through the horns she left behind, which serve as a memento for her son, connecting him to the memory of her struggle and her love.