Chapters 9–12

9. Windswept Kennin-ji

This chapter starts straight after you are given the Hozuki Pouch: Default at the end of the previous one, and end on the boss. It comes in two halves that feel like different games: first the eastern Kyoto fields south and east of the Gojo Street – East Spirit Mirror, which are a chest run with a rooftop crossing in the middle, and then the temple grounds proper, which are gated by two Weavers. Eight chests and one Oni Glyph in all, and the Oni Glyph is the one that matters, because what it holds becomes a Hozuki Pouch.

• 1

  The compound that now opens from the west

  Fast travel to the Gojo Street – East Spirit Mirror and head into the southeastern fields. The treasure icon in the middle of the fields was out of reach earlier in the game: approach it from the west now and the compound gate opens. The chest is inside the building and holds Tamahagane, one of the two equipment-enhancement materials (there are 25 of them in the game).

  • Chest: Tamahagane. Inside the building in the compound east of Gojo Street – East.
• 2

  The locked compound and the northern Malice Barrier

  East of that first chest is a second compound that was locked and is now open, with enemies in it. The objective here is to clear them and destroy the Malice Barrier on the northern side. There is a chest beside the northern fence holding a Whetstone and a Hempen Cloth. Once the barrier is down, go behind that northern fence and look for the slope leading to an opening in the eastern fence — a chest on the other side holds more Tamahagane, and a fourth chest sits in the southern corner of the courtyard with Iron in it.

  • Chest: Whetstone, Hempen Cloth. Beside the northern fence, behind the Malice Barrier.
  • Chest: Tamahagane. Through the opening in the eastern fence, up the slope behind the northern fence.
  • Chest: Iron. Southern corner of the courtyard.
• 3

  The rooftops, and the Oni Cloth this chapter is really about

  There is a second Malice Barrier in the northeastern corner. Destroying it reveals a ladder up to the rooftops, and from there a bridge crosses to an enclosed compound to the southeast. The Oni Glyph up there gives Oni Cloth (Regeneration), and a chest nearby holds a Skeleton Hozuki. The marker only shows once you use Oni Power, so if the glyph is not lit for you, that is the button to press.

  • Oni Glyph: Oni Cloth (Regeneration). The enclosed southeastern compound across the rooftop bridge.
  • Chest: Skeleton Hozuki. Nearby, in the same compound. There are 5 Skeleton Hozuki in the game, and they are what the final tier of every pouch upgrade needs.
• 4

  Craft the Hozuki Pouch: Regeneration

  Take the Oni Cloth back to Okuni and craft the Hozuki Pouch: Regeneration before you go on. This is one of the nine pouches behind the silver Medical Marvel trophy, which needs all nine found and fully upgraded: four named pouches made from Oni Cloth (Regeneration, Aggressor, Resistance, Awakening) and the five Skeleton Hozuki that the top tier of each upgrade consumes. The other upgrade materials include Hempen Cloth, Cotton Cloth, Iron, Whetstone and Malicite, which is most of what the chests above have been handing you.

• 5

  Optional: Yorimasa's Monument

  Yorimasa's Monument is a stop where enhancement materials can be bought with souls, and it is completely optional. No source gives a shopping list for it, so neither does this page.

• 6

  Into the temple grounds

  Approach the objective marker from the south. The temple gate is open this time. As soon as you are inside the compound, go to the southwestern corner for a chest holding Cotton Cloth, then work around the building from the west, clearing enemies as you go.

  • Chest: Cotton Cloth. Southwestern corner of the temple compound, immediately on entry.
• 7

  The two Weavers

  Two barriers stand between you and the boss, both held up by Weavers. The first is in the northeastern corner and needs the Oni Bow. The second blocks the temple entrance itself. Two chests sit in this half: a small building in the northwestern corner holds Tempered Iron, and another chest sits outside that building with Tamahagane in it. For the second Weaver, look beside the temple facade near the entrance to that small building — there is a raised section with a bridge across it. Both barriers down, and the way in is open.

  • Chest: Tempered Iron. Inside the small building in the northwestern corner.
  • Chest: Tamahagane. Outside that same building.
• 8

  Boss: Ifuu, Fearsome Gale — and the trophy Howling Wind

  Ifuu is a wind-powered Genma who has taken the temple. He fights with an axe and the whole first phase is built around giving his own wind back to him.

  Phase one. His opener at range is a horizontal blast of air along the ground — it does no damage but shoves you back — followed immediately by a ground slam that sends a shockwave at you. Deflect that shockwave and it goes back into him. His second ranged move is a horizontal wind blade, thrown fast after a short backward hop, and it deflects too. Deflecting his wind back at him is the efficient way to drain his Stamina Gauge. Up close he has four things: an approach where he drags the axe along the ground and swings on arrival (guard before he gets there), a quick two-hit combo, a spinning axe strike whose parry is answered with a double slash, and a grab that is fairly easy to dodge and a good stamina-damage opening. He also has a leaping charge that catches people out.

  Phase two adds three moves. A spiralling charge to close the gap — do not try to block the spin itself, only the slash that lands at the end of it. A suction pull that does no damage on its own, but drags you to him so he can leap and come down with a melee strike you have to dodge. And the dangerous one: he takes to the air, hovers a few seconds, then sweeps the ground in front of him with a tornado. There are three answers — get far enough away, move under or behind him, or shoot the pack protruding above his head with the Oni Bow, which knocks him down and buys you free sword hits.

  • Trophy: Howling Wind (bronze). "Defeat Ifuu." It pops in this mission.
• 9

  Do not go looking for Ifuu's Genma Note yet

  Every other boss in this stretch leaves an Oni Glyph behind where you fought it, holding that boss's Genma Note. Ifuu does not, and six chapters later, in A Tempest at the Temple, it is confirmed that no glyph appeared for Ifuu at the time. The Genma Note list does have one — Genma Note: Ifuu, #21 of 23 — but files the location only as "Kyoto", with no landmark. So it exists and it is not here yet: it turns up with Burai's, from the Oni Glyphs at Kennin-ji at the start of chapter 21.

10. An Immortal Talent

This is the shortest section on the page and it is short honestly. Chapter 10 opens with nothing new to do and closes on a cutscene. No boss, no puzzle, no chest, no collectible, no trophy — not "none that we could find", but none that any source we read names. Two stops and you are into chapter 11.

• 1

  Talk to Takamura at Rokudo-chinnoji Temple

  Straight after Ifuu goes down, go back to Rokudo-chinnoji Temple and ask Takamura what happens next. He sends you to see a friend of his.

• 2

  Yasaka Shrine

  That conversation adds a new fast-travel destination in Eastern Kyoto: Yasaka Shrine, reachable from any Spirit Mirror. Head straight for the objective when you arrive because nothing within reach is worth stopping for yet — the shrine's surroundings open up later, not now. A cutscene plays, and chapter 11, What Lurks in the Shadows, begins.

• 3

  If your counters do not move, that is correct

  Worth saying because a chapter this thin makes people suspect they skipped something. No trophy belongs to An Immortal Talent; the Chance Encounters and Mysteries of Kyoto gate on other chapters and none on this one; and there is no chest, Oni Glyph or Lion Dog in it. Nothing is missable in this game in any case, so even if a source we have not read does hide something here, the point of no return is not until before chapter 22.

11. What Lurks in the Shadows

The biggest chapter in this stretch by a wide margin, and the one that changes how you fight. It runs Nijo-jo Castle, then the Underground Laboratory beneath it across several levels, then the Kyoto Imperial Palace, with seven Spirit Mirrors, three puzzles, four boss encounters and the Earth-Shakers at the end of the middle act. The per-map numbering restarts here: Underground treasures run #1 to #5 and Oni Glyphs #1 and #2, which are map-scoped counts and not the same series as the Eastern Kyoto numbers used later on this page.

• 1

  Okuni at Rokudo-chinnoji Temple

  Speak to Okuni to start the chapter moving. Then head for Nijo-jo Castle.

• 2

  Nijo-jo Castle: the courtyard and the garden

  Take the Nijo-jo Castle Entrance Spirit Mirror in the courtyard and open the western gate. The objective is to search the castle for what the Genma left behind, and it is an Oni Vision job: use it in the southwestern corner of the garden to pick up the clues, then follow them to the northwestern corner to advance. You cannot leave the garden by jumping — Musashi cannot get high enough — so go out by the northeastern path instead. There is a chest with Whetstone x2 in that northeastern corner before you go.

  • Chest: Whetstone x2. Northeastern corner of the garden.
• 3

  The lightning chase through the castle

  Heading northwest turns into a pursuit under lightning that strikes fixed spots. The rule is simple: when the warning light appears, move back. Two chests on the way — Iron under the roof just before the first ladder, and Hempen Cloth in the southeastern corner of the building's first floor. Then you drop into a courtyard where the lightning and a group of enemies arrive together; killing every enemy is what stops the strikes, so this is a fight to finish rather than survive. North past the gate is the Nue Pond Spirit Mirror, and the boss.

  • Chest: Iron. Under the roof, before the first ladder.
  • Chest: Hempen Cloth. Southeastern corner of the building's first floor.
• 4

  Boss: Nue, Legendary Chimera — no trophy, one trick

  This one is more tedious than difficult, for one reason: you cannot reliably drain the Nue's Stamina Gauge by normal means. Its basic moveset is a two-swipe claw combination, a shove and a charge. The problem is the tail, which is a snake head with attacks of its own, blocks your strikes and moves on awkward timing. The window to deal with it is when the Nue backs off and starts moving sideways — you get a few seconds to charge and fire the Oni Bow at it. Later in the fight the Nue becomes electrified, and then its tail fires electrical projectiles you can deflect back, which is finally a real source of stamina damage. That creates a choice worth making deliberately: destroying the tail in this phase strips the Nue's electrical charge, but you give up the reflected projectiles. Otherwise, melee and Reflex Combos. No trophy is tied to this fight.

  Genma Note: Nue (#13 of 23) is at Nue Pond, north, in the arena itself — so the glyph appears where you fought it, as it does for most bosses.

• 5

  Underground Laboratory, Level 2

  West of the entrance there is a chest holding Hempen Cloth behind a folding screen. Take the Underground Level 2 Spirit Mirror.

  • Chest: Hempen Cloth. West of the entrance, behind a folding screen.
• 6

  Level 3 and the mask puzzle — the solution is 3, 4, 1, 2

  Take the Underground Level 3 Spirit Mirror. The puzzle is a row of hanging masks you shoot in a set order; number them left to right and the order is 3, 4, 1, 2. The reasoning is worth knowing too, in case your masks are arranged differently: the order is readable from the light coming through the openings on the masks on the opposite wall. Get it right and a gate rises and you are given the Unsettling Mask. Three more pickups on this level: a treasure with a Power Stone in the Underground Workshop, a chest with Cotton Cloth by the southwestern stairs, and an Oni Glyph in the southeastern corner that reveals a treasure holding a Genma Note.

  • Unsettling Mask. Reward for the mask puzzle.
  • Treasure: Power Stone. The Underground Workshop. There are 54 Power Stones in the game, and they buy skills.
  • Chest: Cotton Cloth. By the southwestern stairs.
  • Oni Glyph: Genma Note: Chijiko. Southeastern corner. Which floor it is on is where the sources disagree: Vandal puts the glyph and the note on Underground Level 3, PowerPyx puts Chijiko (#8 of 23) on Underground Level 2. Both agree it is in the Underground Laboratory, so sweep the corners of both levels with Oni Power and you will have it either way.
• 7

  The contraption room: two levers, and the mask's mouth tells you where you are

  The second puzzle is a rotating contraption with a mask on it, and the mask's mouth is the state indicator. Go into the space to the south and pull the lever: the mouth now points right. A Genma bursts through a paper wall to the north — deal with it, then go through the opening and take the treasure holding Fine Silk Cloth. Pull the second lever and the mouth points upward. Now walk up to the contraption and it stops.

  • Treasure: Fine Silk Cloth. Through the opening the first lever reveals. There are 25 Fine Silk Cloths in the game.
• 8

  The pit, the Gore-Spattered Key and Byakue

  The southwestern part of Level 3 is about recovering the Gore-Spattered Key, and it holds two chests — Tempered Iron in the northwestern corner of the pit, Leather in the southwestern area — plus a fight with Byakue, Hundred Defilements down in the pit itself. The order for the fight is to clear the smaller Genma first without moving around too much, and only then turn on Byakue.

  Byakue is not new: it first shows up back in The Curse of Kiyomizu-zaka Slope and returns as an optional boss in a dozen-plus places. Its attacks are a heavy-footed charge if you back off, a fast leap that is easy to mistake for its jumping slash, that jumping slash, plain combos and a heavy vertical smash. It is straightforward but relentless, with a stamina gauge that recovers quickly, so pressure is the point — a long fight is a losing one. In the later encounters its blade grows teeth and red smoke pours from the ground, and then you must jump at the exact moment it hits the ground or you will almost certainly die. Killing it yields Byakue's Talismans, which Gauntlet enhancements need, and you can drill against it at the Practice Ground.

  One thing this fight is not: the bronze Serves You Right is "Defeat the Byakue at Kiyomizu-dera Temple", which is a different encounter in a different place. Nothing pops here.

  • Chest: Tempered Iron. Northwestern corner of the pit.
  • Chest: Leather. Southwestern area of the pit.
• 9

  The blade mechanism: four rope spools, and the fourth is a trap

  The key is behind spinning blades, and the third puzzle is stopping them. Look for the spools of red rope around the mechanism and shoot them with the Oni Bow. Three are visible from the start. The fourth is the catch: you have to work out where it should be, because it only becomes exposed when the blades are almost on top of you. All four destroyed and the blades stop. The treasure beside the mechanism holds the Earth-Shakers.

  This is the pickup that changes the rest of the game — the Nue pair a few rooms later, Benkei, Burai, the Greater Nue and the second Ganryu fight all have "charge the Earth-Shakers" as their core advice. Its charged hit takes off half a target's Stamina Gauge in one go and breaks armour. Vandal puts this chest beside the blade mechanism; PowerPyx puts it on Underground Laboratory Level 4, after the fan puzzle in the adjacent room. Same laboratory, same chest, a different floor number and a different name for the puzzle you solved to reach it.

  • Treasure: Earth-Shakers. Oni Armament #4 of 7, beside the blade mechanism. Part of the silver Oni Armory trophy.
• 10

  The Grand Theater, Dokyo's workroom and two Nue at once

  Take the Grand Theater Spirit Mirror. There is a second Oni Glyph in Dokyo's workroom that reveals a treasure holding Genma Note: Kogashira (#5 of 23, Underground Level 3, near the Grand Theater). Then a platform rises on its own and delivers you to two Nue at the same time. The advice is the obvious one now that you are armed: use the Earth-Shakers, charge as far as you can, and watch half a stamina bar disappear per hit.

  • Oni Glyph: Genma Note: Kogashira. Dokyo's workroom, by the Grand Theater.
• 11

  The Kyoto Imperial Palace

  Out of the laboratory and into the palace, where the objective is to find the source of the commotion. Take the Palace Entrance Spirit Mirror. There is a treasure holding an Oni Stone in the northeastern part of the palace — there are 55 Oni Stones, the other half of the skill-upgrade currency alongside Power Stones. Then up to the rooftops and on to the Oikeniwa Pond Garden.

  • Treasure: Oni Stone. Northeastern part of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
• 12

  Boss: the Greater Nue — and the trophy Dokyo's Fixation

  At the Oikeniwa Pond Garden, past the Oikeniwa Pond Garden Spirit Mirror. It is Dokyo's masterpiece, and the trophy name agrees with that reading. It keeps the regular Nue's basics — two-hit claw combos, charges, bites and an easy-to-dodge jumping attack that gives you openings — and adds three things.

  The new mechanic. Attacks marked with a pink glow cannot be answered with a Guard or even a Perfect Guard. You have to Deflect them to one side or the other, pushing the stick left or right as you do it. It is a new attack type, and this is the fight that teaches it.

  The two moves worth naming. From range it charges, and if you dodge the first hit it follows up with a headbutt, so treat it as a two-part sequence. And when it rises on its hind legs — typically after you deflect something — it extends large blades from its claws; these are erratic and hard to dodge, and backing away is the safe answer, not trying to time it.

  Two ways to do real damage. When it leaps and gets stuck in the ground, that is your window for a fully charged Earth-Shakers, which hits its stamina hard and breaks its armour. And sever the tail with Break Issen whenever you can: once the tail is on the ground you can pick it up with Oni Strength and throw it back at the boss for heavy stamina damage.

  Phase two brings lightning across the arena, an electrified charge, and blades extended amid lightning explosions near the end. The plan does not change — Earth-Shakers and the tail.

  • Trophy: Dokyo's Fixation (bronze). "Defeat the Greater Nue." It pops at the Oikeniwa Pond Garden.
  • Genma Note: Greater Nue (#15 of 23) is at the Oikeniwa Pond Garden, behind the Oni Glyph in the Greater Nue's area: optional content to come back for before the next chapter.
• 13

  Before chapter 12: the list to clear

  The chapter ends with a round of optional work, and one item on it may not be optional. Vandal says completing the Mystery of Kyoto The Light of Vengeance (at Kiyomizu-dera Temple) unlocks The Roots of All Evil; PowerPyx lists it as available as soon as Mysteries unlock, with no chapter gate; and IGN counts it as a story mission in its own right, the twelfth, so from here on IGN's numbers run one higher than the chapter numbers on these pages (The Roots of All Evil is IGN's thirteenth, The Clash at Rendaino its twenty-third of twenty-four). If your next chapter will not start, that is the first thing to try.

  The rest of the round: the three Lion Dogs at Kiyomizu-dera Temple, the Oni Glyph in the Nue area at Nijo-jo Castle, the Oni Glyph in the Greater Nue's area at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and the six Lion Dogs in Eastern Kyoto — which you report to Lady Murasaki for a sword appearance. Those are the dogs available at this point; the game-wide list has the three Kiyomizu-dera dogs as #1 to #3 and twenty-one dogs in Eastern Kyoto in all, so the two counts describe different slices.

12. The Roots of All Evil

Toribeno, and a chapter with one job repeated: find the plants pumping out Malice, destroy them, seal the Rifts. It opens by giving you Oni Agility: Wall Run, which is what makes the area navigable at all, and it ends on Dohatsu-ten, Heaven's Bane — a boss with no trophy attached who then becomes the game's standing farm target. Five chests and one treasure along the way.

• 1

  Before you go

  There is a list to clear first: two Lion Dogs at Nijo-jo Castle and one at the Kyoto Imperial Palace (counted per area), the Mystery of Kyoto The Blessed Man in Eastern Kyoto, collecting the sword appearance from Lady Murasaki, spending on equipment and abilities, and picking up the material chests that have respawned. The Blessed Man is what gives you the Charm of Purification, one of the 15 behind the silver Charmed Life trophy. Then speak to Takamura at Rokudo-chinnoji Temple and fast travel to Gojo Street – East for the southern edge of the fields.

• 2

  Oni Agility: Wall Run

  Climb the stairs and the game hands you the ability to run along designated walls — the wall beside you is the tutorial. Oni Agility: Wall Run is one of the story-automatic unlocks, alongside Oni Vision and Oni Strength: Destroy, so there is nothing to buy. Everything that follows in Toribeno assumes it.

• 3

  The first Malice plant and the First Rift

  Cross the Malice to the raised platform and wall-run, leaping from wall to wall, to get up. Clear the enemies around the first plant. The mechanic to notice here is the yellow-glowing bone formations: absorb the yellow souls off them with the Gauntlet. Then climb to the plant and destroy it, and take the stairs on the left up to seal the First Rift.

• 4

  The second plant, north through the ravine

  Go back down and ignore the route that has just opened for the moment. Head north through the ravine instead, clear the enemies guarding the second plant, and check behind the hut for a treasure holding Tamahagane — Eastern Kyoto Treasure #26 in the per-map count, the count this page picks up again in chapter 13.

  • Treasure (Eastern Kyoto #26): Tamahagane. Behind the hut by the second Malice plant.
• 5

  The village to the southeast: three chests

  Follow the southeastern path past the trees, then turn southeast and northeast at the bend. The southernmost hut has a chest with Iron x2, the third hut up the hill has Leather, and there is Cotton Cloth in the northwestern corner.

  • Chest: Iron x2. The southernmost hut.
  • Chest: Leather. The third hut, uphill.
  • Chest: Cotton Cloth. Northwestern corner of the village.
• 6

  The Second Rift

  Carry on east along the marked path to a raised area full of Malice, climb the ladder to the rooftop, destroy the plant there and seal the Second Rift.

• 7

  North to the boss: two more chests

  Backtrack and wall-run to the northern edge. The building there holds a chest with Leather. Go down the stairs and the ledges to a ladder; there is a cart along the path with Cotton Cloth in it. Then a cutscene starts the fight.

  • Chest: Leather. The building at the northern edge.
  • Chest: Cotton Cloth. In the cart along the path down.
• 8

  Boss: Dohatsu-ten, Heaven's Bane — no trophy, and you will meet him again

  He is probably the fastest boss so far, his moveset is varied enough to be hard to read quickly, and parrying does not always interrupt his combos. The specifics:

  The Unavoidable Attack is telegraphed by a spin before the slash — parry or deflect as he turns, not when you see the arc, or you are already late. Kicking combos at medium range come as a single kick or a full spinning kick into another; if you dodge, expect a sword attack next, though sometimes it is a third kick. The jumping attack covers a lot of ground — guard it and counter, because that is one of the reliable openings. At long range he raises his sword with both hands for a vacuum slash; deflect that straight back into him.

  Then he powers up twice. First he spreads his wings and gains a very fast long-range attack. Then his sword enters a Blazing state and brings two more moves: a fast kick that launches you into the air followed by a slash that is close to unavoidable, and a barrage of vacuum slashes in three waves. The general advice is to set up Issen attacks when you are unsure what is coming, to use Oni Strength to break his guard (which he uses often) and punish with special attacks, and to remember that all his sword attacks are fairly easy to read for deflecting — it is the kicks that are not.

  He drops Dohatsu-ten's Horns, which Gauntlet enhancements need, and he is not a one-off: he is an optional boss who comes out of Rift #2 and Rifts #5 and #7 in Eastern Kyoto and again during five later chapters. Chapter 13 sends you to Rift #2 for exactly that reason. No trophy is tied to this fight.

• 9

  The last Rift, and out

  After the fight, absorb and seal the final Rift and destroy the last Malice plant. That ends the chapter and takes you into Bloodbath on the Bridge. The Oni Glyph holding Genma Note: Dohatsu-ten appears where you fought him, and chapter 13 starts by going back for it.

Chapters 9–12 Completion

✅ Before Moving On to Chapter 13...