---Okami---
Authors: Biomouse
Copyright 2006 Biomouse, all rights are reserved.
Table of Contents
+++++++++++++++++
(#INTR) Introduction
(#WALK) Walkthrough
       (PRT1) Part 1: Eastern Nippon
       (PRT2) Part 2: Western Nippon
       (PRT3) Part 3: Kamui
(#MISC) Miscellaneous
       (SEITR) The Last Tree in Sei'an
       (#BEST) Bestiary
       (#BOSS) Boss Guide
       (#ABTECH) Advanced Brush Techniques
       (#WEPN) Weapon List & Locations
       (#ACCY) Accessories
(#POST) Post-game rankings
(#CNCT) Contact Me
(#LGAL) Legalities
Intro (#INTR)
+++++++++++++++++
Welcome to the world of Okami. For those who are wondering, Okami is
the story of the sun goddess, Okami Amaterasu, more commonly (or at
least easily) called Ammy. This game is filled with puzzles, traps,
tricks, and stuff like that. This guide features detailed solutions to
every puzzle, profiles on all of the weapons/enemies, boss strategies,
all the little secrets, and everything else you could conceivably need
to beat Okami to its fullest, achieving the ultimate goal of having an
awesome New Game Plus.  Now here it goes.
Walkthrough (#WALK)
+++++++++++++++++
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Part 1: Eastern Nippon (PRT1)
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---Kamiki Village---
Just go through the big shiny door to the north, you can't do anything
else.

---River of Heaven---
Move forward across the bridge here.  There's a save point here in case
you already have done something vitally important and need to save
somehow.  When you're across the bridge, Issun will teach you how to
break jars.  Once there are no more jars or you are sick of breaking
jars, go to the east (east on your map, you can check the map with the
R2 button), around the cliff and north.  Wall jump up the ledge and
break the chest for a Holy Bone S.  Keep going north.  Issun will fix
the bridge for you.  Keep going and get up the ridge on the right.  The
game will prompt you to draw a star that will complete the
constellation.  Go ahead and do so and you'll get your first brush
power, Rejuvenation.  Go back down the ridge and to the River of Heaven
(or rather, Puddle of Heaven) and scribble around the puddle to make it
a river again.  Or maybe just a bigger puddle.  Anyway, swim across and
break the chest here for the Astral Pouch.  This is kinda important so
be sure you get it.  Go through the big shiny door to the north.

---Cave of Nagi---
This place is pretty much just a straight path.  When you get to a
waterfall and a bridge though, be sure to jump into the alcove behind
the waterfall and bust the chest for a Stray Bead.  Once you're at the
end of the path, you'll be in a cave with a statue of Nagi holding a
broken sword.  Go ahead and scribble his sword back in.  Again, you'll
have to fill in a constellation to meet Tachigami, a tiny rat with a
ridiculously huge sword.  He'll teach you your second brush technique,
Power Slash.  Issun will make you test it out on a rock, then you can
use it again to cut down the wooden gate blocking the way back.  Just
head back the way you came.  When you get to the foot of the stairs,
you'll have to fight some Green Imps.  They're nothing to worry about,
just bash them and slice them in two with Power Slash when they're
stunned.  Issun will point it out the first time one of them gets
stunned, after that you'll just have to watch them yourself.  Keep
moving back towards the River of Heaven.  You'll have one more fight
with the Green Imps on your way back.  Just deal with them in the same
way.

---River of Heaven---
Just head back to Kamiki Village.  You won't even have to fight any
Imps.

---Kamiki Village---
Power Slash the fruit off of the tree.  Don't go for the stem or
anything, just slice the fruit and it will fall.  After the cutscene's
over, go down the road to a three-way intersection.  Go down the stairs
on your right and you'll arrive at the village proper.  However,
everyone's been turned to stone.  You can attempt conversation with
these statues, but I can't promise it will be very interesting.  Go
back to the three-way and go up the stairs on the other path this time,
and follow the path to a wooden deck.  The game will prompt you to draw
a sun in the sky.  Draw a circle and the sun will appear.  If you're
having problems with this, make sure that your circle is drawn in one
stroke (don't lift your brush) and properly closed, don't leave any
gaps.  With the sun back, Kamiki Village is back to normal and the
villagers are much better conversationalists.  The mayor will show up
at the deck.  However, some more Green Imps will show up and you'll
have to kill them too.  When you're done, go back down to the village.
If you talk to Komuso (the guy with a pot on his head) at the three-
way, you'll get into a fight with some Green Imps.  You can talk to him
as many times as you like if you need practice.  Go down to the
village.  The next section is a little bit of sidequests, if you just
want to do what you NEED to then skip the next section.  It's marked
off.
---
Run past the turnip field on the left and talk to the little boy named
Mushi, also on the left.  He'll challenge you to see if you can dig up
all the turnips without getting clobbered by his mama.  If you want to
take him up on this, enter the field and rapidly press the Triangle
button near the turnips to dig them up.  You can Power Slash Mushi's
Mama to slow her down a bit if you need to.  Sorry, you can't cut her
in half.  Once the tenth turnip is dug up, press Triangle near it and
you'll pick it up.  Bring it back to Mushi and he'll give you the
"title" of hole-digging king along with a little Praise.  Go visit Mrs.
Orange, who is also on the left on a dock in the river.  She'll
complain about losing her laundry pole.  Nearby, there's two forked
sticks set in the ground next to each other.  Draw a line in between
these two sticks and the laundry pole will be back.  Next, Mrs. Orange
will wish that the sun would come closer so the laundry would dry
faster.  Draw a sun in the sky and she'll give you some Praise.
---
Go talk to the merchant trying to push a mega-colossal boulder at the
south entrance of the village.  He'll claim that he can't push it
because he's being possessed by a demon (do you think he'd actually be
able to do it even if he WASN'T?  Yeah, me neither.).  It turns out
that he actually is being possessed by some Imps.  In addition to the
old Green Imps, a Red Imp will appear.  These guys are basically the
same, except when you attack them, they'll hold up their lute to block
your attacks.  When they block, Power Slash them and their lute will
break, then they're basically Green Imps with more health.  With the
imps gone, the merchant will no longer be possessed, but to everyone's
great surprise he still can't push the Empire State Boulder.  He'll
tell you to go get Susano because he would be able to break the rock.
Susano's house is the furthest south house.  Inside, break the giant
pot and go down the hole it was covering.  You'll find Susano sleeping.
Go ahead and whack him with Square to wake him up.  Keep talking to him
and Amaterasu will put him on her back.  Drag him over to the boulder.
He'll say that he can break the boulder but he'll need to "meditate"
all day.  Then he'll run off to "meditate."  Go behind his house to
find that his "meditation" involves lying around and drinking sake.
He'll complain that he can't train without sake.  Go over to the rice
paddy to the west of the road in the village and talk to Kushi there.
She says she can't make any sake because some Imps broke the mill.  Go
over to the mill and draw the missing part in.  This can be kinda
tough, just scribble around the area and you should be okay because ink
that wouldn't restore the mill will just go away.  Once the mill is
fixed, go inside the mill house and talk to Kushi again and she'll give
you some sake.  No, you can't drink it.  Some other time, maybe.  Take
it to Susano and he'll finally get along to his training.  Help him
train by Power Slashing all the dummies he cuts.  Then, he'll go and
try to cut a rock.  Go ahead and cut this too.  Then, thinking that
he's suddenly become omnipotent, he'll run over to the giant boulder
and try to cut that too.  Power Slash it and it will be cleaved in
half.  I highly recommend watching Susano in the following cutscene.
Looking at his sword and making little "?"s... priceless. You'll get
Praise for doing this.  If you have enough by now to upgrade one of
your stats, Issun will teach you how to do it.  When you're done, go
south and out of the village.

---Shinshu Field---
This place ain't looking too good.  There isn't a lot you can do around
here right now.  Just cut around the north
of the area and through the north exit to Hana Valley.  Oh, and don't
walk in the crawling evil to the south.
It's not good for you.  I hope I didn't actually have to tell you that.

---Hana Valley---
Just move forward.  Eventually, you'll come to a campfire with a lot of
Imps around it.  Get near them and you'll have to fight a lot of Red
and Green Imps.  Still not too tough.  Look out for the cursed trees,
they will throw fruit at you as you go by.  Power Slash the fruit while
it's in the air and it will fly back at the tree and stun it so you can
slink by.  Keep moving along the path, take a right at the fork in the
road.  You'll come to a
large room with a mural and Susano trying to get a wall to move out of
his way.  You'll have to fight a Yellow Imp here, more info on fighting
these is in the Bestiary.  Please note that this applies to all
monsters after this.  You can talk to Susano if you want, but what you
really need to do is go onto the deck near the mural, and when prompted
draw a circle in the blank spot in the upper right corner.  This will
open the wall Susano was trying to push.  Follow him through the
passage to a room with a baby Guardian Sapling and an altar with a
puddle.  There's nothing you can do here so exit to the left.  Follow
the passage and you'll find Susano threatening a sleeping bear in his
hiding... I mean training area.  Again, you'll have to help Susano cut
the torches down then cut the bear with Power Slash like you did with
the dummies and the boulder.  After Susano runs off, you'll get to fill
in another constellation.  FUNTIME!!! Anyway, you'll get the brush
power Bloom for it.  Afterwards, roll the ball the bear was sleeping on
(???) onto the altar in the previous room and into the puddle.  The
ball will lift up on a geyser if you've done this correctly.  Then, go
to the railing over a cliff edge near the altar and the camera will pan
up to the sky.  Draw a sun in it and the sun's rays will reflect in the
orb and make the Guardian Sapling grow.  Go ahead and Bloom it.
Blooming it just above the ribbon tied around the tree is best,
anywhere else and it won't work.  With the Sapling back to life, all
the evil will be gone from Hana Valley.  Head back towards Shinshu
Field.  On your way, you can Bloom the cursed trees when they're
stunned to defeat them permanently and earn a little Praise.  If you
take the other road at the fork mentioned before, you can jump up onto
a ledge with a green light circle.  Dig it up and Bloom the clover that
pops up for a little praise.  Do this whenever you see a light circle
like this.  When you get to the campfire, the Imps will be back and
you'll fight them again.  When you defeat them an island will appear in
the lake with a chest containing the Travel Guide page about
Greensprout will appear along with another buried clover.  You will
also see black, dead trees with a ribbon around the trunk all over Hana
Valley.  If you Bloom all of them, you'll get a bit of Praise and a
chest will appear with a Sun Fragment in it.  When you're done here
head back to Shinshu Field.
---Shinshu Field---
Remember the Guardian Sapling you found previously? Head on over there,
now that you have the Bloom technique. Use Bloom just above the ribbon
on the tree, and watch the evil as it is whisked away. Once you do
that, Issun will comment that you should explore the rest of Shinshu
field. He will also mark some locations on your map. The most important
thing you can get right now is the Cherry Bomb brush technique. If it
is night time, head down the hill opposite the entrance to Agata forest
in the southeast, and go in the house there. Talk to Tama and he'll ask
you to draw a bomb-like symbol. Once you draw it, you'll see a
constellation, draw the stars, and Bakugami will come down and teach
you Cherry Bomb. Watch the cutscene, and Cherry Bomb is yours. You can
now use Cherry Bomb to blow up the glowing segments of wall/floor you
see around. Theyre pretty hard to miss, and theres one right next to
the house that Issun will make you destroy "for example" like the other
powers. Make sure to pick up the wanted list in the house, and youll
fight a random wanted monster right when you step outside. Once you
finish that, head on through the massively ornate structure. This will
take you to Moon Cave. Youre not going to be able to enter, because
there is a magic barrier set up. Issun will notify you of this, and
your work at Moon Cave is done, for now. Head over to the circle on
your map that seems to be kind of solitary. This is Onigiri Sensei's
dojo. Here, you can learn new moves in exchange for money. If you like
reflectors, go for the 4 Winds technique. You could buy fleetfoot, but
I didn't because it cost too much.  Still a useful skill though, you
might want to come back later. Lastly, head on over to the area by
Agata forest. You'll notice that theres no way you can swim through
that large body of water. You'll need some way of getting across...
---Kamiki Village---
Head back to Kamiki village, since you're out of luck at Shinshu. You
should notice the ribbon trees like before, bloom them as you see them.
Once all of them are bloomed, head on up to Mr. Orange. He'll show you
a dance called the Konohana Shuffle. He'll do it, in an attempt to make
some of Sakuya's flowers bloom. As the dance stops, bloom each flower.
Be careful, a time limit is in effect, even in draw mode. Once all is
done, Sakuya will be returned to her original form. As this happens, a
new constellation appears, this god teaching you the Lily Pad
technique. Drawing a circle on the water now makes a lily pad appear.
This is what will get us into Agata forest!
---Shinshu Field---
Head towards the Agata Forest entrance in the southwest.  Use Lily Pad
to get you through the flooded tunnel and to a ledge.  Bomb the wall
and go through.
---Agata Forest---
This place ain't looking too good either.  Don't jump off the cliff
edge because there's a massive pile of evil down there and it's almost
impossible to get out because you can't see properly in a curse zone.
Anyway move forward along the cliff edge until you see wooden stairs
leading down to a little beach with a cave nearby.  You can enter the
cave if you want, but all that's in there that you can get right now is
a fortune teller's house.  You can get your fortune told (this provides
in-game hints but that's what this is here for) and you can get a
Stray Bead.  On the left of the beach, facing the curse zone, you'll
notice that there's a thin edge running around the base of the cliff
you were on previously.  Move along this until you come to a cave.
Inside the cave is the Guardian Sapling.  Go ahead and Bloom it and
watch the curse zone blow away.  You'll get the new Divine Instrument
Devout Beads for reviving this Sapling.  Exit the cave.  When you do, a
mysterious man jumps down and accuses you of unsealing Orochi.  Then,
of course, he attacks.
=========================
       BOSS: WAKA
=========================
About time we had a boss.  Anyway, this guy isn't too tough.  His
attacks are either to come up close and slash at you or he'll throw a
sword at you.  Be careful of the thrown swords.  As you keep beating on
him he'll become stunned every now and then and you can Power Slash
him.  You can also plant Cherry Bombs on him constantly for an easy
win.  I wouldn't recommend using the Devout Beads for this fight unless
you know what you're doing with them.  If it's your first time using a
Rosary, stick with the Reflector for this fight.  You won't do well not
knowing what you're doing and this certainly isn't the place to learn.
=========================
After the fight, it is revealed that Waka knows Amaterasu from back in
the day of Shiranui, and that he only fought you to test your powers.
Waka tells you that it is the curse of Orochi that is now plaguing
Nippon (even though you already knew that).  Waka will make a strange
prophecy about a log and then he'll leave (celebrating is optional).
Looking at your map, you'll see that you're on one of a group of islets
in a lake.  Go to the far southeast islet in this lake and talk to the
little boy named Kokari there.  Listen to his sob story with several
plot thickenings, then headbutt him so he can get it together again.
Then you'll get to play a little fishing minigame to try and fish out
the Ruins Key Kokari lost.  Draw a line to the fish you want, then tilt
the analog stick in the opposite direction that the fish is moving.  On
the power meter at the top, the indicator should stay in the green,
don't let it drop to blue or go up to red while you're reeling the fish
in.  When the fish is close enough, press the button that appears and
the fish will jump.  Power Slash the fish in mid-jump and you'll catch
it.  Do this with three fish and you'll land the Giant Salmon.  The
Giant Salmon will cough up the Ruins Key.  Go ahead and run off with
the key and ditch Kokari.  Get to the ruins entrance in the southwest
corner of the map.  Susano is also here "training" to defeat the
Crimson Whatever-thingy.  You can pester him for some food for your
Astral Pouch but that's it.  With the Ruins Key the door will open.
---Tsuta Ruins---
As soon as you enter, there will be a split in the road.  Go right
here.  You can Bloom the buds and open the treasure chests for Steel
Soul Sake, a Travel Guide on Enhancing Divinity, a Vase, and an
Exorcism Slip S.  Look out for cursed trees as you go; and don't you
fall in the freak-water, and don't try Lily Padding it, the lily pads
will wither and die instantly.  In the next room, there are two cursed
trees and a clover to dig up on a small island.  The water in this room
is okay for some reason.  Go through this room and go down the hall to
the east.  Bloom the bud for an Incense Burner.  Jump up the ledge and
the camera will give you a view of some platforms across a lake.  Lily
Pad across the lake then Wall Jump up the platforms.  You'll find a big
rock here and a bud which has a Steel Fist Sake in it.  Keep going
forward and toward the ominous purple bud up ahead.  As you get close,
the thing will jump up and become a Bud Ogre.  To kill a Bud Ogre,
attack it normally until it's stunned.  Then you can Bloom the bud and
attack the core inside the bud.  Destroy the core and the Ogre will
die.  When the Ogre is dead, the rock that you saw before will become
pushable.  Push it onto the switch and the door to the next room will
open.  In this room, the ceiling will suddenly break and two Bud Ogres
will fly in.  Go ahead and kill them like you did the last one.  You'll
get a little Praise for doing this.  In the south of this room there's
a wooden gate you can cut down and a bud with a Vengeance Slip.  In the
middle of this room is a log with some mushrooms growing on it.  Look
up and draw a sun in the sky that you can see because the Bud Ogres
blasted a huge hole in the ceiling.  This will make the mushrooms grow
ridiculously huge and you can climb up on them.  Follow the narrow path
from the mushrooms and bomb the crack in the wall at the end.  Go
through the next room and cross the bridge, then keep going onto a
bridge overlooking the entrance of the dungeon.  At this point Issun
will sneeze (nice move, ACE!) and make the whole bridge start falling
down.  Just run to the other side of the bridge as fast as you can.  In
the next room, you'll notice that some kind of living lock is blocking
the way.  Drop down to the bottom of this room.  In the south, you'll
see a weird thingy blocking the south exit, interestingly called a
Blockhead.  Tackle the Blockhead and you'll get a brief glimpse of its
weak points.  Draw dots on the places that are its weak points (in the
order that they appear) and the Blockhead will be destroyed.  With the
Blockhead destroyed (don't worry about the passage behind the
Blockhead, it just leads back to the entrance), an Exorcism Key will
appear in the center of the room and vines will appear so you can go
back up the room.  Take the key and go up.  As you go, you'll notice
that on each platform there are rows of three statues.  On the third
such platform up from the bottom, bomb the wall behind the statues and
Bloom the bud for a Stray Bead.  When you're at the top, take the
Exorcism Key to the Lockjaw (Get it?  LOCKjaw?).  When you're done
laughing at it freaking out when you bring the key close to it, you can
bring the key close to put it out of its misery.  You can Bloom the bud
for and Exorcism Slip S in the next room, and then you can fix the
bridge to get through to the next room.  I've heard a lot of people
have trouble fixing the bridge here.  If you're having trouble, make
sure you can see the WHOLE bridge (or rather, the whole space where
there should be a bridge).  Also, try holding Triangle as you draw to
make a thicker line.  In the next room, you'll have to dispose of three
Devil Gates.  They're nothing you haven't fought before.  You can also
get a Holy Bone S and a Lacquerware Set in here.  When the Devil Gates
are gone, some 'shrooms will grow on a log like before.  Go ahead and
draw a sun in the sky.  Go aroud the narrow trail at the top of the
shrooms and you'll find some strange jars spouting the freak-water you
saw before.  Bash 'em all!  Bash 'em all DEAD!!!  This will clean up
the water.  Go ahead and jump down the waterfall as Issun suggests, but
when you get to the bottom of this fall, turn around and go into a
small alcove behind the waterfall.  Cherry Bomb the far wall to find a
Bud with a Stray Bead.  Then continue down all the waterfalls down the
river and you'll be back at the entrance.  Go ahead and enter the big,
shiny, happy entrance in the stump to the north.  In here, cure all the
cursed soil by scribbling all over it (don't try Blooming it).  When
you do, Tsutagami will come down (after the obligatory, if repetitive,
constellation drawing) and give you Vine.  Use Vine to lash your way up
all the flower buds to the top of the stump and go outside.  Move
around the narrow path around the stump and lash your way up another
flower trail to the top of the weird statue.  Here, lash the buds to
the hooks on the statue's hat thingy and it will lift up.  Drop in.
Ooh, ominous music.  When you get in, mind that there's a save point
behind you.  Go along the northern path, take the Godhood Travel Guide
and the Holy Bone S, and get into the huge chamber to the north.
=========================
BOSS: SPIDER QUEEN
=========================
This is the first "real" boss.  This boss doesn't have a lot of
attacks.  It will mostly just launch a flurry of darkness orbs at you.
If you get too far away it will rush REALLY fast at you, but this can't
actually hurt you even though it really, really looks like it should.
Whenever you can get a decent view of the hooks on its back AS WELL AS
a bud, go into the brush pad and lash the bud to the hook.  Then you'll
have to QUICKLY lash another one, otherwise it will just shake off the
one you already have.  When two vines are attached, it'll fall on its
face and open the bud.  You have a very short time to pummel the
eyeballs inside before it shuts again.  Personally, I recommend Power
Slashing it over and over with a really long line so that it will hit
every eye.  Make sure you're not in the bud when it closes.  It will
start twitching when it's about to close.  Later on, the Spider Queen
will occasionally produce an egg and hold it over its head.  Power
Slash it quickly and the explosion will stun the Queen and it'll fall
on its face and leave you free to lash vines to its back.  When all the
eyeballs are destroyed, the fight will be over.
=========================
For winning this battle, you'll receive the Level 2 Reflector, the
Snarling Beast.  You'll then be transported out of the Ruins, which is
just fine 'cause I'm sick of writing about them.
---Agata Forest---
Apparently it took this long just for Kokari to get to the entrance.
You'll return Ume to him and such and such, and Issun will make the
whole thing have a moral and stuff like that.  When he's done, go to
the west and down the path to the river (note that Susano's gone...
hmm).  Here, Kokari will be trying to create a bridge using a fishing
pole somehow.  Then, good ol' Susano will come barreling down the river
because his latest technique (wait for it) "Exploding Barrel, Flying
Monkeys" failed.  Kokari won't let go of the fishing pole though, so
you all end up on the log with Susano somehow.  It makes more sense
when you watch it, believe me.  You'll have to play a little mini-game
where you lash vines to the log to make it stop.  The buds will come by
blindingly fast on the banks, so be sure to open the brush pad at a
split-second's notice.  When you've attached all six hooks to the bank,
the log will snap back and become a bridge for you to use.  Don't waste
any time going over it and getting out of Agata, because I'm sick of
the place.
---Taka Pass---
I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you what this place looks like.
Go around the north side and enter the cave to the north.  Waka will
show up and he decides to test you... AGAIN.
=========================
BOSS: WAKA
=========================
This fight is basically the same as the first.  He has a few new
tricks, like teleporting around the arena rapidly and throwing swords
and flying around the arena quickly with his sword, but that's all.  In
fact, that's all that's new about this fight.  Otherwise, just pummel
him like last time.
=========================
After he's thoroughly pummeled, Waka will tell you that he's looking
for the Serpent Crystal and that you might find it at the big windmill
up on the hill.  Then he'll fly off in his usual French fashion.  Go up
the wooden walkway here and go through the long cave onto a ridge above
Taka Pass.  Go to the Guardian Sapling you can see at one end and,
after fixing the bridge to it, Bloom it.  Watch the evil be blown away
as usual.  Naturally, if you want there's a lot to do around Taka Pass
like Devil Gates, but all you need to do is jump off the ridge and exit
Taka Pass to the east, to Kusa Village (the place with the big
windmill).
---Kusa Village---
As soon as you get into this place, your ink will start draining 'cause
the whole place is cursed.  So run REALLY fast up the trail to your
right as you enter the village square, the one that goes UP and winds
around to the top of the Village.  Run down the trail, across the
wooden walkway, and to the large house up the stone steps.  Talk to the
girl in front of the house and she'll say that she's being possessed by
a demon.  You'll have to fight a Blue Imp and a few Green Imps, be
mindful that brush powers won't work, and finish it quickly before you
have to fight with no weapon.  Once the Imps are dead, the girl will
get rid of all the evil in the area.  She'll introduce herself as
Princess Fuse, and she'll tell you that the reason for all the evil in
the area is Crimson Helm, who has stopped the Divine Wind blowing down
into the village.  She'll tell you that only the Canine Warriors can
stop him, and she gives you the Canine Tracker to help find them.  You
will have to find five in the village.  Before you do, though, visit
the shop as it has the Level 3 Reflector, Infinity Judge (bah,
Reflector users get all the luck, getting them all so early...).
Anyway, the Canine Warriors are in the places that follow:  1.  Wall
jump up the wall with a ladder against it (near Susano) and Cherry Bomb
the wall.  Feed the dog in here a Meat Feedbag (you'll have to open the
menu and use it yourself, the feed option won't appear).  2.  Go to the
square, and in a depression there's a small patch of cursed soil.  Get
rid of it and the dog will appear.  Feed it like usual.  3.  Go up the
trail leading to Fuse's house, but lash to the bud near the second
switchback on the trail and go around the wooden walkway near the bud
into a cave, where you'll find the dog.  4.  Near Mr. Bamboo's house at
the end of the trail Susano's relaxing... I mean, meditating on,
there's a stalk of bamboo glowing with a strange light.  Cut the bamboo
and feed the dog that comes out.  DON'T think this dog is somewhere in
the shop (I did because the glowing bamboo is irritatingly right below
the shop, and the Canine Tracker won't tell you up and down).  When you
have these 4, return to Fuse's house and you'll find the fifth in
front, and he'll challenge you to a fight.
=========================
       BOSS: TEI
=========================
This is more of a mini-boss, I guess.  Tei has two attacks: one, he'll
howl and glow yellow, then he'll dash FAST at you, and two, he'll howl
and glow blue and launch a four to five hit combo against you.  He
performs the combo the same way Amaterasu does with a Reflector, so you
should be familiar with what it looks like.  He has a lot of health and
defense, not a problem if you're using Infinity Judge but Rosary users
may wish to use Cherry Bomb whenever you can to speed the fight along.
Note that he's invincible while doing the yellow howl thing, so
tempting as it is don't try to bomb him while he's doing this.
=========================
When you're done, Fuse will come out and find you and Tei fighting.
She'll stop you, then she'll scold all the Canine Warriors for not
coming when she called them (look at 'em all hang their heads HAHA).
Fuse will mark on your map where the other three are.  For sake of it
being the closest, go for the one near Taka Pass.
---Taka Pass---
In the north, you can find a gate like the one near Sakuya's tree and a
man trying to push a solid rock face (what is it with people and
pushing stuff that obviously can't be pushed!?!?).  Go through the
gate, however, and the rock face will disappear and you can get through
to...
---Sasa Sanctuary---
Just get close to this place and the sparrows here will shoo you away,
mentioning something about the boss sparrow's kidnapped daughter.
There's a save point and a sneaky clover up on a ridge in the
southwest, but otherwise nothing to do here.  YES, it is necessary that
you come here.  Get out of here now.
---Taka Pass---
Now, go to the Cutter's house a little east of the entrance to Sasa
Sanctuary on the north side of Taka Pass.  Come to the house at night-
time, though, 'cause otherwise all you can do is be chased by Mr.
Cutter.  At night, jump up onto a ledge on the north side of the house
and Cherry Bomb the flimsy looking boards.  Drop down the gaping hole
into the house.  In here, you can talk to Mrs. Cutter if you want, but
what you need to do is grab Mrs. Cutter (with Triangle) and drag her
into the shaft of moonlight coming in through the hole you just busted.
Mrs. Cutter is apparently a monster, and you'll have to fight her and
Mr. Cutter.  They are Crow Tengu.  When you beat them, Chun (the boss
sparrow's daughter) will pop out.  Go back to Sasa Sanctuary with her.
---Sasa Sanctuary---
Chun will arrange for you to be let in to the hotel.  Go ahead and go
in.  You can go up the stairs at the back of the place and up the
elevator to talk to the boss and get a zillion treasures he gives you
for rescuing Chun.  All you need to do, though, is go out the side
entrance of the hotel to a hot spring.  Or rather, a hot, because
there's no spring.  Or rather, a nothing because there's no hot either.
Talk to the Bath Attendant, and after attempting to fry his own head a
couple of times to get the spring going, Mr. Bamboo will show up and
offer to help.  Mini-Game FUNTIME!!!  Dig through the blocks and get
Mr. Bamboo to the bottom.  All the techniques you can use here are on
the fifth page of the instructions you'll be given.  When you get to
the bottom, Mr. Bamboo will stop on a block and the block will start
shining.  Dig there and the spring will flow again.  Back at the
surface, another constellation will appear and Nuregami will give you
the power of Waterspout.  Issun will make you test it on the flaming
Bath Attendant and he'll make you create a Power Spring.  When you're
done, Waterspout some water from the hot spring into the huge green
deer scare near the spring and the door to the north will open.  Go
through it and follow the path first to a sparrow wigging out about his
lost dog Take, and second to a bamboo forest with more glowing bamboo
like before.  Go into the brush pad and cut the one that is glowing,
don't mind about how it changes, just cut the one that's glowing at
that particular time.  When you do, the Canine Warrior Gi (Take) will
come out and challenge you like Tei did.
=========================
       BOSS: GI
=========================
This is only different from the Tei fight in that Gi will sometimes dig
huge holes in the battlefield.  Don't fall in these holes because
you'll get stuck and Gi will run over and pee on you which causes you
to lose all your ink.  No, seriously, he does.  No foolin'.
=========================
When Gi is defeated, he'll tell you that he can't come to Fuse because
the he needs to protect the sparrows here.  However, his Duty Power Orb
will be yours for some reason.  Be sure you feed Take (AKA Gi).
Anyway, on to the next dog, in Agata.
---Agata Forest---
Thought you were done in Agata?  Sorry, no.  Go north along the western
edge of the area and through a gate and up to a spring where you'll
find Kushi trying to fill a huge bucket full of spring water.  Use
Waterspout to fill the bucket all the way up.  Then, while Kushi is
futilely trying to lug the huge bucket all the way to Kamiki, a whole
mess of Imps show up.  So does Susano.  You get to have another Power
Slash game with Susano, cutting all the imps.  When you're done, Susano
will finally realize that he's getting help, however he thinks it's
because his sword is possessed rather than you helping him.  Then he'll
run off without even helping Kushi with the colossal bucket.  No time
to worry about them, though, because Kokari will apparently be in
trouble again.  Go over to the fishing spot where you first found him
just in time to see him catch a fish so ****ing huge it's hard to
believe.  Play another fishing mini-game with him, ending with him
catching Whopper, the huge fish.  He takes two slices to kill for
whatever reason.  Since Whopper swallowed the moon reflected on the
water (MRotW), the MRotW will come back.  However, there is only a
MRotW and not an actual moon in the sky.  So, you get to draw one in.
Draw a crescent moon like the MRotW (you can probably see why I
abbreviated it now).  I actually had a problem with this.  Make sure
you draw a ")" shape, not a "(" shape.  Also, draw it up-to-down, from
12 o'clock to 6 o'clock.  When it is drawn correctly, you get to
constellationize, meet Yumigami and he'll give you the power of
Crescent.  Then, Whopper will spit up Ume, who is apparently one of the
Canine Warriors.  You'll have to fight him too.
=========================
       BOSS: JIN
=========================
I don't know why I even put this boss section dingus in here.  He's no
different from Gi.  Just beat him up.
=========================
Ume (or Jin if you prefer) says he can't go because he has to look
after Kokari.  However, you'll get his Justice Power Orb, so all's well
and good I guess.  Next!
---Kamiki Village---
Haven't been here in a while, eh?  If you haven't done the dig-up-all-
ten-turnips-in-Mushi's-Mama's-garden-without-getting-clobbered
sidequest by now, you NEED to do it now otherwise Hayabusa won't talk
to you.  If you don't know how to do it, just take a gander at how I
described the sidequest and that should tell you all you need to know.
When you're done, talk to Hayabusa (Mushi's dog) and he'll tell you
that you need to meet at night.  Unless it already is night.  If it
isn't, you can use that Crescent power you just got (See?  If you
hadn't gone there first you would have to wait 'til nightfall.  There's
a METHOD to my madness.).  At night, talk to him and he'll fight you
like all the rest.
=========================
       BOSS: CHU
=========================
I just put this boss section dingus here for fun.  He's the same as Gi
and Jin.  You should know what to do.
=========================
When you win, Hayabusa (AKA Chu) says he can't leave because he has to
stay to protect Mushi from his prophecized doom.  Anyway, you get his
Loyalty Power Orb, so head back to Fuse now.
---Kusa Village---
Go to Fuse's house and talk to her.  You'll give her the three Power
Orbs you got from Gi, Jin, and Chu.  With only five of the eight Canine
Warriors present, the Satomi Power Orbs choose you (Keep the Pokemon
jokes to YOURSELF, please.) to go defeat Crimson Helm.  Go up the
stairs north of Fuse's house and into the cave at the end of the path.
---Gale Shrine---
Walk to the right through the confusingly kinda 2-D passage here.
You'll see Susano here sleeping while pretending to be meditating. See,
he fell asleep while he was pretending to be meditating. So, pretending
to do something boring made him fall asleep. Confusing enough? Anyway,
go north to the door with a scary barrier in front of it. A ghost will
appear and try to stop you, but you'll show him the Satomi Power Orbs
(I don't know how he missed them) and the barrier will break and he'll
let you pass. Susano will also charge through since he's done
pretending to meditate... in his sleep. Inside, there are some sunken
treasure chests you can Power Slash to make their treasure float to the
surface where you can collect it. Head east through the tiny passage to
an equally tiny room. Enter the Devil Gate here and you'll be forced to
fight a Chimera. If these seem like an upgraded Bud Ogre to you, you're
right. More details on fighting these things are in the Bestiary. When
it's dead, the demon gate will leave behind an Exorcism Key. Go back to
the pond and go north over this windmill-ridden wooden catwalk. Kill
the Lockjaw here with the Key, and step into the elevator shaft. Plant
Cherry Bombs in the middle of the elevator to make it go up. After a
certain amount of time it will fall back down. For some secret stuff
(including a Stray Bead), plant a bomb on the elevator WHILE YOU'RE NOT
STANDING ON IT (stand in the nook leading into the shaft) and the
elevator will go up without you, and you can fall beneath where the
elevator would be into a secret chamber. Anyway, on the second floor,
fight the Demon Scroll (which is another Chimera) and it too will drop
an Exorcism Key. Take the Exorcism Key up to the third floor (the roof)
and it will kill the Lockjaw barring entrance. Run around the scarily
narrow staircase up to the top and through the wooden cylinder onto a
viewing platform. Here, you'll have to play a little drawing game with
the wind. You'll want to make a loopy thing just like the wind it shows
you, except draw it in the opposite direction. When you're all done,
you get to fill in another constellation. Oh, joy. Kazegami will come
down and give you the power to make wind whenever you want. Go ahead
and make the tiny windmill barring your way out spin. To do this, try
positioning the camera so you see the SIDE of the windmill rather than
the front. Go all the way back to the elevator shaft, noting that there
is a Stray Bead if you go the opposite way down the wooden cylinder and
that you can blow away the flames on the flaming chest near the
elevator. You can similarly blow out the flames on the chest on the
second floor to get the last Stray Bead in the area. Back on the first
floor, blow on the western windmill on the catwalk and it the catwalk
will swing around to the north. To the north is a sort of ruined
cathedral-style room. There's a bit of treasure and mice around here,
but what you've got to do is go up onto the rafters and use Wind to
blow the banners of Kazegami up to use as platforms. Go all the way
across then jump off the rafters onto the elevated platform. Go north
here. There's a Golden Gate here if you want it. Predictably, before
you can take the Serpent Crystal Crimson Helm gets in your way.  At
last, another REAL boss!
================================
       BOSS: CRIMSON HELM
================================
This guy isn't too tough. When the fight starts, Cherry Bomb him over
and over. He'll try to swipe you with his swords and if you're too far
away he'll try to rush you, both of which are easily evaded, just be
sure to watch him carefully. He'll pull back his sword for a second
before he swipes at you. Also, be mindful that he slashes twice so
don't relax after the first slice. Once you've Cherry Bombed him
enough, his armor will fall off and he'll just be a burning skeleton.
Use Wind to blow out his flame and make him vulnerable to attack. Pound
on him as much as you can, the Wind will stun him for a few seconds and
then he'll be back to slicing, so watch so that you don't get hit while
you're pounding. The Satomi Power Orbs will occasionally give you a
white Godhood layer to protect you, but don't count on them. If
necessary, knock his armor off again and wash, rinse, repeat.
================================
When you're done, shadowy figures of Orochi's heads will rise from
Crimson Helm's body. Suddenly, Susano will rush in (How'd he get here
so slow? He went in BEFORE you) and you'll have to play another Power
Slash game with him. Watch out this time however because the Orochi's
heads will move, even if you're in the brush pad. You can remedy this
by drawing really fast or just drawing a really big line. When you're
all done, Susano will try to invent a new technique (it's better than
Exploding Barrel, Flying Monkeys. No, seriously. I'm not kidding.) that
you'll have to help him with. Draw a small Wind line to begin with,
then keep making the lines bigger and bigger as he asks for it. When
he's done, he'll FINALLY realize that the gods (i.e. you) are
interfering with him. He rants and raves at the gods a little while,
then he'll run off AGAIN.  Waka will show up and take the Serpent
Crystal, too. However, you do get to keep the Level 2 Rosary, Life
Beads, so it's not a total loss.  Guess you've got a job to do.  Head
ALL THE WAY back to Kamiki Village.
---Kamiki Village---
When you arrive, the whole village is in an uproar over how Susano
drank all of the 8 Purification Sake intended for the festival.  During
this conversation, Susano will reveal that it was him who removed
Tsukuyomi from its place and unsealed Orochi, and then blocked the
village entrance with a boulder and hid underground.  Explains a lot,
eh?  Orochi's white-plumed arrow will then appear and strike the roof
of Kushi's house, narrowly missing Mushi as Hayabusa prophecized.
Kushi will run off with her sake saying she'll kill Orochi herself.  Go
ahead and get after her.
---Shinshu Field---
You'll find Kushi near the gate, after a brief conversation you'll pick
her up.  Take her to the Moon Cave in the south.  Nice music, by the
way.
---Moon Cave Entrance---
As you approach, you'll find Waka breaking the shield to Orochi's cave.
Once the barrier is broken, Orochi will reach out and snatch Kushi, and
Amaterasu will try to chase Orochi down only to be sealed in by the
barrier.  Waka will be unhelpful and fly off.  Get on down the cave
after Kushi.
---Moon Cave---
There's a big broken staircase here.  No, sorry, you can't Rejuvenate
it.  Just jump off into the dark pit below.
---Calcified Cavern---
The instant you get here you'll meet some imps.  They think nothing of
you and won't let you through the door.  Go down the other way, picking
up Kushi's Thunder Brew along the way.  Follow the path (there only
really is one path to follow) to a Devil Gate.  Go through and you have
to fight a Black Imp.  Kill the Black Imp and you'll get a Mask.
You'll be given an opportunity to draw whatever you want on your mask.
Go ahead and have fun.  You could draw a smiley face, your favorite
death metal band, or a um... rubber chicken.  When you're done, go back
to the imps guarding the door.  They'll let you through.
---Moon Cave---
Back in the Moon Cave proper.  Go through the entrance on your right
(through the curtains that have a drawing of a stew pot on them) and
you'll be in the kitchen.  Lash the buds to the hooks on the giant stew
pot in here and the lid will lift and you'll find that the head chef,
Ajimi, had fallen in the pot somehow.  Ajimi will explain that Orochi
is a prissy-priss and demands an appetizer before he eats the
sacrifice.  Okay, he doesn't say that Orochi is a prissy-priss, but
c'mon.  An appetizer for a vicious monster?  Anyway, he hits on you
(...) and asks you to go get the ingredients necessary to finish the
appetizer that are scattered throughout the Moon Cave.  He'll give you
an Exorcism Key then send you on your way.  An Exorcism Key?  Isn't
that kinda being an accomplice to murder considering Ajimi is also a
demon?  Anyway, back in the entrance chamber go to the opposite side of
the room from the kitchen and use the Exorcism Key to kill the Lockjaw.
In the next room, you'll find a bottomless pit with a bunch of buds
floating above it.  Since the buds are upside-down, you cannot rest and
must lash from bud to bud quickly like you're Tarzan.  At the end of
this trail, you'll find a closed door and a weird eye-lamppost thing.
Power Slash the eye and the door will open.  Destroy a Devil Gate in
here and claim your Ogre Liver.  Then go back and lash all the way back
to where you started.  When you get there, you'll find that the puddle
you may have seen before now is a Power Spring.  Ride it up and go out
onto a balcony overlooking the entrance room.  Go up these balconies to
the first door on your left.  In here, you'll see a narrow bridge with
a sign telling you to be careful because the bridge is flimsy.  Go
across and you'll discover there's nothing for you to do there.  Try to
go back and the bridge will break and you'll fall down into a new room.
Destroy the Devil Gate here and a little pond will appear.  Waterspout
the water from the pond into the giant deer scare and the room will
fill with water.  Make your way over to a drainage passage on the far
end of the room from the pond and Power Spring up into it.  Destroy the
Demon Gate here, too.  Power Slash another eye lamp and Power Spring
back up into the entrance room.  Go to the imp running the elevator in
the middle of the room.  He'll say he's scared to make the elevator go
down because he thinks it will plummet down to the bottom.  Power Slash
him over and over to make him let go of the crank and thus make the
elevator go down.  When you're at the bottom, jump off onto the ledge.
You can talk to the imp here if you want.  In the next room, there are
four eye lamps that you must hit all at once.  What you should do is
stand at the top of the ramp that they're on and angle the camera
downward so the eye lamps are all aligned in a straight line.  Then,
just draw a really long Power Slash line to hit them all.  In the next
room, you'll be forced to fight an Ice Mouth.  More on these in the
Bestiary.  When it's dead, you'll get to fill in another constellation,
and Moegami will come and give you the power of Inferno.  Use Inferno
to make flame from the phoenix statue melt the ice at the back of the
room.  In the next room, use a flame from one of the torches mounted
high on the wall to melt the ice, then you can bomb the wall for a
secret room with some treasure.  Talk to the imp in the center of the
not secret room and he'll take you back up to the first floor.  Destroy
the Demon Gate here to get some Ice Lips (They're chewy... ew...).
Melt the ice here and you'll find yourself back in the kitchen.  You
can give the ingredients you have so far to Ajimi, your accomplice in
the murder of a Lockjaw, if you want, but you can skip it too.  Back in
the entrance room, you can use a weird bouncy flower in the corner of
the room (between the bell and the entrance to where you got your Ogre
Liver) to bounce up to the balconies you were on before.  Go back to
the area with the bridge that you broke.  Rejuvenate the bridge and
melt the ice on the other side.  In this room, enter the Devil Gate and
you'll have to fight a Fire Eye.  For winning you get the Flame
Eyeball.  Melt the ice in here and go to the next room where you'll
find an Exorcism Key.  Go back to the balconies around the entrance
room and go up them until you get to the door with a Lockjaw on it.
Kill the Lockjaw and go into this sandy place.  Now, you must push this
boulder all the way to a switch at the other end of the room.  Seeing
as how you have to bash it to make it move, it is nearly impossible to
control, making this probably the most frustrating moment in the entire
game.  Eventually, you'll come to what seems to be an empty chasm.
Power Slash the eye lamp and a wind will blow through and reveal a
secret path.  If you need to see the path again just use Wind.  When
you get the boulder across this secret path, the hard part's over and
you can just get it onto the switch.  Doing so causes all the other
orbs to catch on fire.  Exit the room via the door near the switch and
climb the stairs back out on the balconies and you'll find a merchant.
You can thaw out the treasure chest near the merchant too.  At the far
end of the balcony with the merchant, look up and lash to the bud on
the higher balcony.  Use Wind to blow the banners up here and cross
over to a cannon that's spinning in circles for some reason.  Use
Inferno to light the wick and make it fire.  You want to make it fire
across the entrance room, so time your Inferno appropriately.  Note
that there's a delay in between the time you light the wick and the
time the cannon actually fires.  When you successfully blow the wall
up, go around the balconies to the area you blew up and go through the
hole.  In here, there's a fiery orb up on a ledge.  Use Wind to get it
down and push it forward through the room.  Don't try to push it
yourself.  At the end of the room, there's an ice blockade you can melt
to find a room with a Devil Gate.  Destroy it to claim the last
ingredient, the Black Devil Horn.  You can melt the other two chests in
here, too.  Back at the kitchen, turn all your ingredients in to Ajimi
and he'll finish the appetizer.  He'll tell you to go ring the
epicurean bell.  Go back into the entrance room.  There's a few ice
blocks you can melt in here for some treasure, but what you need to do
is bash the bell 8 times and the imps will carry the appetizer up to
Orochi.  Talk to the imp in the middle of the room and this time he'll
take you up to Orochi's throne room.  You won't even have to Power
Slash him.  Follow the narrow path and drop down into Orochi's lair.
========================
       BOSS: OROCHI
========================
The instant the fight starts, just whack him once and a cutscene will
start.  When it's over, you'll want to dodge Orochi's attacks and
Waterspout the sake into his mouth when he roars.  Pour sake into a
head's mouth twice and it will become drunk.  Get three heads drunk and
he'll pass out.  You can find strategies on the heads below, but for
this stage don't try to pummel the heads when they're drunk.  Climb up
one of his necks after he passes out onto the shrine in the middle of
the arena and pummel the living snot out of the bell in the shrine.
When the bell is destroyed, Orochi's barrier will go down and then the
fun REALLY starts.  A strategy for each head is written below, in order
going clockwise.
Fire Head: This one will breathe fire at you.  You can usually run
around the fire, but if it's giving you trouble you can use Wind to
blow the fire away.  After he's done using fire, he'll roar, shoot the
sake into his mouth.  When he's drunk, you can pummel away at him.
Earth Head:  This one will slam itself into the ground to create a
shockwave.  After the initial shockwave, three "creepers" will try to
home in on you, you can just jump to foil them.  After making the
shockwave, the Earth Head will be stunned.  Whack it and it will get up
and roar.  Get it drunk, pummel it.
Poison Head:  This one will spit poison at you.  It works basically
like the fire attack except it's tougher to dodge.  I would definitely
recommend always using Wind to blow the poison away.  When he's done
attacking, he'll roar, make him drink and pummel him.
Holy Head:  This one will conjure up spheres of light that will, after
a moment's hesitation, fire a beam of light at you.  This hurts a LOT
so watch out.  What's most annoying about this one is that it roars
while the spheres are still firing, so be sure you're in motion when
you enter the brush pad to get it drunk otherwise the spheres will
pummel you when you close the brush pad.
Lightning Head:  This one will launch balls of lightning all over the
place.  These aren't too tough to dodge, they aren't very large and you
can see where they're going.  When he's done attacking, somehow he'll
lose sight of you.  Whack him and he'll roar, so get him drunk and
pummel.
Water Head: When you approach this head, get on the slightly raised
portion of the arena on the edge opposite this head.  The head will
immediately flood the arena when you approach, then lily pads will be
created and he'll start bathing in his nice water.  Jump along the lily
pads and smack him.  I recommend using a Rosary to smack him because
with a jump strike you can hit him from the second lily pad instead of
going all the way to the third.  After you smack him, he'll roar, get
him soaked in sake, and pummel.  On a side note, how does the sake stay
in that channel when the arena is flooded?
Wind Head:  This one will send a tornado at you.  You can just run
around and dodge it, or you could use Wind to blow the tornado away.
Either way, he'll roar when he's done attacking, so force sake down his
throat and pummel.
Darkness Head:  This one won't really attack your health.  When you get
close, he spits out two dark buds.  If you fail to Bloom them both, the
arena will get dark and, like Kusa Village, your ink will drain
constantly.  However, regardless of whether you Bloom them or not,
he'll roar, get drunk, and be pummeled.
During this fight, make sure you stay with your head.  Stay straight in
front of it.  If you don't, you risk the head adjacent to the one
you're fighting trying to interfere.  Get too close and it will try to
bash you or it might even use its attack on you.  Once I got too close
to the Holy Head while fighting the Poison Head, which resulted in me
running from a cloud of poison and dodging beams of light at the same
time, which was not fun.  This probably goes without saying but also
keep your distance because it is not uncommon for a head to just lash
out at you instead of using its attack.
========================
After the fight, you'll have to power up Susano's sword by drawing a
moon in the sky.  Then, once again you'll have to help Susano Power
Slash Orochi's heads.  This works just like the game just before this,
so still watch out for the motion of Orochi's heads.  Once they're all
cut off, you'll get a nice long cutscene and, more importantly, your
first Glaive, Tsumugari.
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       Part 2: Western Nippon (PRT2)
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---Kamiki Village---
When you get back to playing, Kamiki Village will be celebrating the
defeat of Orochi.  Of course, they all think Susano did it rather than
you, but that's something you'll just have to deal with.  If you want
to find Susano and Kushi and wreck their "moment," you can find them at
the Cave of Nagi.  Once you talk to everyone, Issun will recommend that
you head for the capital city to find the remaining 4 brush gods.  So,
leave Kamiki and head for the City Checkpoint west of Taka Pass.
---City Checkpoint---
Here, you should go up to the guard on the left side of the drawbridge
(or where the drawbridge would be).  He's the one shooting the arrows.
Inferno his arrow using the Phoenix Statues and his flaming arrow will
land in a cannon and blow everything on the other side of the river to
smithereens.  Um... oops.  The drawbridge will be down, however, so
all's well and good.  You can stick around here for clovers and
treasure and such if you want.
---Ryoshima Coast---
Don't fall in the evil water.  You'll die for sure.  Morbidity aside,
move forward and take a north at the fork in the road, because the
south path is covered in evil.  There really only is the one road that
you can take without walking in the evil, so take that one.  At the end
you'll find a pond and a bucket like the one Kushi had.  You can fill
the bucket if you want, but what you really need to do is Waterspout
the water from that pond into the dry basin where there should be a
pond on the ledge above.  Then jump up to that ledge, and up on the
next ledge there's another empty pond.  Keep moving up and filling
ponds like this and you'll end up filling in a circular channel around
the Guardian Sapling.  It will grow up, then you can Bloom it as usual.
Watch all the evil get blown away as usual.  The first thing you'll
want to do is visit the island slightly southwest of the beach with
Onigiri Sensei's second dojo on it.  You can learn what you want, but
you HAVE to learn Holy Eagle and although you don't have to I would
recommend you learn Digging Champ.  Now that you actually can, go to
the capital.  Circle around the beach on the southern part of the
mainland and at the end get up onto the stone pier.  You'll be forced
to fight an Ubume, then go straight through the wooden gate you'll see
from there down the hill into Sei'an.  Of course, don't rush through
this area if you don't want to, as there's plenty to see and do.
---Sei'an City (Commoner's Qtr.)---

As you can hopefully see, this place is in really bad condition.  No
foolin'.  On the east side of the road, there's an item shop, on the
west there is the weapon shop.  Be sure you buy the Blinding Snow from
the item store, and there is also the Level 2 Glaive, Seven Strike, for
sale in the weapon shop if you want it.  Head to the far northeast
corner of the city where there is a huge hole in the canals and there
is wooden scaffolding in the hole.  Talk to Naguri here and he'll say
that the canals are dry because the earthquake caused by Orochi's
return plugged up the lake somehow.  Point is, he needs to get down
there and dig out the plug.  As you might have guessed, now you get to
do the digging game again.  This isn't of much note, but do note that
you can use Wind to blow Naguri across anything he can't walk across,
like the purple spiny blocks.  There is an instance near the bottom
where you must do this, so don't let it get you stuck.  Once the plug
is dug up, the canals will fill again.  Go north out of the commoner's
quarter, being sure to take the Blinding Snow from the item store with
you.  Don't worry if you missed any treasure in the canals while they
were dry, you can Power Slash submerged chests to make their treasure
float to the surface.
---Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---
Head across the bridge here, or rather head across half the bridge here
because half of it came disjointed somehow.  Talk to Benkei at the end
of the bridge and he'll explain that he's fishing for something called
the Living Sword and until he gets it he's not fixing the bridge.  Give
him the Blinding Snow and you'll get to play a fishing game... again.
The Cutlass Fish at the end takes three slices this time.  When Benkei
catches it, he'll put the bridge right again.  Keep going north only to
find that Waka has decided to pester you again.  You don't even get a
chance to beat him up this time!  When you're done talking with Waka,
head north into the house, blatantly ignoring the fact you just butted
4 people in line.  Inside, talk to Rao and get ready for one innuendo-
filled conversation.  Rao says that the forces of darkness are invading
Ryoshima, causing the poison mist in Sei'an and causing the Water
Dragon, the people's protector, to rage out of control.  When Rao asks
for a demonstration of your power, just use Inferno using one of the
candle flames.  She says that she needs the Fox Rods to defeat the
forces of darkness, and that the Fox Rods are on a ship sunken just
before it hit port.  Then, she'll say she can't come because she has no
Prayer Slips.  Exit out the small side door in the northwest corner of
the room.  Out in this courtyard, go out the entrance built into the
eastern wall.
---Emperor's Palace---
Rao's prayer slips are in the far right corner next to the gate guarded
by soldiers.  After listening to the soldiers gossip about how the mist
is coming from the sick Emperor's room, grab the Prayer Slips and take
them back to Rao.
---Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---
Give the Prayer Slips back to Rao, and she'll agree to go to the sunken
ship.  Now leave Sei'an.
---Ryoshima Coast---
Go along the southern edge of the mainland, and up on the grassy cliff
in the west there is a wooden platform way out on a ledge.  Use Holy
Eagle to get up on top (If you don't have it, you can get it at the
dojo on the island a little southwest of the beach.).  Use Crescent and
the lagoon around the ship will drain.  Get on down into that dry
lagoon.  On the northern side of the ship, find and destroy a Cherry
Bomb wall to get into the ship.
---Sunken Ship---
A little after you get in, Rao will find you and you'll have an even
more innuendo-filled conversation than before.  Then she'll show you
how to throw a prayer slip and you'll break the cursed door.  On the
stairs coming up from the cursed door, some ghosts are floating around
so be sure you throw a prayer slip at them and do it fast or from far
away because they move in the brush pad like Orochi did.  At the top of
the stairs, drop down into the hold.  Be careful when opening treasure
chests because some of them will sprout a hand and start chasing you
instead of giving you tasty treasure.  When this happens you can kill
them with prayer slips for a little Yen.  Head out of the hold through
the side door.  In this room, there's a Saburo and a Jiro for you to
fight.  Although Rao says the prayer slips will kill monsters, don't
use prayer slips on these things because they do nothing.  When they're
dead, try to ignore the huge pile of skulls and bones in the middle of
the room and exit out the other entrance.  In here, Rao will point out
the hole in the ship that lets you see the sky and a scale with a
barrel on one side but not the other.  Use Sunrise and the ship will
flood.  Go back the way you came, and in the bonepile room a Jiro and
Saburo will join together to make an Ichiro.  Kill the Ichiro and go
back into the hold.  Use the new water level to get over the high wall
on the far end of the hold that you couldn't get over before into a
room with a huge cannon.  Before you head out the other entrance, be
sure that you kill the ghosts because one of them will attack as soon
as you get close.  Get a Lily Pad close to the entrance so you can see
them and kill them.  At the end of this little passage, a HUGE hand
will suddenly reach up and try to smash you, and probably scare your
pants off too.  Backtrack a ways down the passage and it shouldn't hit
you.  In the next room, the Slimehand will try to catch you if you swim
too far out into the water, so stay on this edge of the room and go up
the stairs on the same side of the room that you came in.  On your way
down the walkway, go quickly because Slimehand will put a hand up to
try and catch you and drag you back down.  Don't go across the walkway
that goes across the length of the room just yet.  Instead, look up and
Power Slash the rope holding the barrel up there.  Then, jump on the
barrel and ride it like a log.  This involves staying on the barrel on
the same side as you want it to move and walking in the opposite
direction so you won't fall off.  Does that make any sense?  Roll it in
this fashion all the way across the water to the hooks so the scale you
saw earlier is balanced.  Now you should go all the way across the
walkway up above.  If you want a shortcut, you can go out into the
water and jump off of one of the hands as it tries to catch you up onto
wherever you want on the walkway.  See?  Read this and you just might
learn a few underhanded tricks.  Go along the walkway and drop down at
the end and you'll find yourself back in the room with the hole in the
ceiling.  Use Crescent this time.  Now, use the barrel on the scale to
get back up onto the walkway and back into the Slimehand room.  You'll
see that Slimehand really doesn't like that you've drained the water so
he has to sit on the floor gasping.  Since he's helpless and it's
dishonorable, let's kill him, shall we?  Jump on either one of the
green spiked barrels near him and "log roll" it over his face.  Keep
doing this until he DIES!!!  HAHAHA!!!  Ahem.  He'll give you 50 Praise
for doing so.  Exit out of this room and go back into the cannon room.
Stand on the front and back of the cannon to angle it down and up and
plant a Cherry Bomb on the mark to make it fire.  All you absolutely
have to get is the Exorcism Key in the bottom gate, but blow up the
other two for a piece of treasure and, more importantly, a Sun
Fragment.  Take the Exorcism Key and kill the nearby Lockjaw.  Go up
the stairs and into the treasure room, but watch out as a weird ghost
will hassle you along the way.  There's a lot of stuff in here, so get
it all.  Watch out for those weird hand treasure chests though.  One of
the treasures is the Lucky Mallet.  When you get this, Rao figures out
that the Fox Rods must have been taken from the ship and advises that
you leave.  Do so.
---Ryoshima Coast---
The innuendo never stops with Rao.  After a whole mess of innuendo the
Water Dragon will catch up to you while you're trying to swim back from
the sunken ship.  Rao will get away by walking on water somehow.  Then
the Water Dragon will come for you.  I'm told that you can actually
escape using Lily Pads and such, but you don't have to if you don't
want to.  If you get caught, when you wake up, you'll have washed up on
shore somehow (???).  The Lucky Mallet will pop out and lead you back
to Sei'an.
---Sei'an City (Commoner's Qtr.)---
Just head north to the Aristocratic Qtr.  Man, why did I even put this
here?
---Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---
Go back to the Emperor's Palace where you found the prayer slips.  You
can chew Rao out for abandoning you if you want.
---Emperor's Palace---
The Lucky Mallet will lead you to the tiny hole near where you found
the prayer slips.  It will shrink you down so you can fit through the
space.
---Emperor's Palace (X 1000)---
Issun will show you what he looks like and he'll tell you that he can
open chained treasure chests.  Now move along the grassy path.  Along
the way, you'll be stopped a few times as Issun points out that the
palace guards can step on you.  At the end, you'll find a Lockjaw and a
door with a huge, creepy spider hanging over it.  Note that all
throughout this dungeon the game will be introducing the Doom Mirrors,
which work like the Fire Eyes and Ice Mouths and suchlike that you've
seen before.  Ignore the huge, creepy spider and go through the door.
Climb over the stones over the freak-water.  In the next room, soldiers
will be walking around and they will be ACTIVELY trying to squish you,
so watch out.  Also note that you can't get past the sweeping brooms
because they are too fast for you.  There are two little niches in this
room that you can bomb.  The lower one simply leads to some treasure,
the higher one leads to an Exorcism Key.  You'll need to hitch a ride
on the soldier's foot to get up to the higher niche.  Take the Exorcism
Key back, and in the pond with the stones the girl in the cell will
notice you.  She'll say her name is Kaguya and that the Emperor locked
her up here for no reason.  She'll also say that the Emperor took
something and buried it in the corner of his garden a little while ago.
Anyway, move on and kill the Lockjaw in the previous room.  Blow up the
crack in the ground in the next room and drop down into an underground
space where you'll see the treasure the Emperor buried.  You can climb
around here using the spiders as platforms for some clovers if you
want.  When you're done, Cherry Bomb the weak spot in the treasure
chest and go inside.  In here, a spider will drop down to block the
entrance.  Also, Issun will point out a flask hanging from the ceiling.
Cut it down with Power Slash and go inside.  Go to the back and Issun
will talk a bit about the mist.  Then go back and use Wind to blow the
mist out of the flask.  Remember, you can create a forward wind by
drawing a spiral, lateral winds are not your only option.  When the
mist is out of the flask, you'll FINALLY get to fill in another
constellation.  Haven't done that in a while, eh?  Kasugami will give
you Mist.  Issun will make you test Mist out on the spider blocking the
entrance.  Use Mist to slow it down so you can get by before it comes
all the way down and blocks you.  Get out of the hole and go back to
the big stone area with all the soldiers trying to crush you.  Now that
you have Mist, you can slow down the sweeping brooms and get past.  In
the next room, fill yet another giant deer scare (Well, I guess it's a
normal deer scare and you're just small, but whatever.) and jump on it
while it's down.  Jump across all the deer scares in this fashion and
you'll arrive at a little porch leading into the Emperor's bedroom.
You'll see him spewing the poison mist, but you are too large to get
through his mosquito net and too small to push it out of the way.  Use
the platform spiders around here to climb up into the rafters.  You can
explore around up here for some treasure if you like.  If the blocking
spiders are swinging around too quickly, use Mist to slow them down so
you can get by.  Also, you'll find blue platform spiders here that will
speed up a lot when you get on.  If these are a problem, you guessed
it, you can use Mist.  Make your way around the rafters and you'll find
yourself right above the Emperor in the tornado of mist he's creating.
Jump down into his mouth.
---Emperor's Body---
There's not much to do here.  There's a passage and a Golden Gate and
that's it.  Go forward and drop down into the large circular room.
You'll have a little cutscene then you'll have to fight...
========================
       BOSS: BLIGHT
========================
The thing with this boss is that he attacks faster than you can see.
Thus, you have to slow him down with Mist.  When the fight starts,
he'll just idly float around.  When you see him stop, tense up, or
start shaking, or do anything like that use Mist immediately.  Once his
attacks are slowed down they're very easy to dodge as he just moves in
a straight line hoping that he'll run into you.  You'll also notice
that when he's doing such an attack, the green mist around him goes
away.  This means he's vulnerable, and it's the ONLY time he's
vulnerable, so pound him as he goes by.  Pound him enough and he'll be
stunned and his sword will go flying.  Ignore him, go find where his
sword fell and pound the snot out of the sword because beating on
Blight himself will do very little damage.  Wash, rinse, repeat until
the sword breaks, then the fight is over.  Also note that he has one
attack that does not make him vulnerable or make him move at super
speed: he'll call up a bunch of swords in a ring and then they'll all
swoop at you.  You can avoid it with a well-timed double jump, or, if
that's too tough, use Mist to slow them down.  You can still get your
licks in with this attack by pounding on HIS SWORD- it will glow blue
while the others are green.  Because of the extensive and frequent use
of Mist in this fight, using an Inkfinity Stone would be a good idea.
========================
For winning this fight, you'll get the Level 3 Rosary, Exorcism Beads.
The poison mist will also dissipate.  Now, Issun will suggest you take
control of the Emperor from the inside and make him free Kaguya.
---Emperor's Palace---
Now, you'll be in control of the Emperor.  Drag him around the walkway
to Kaguya's cell in the east.  You'll free Kaguya and then Issun will
make the Emperor spit you up.  You'll also be back to normal size
somehow.  After the cutscene, you'll be talking to the Emperor.  He'll
tell you that the last thing he knew before he was possessed was
something about crossing the sea of fire.  He'll then offer to sell you
artifacts in exchange for Demon Fangs.  The thing most noteworthy that
he has is the Fog Pot, which will give you the powered-up version of
Mist, which allows you to go to any Mirror with an X on it in the game
by drawing an X on any such mirror.  Leave when you're done here.
---Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---
You'll find Kaguya out here.  She'll run off saying that she needs to
go to Sasa Sanctuary to find out about her past.  Go ahead and follow
her ALL THE WAY back to Sasa Sanctuary.  Before you go, though, there's
a LOT to do in the commoner's quarter now that the mist is gone, and I
mean A LOT.
---Sasa Sanctuary---
Go to the bamboo forest where you found Take (Gi) before.  You'll find
Kaguya and Mr. Bamboo.  Kaguya will say something's beneath the Royal
Crest and she wants to find it.  She'll blow a hole in it and drop
down.  Then, you'll have to play another digging mini-game with Kaguya.
No tricks or anything here, it's only different from Naguri's game
because it's a different layout, and of course you're not leading
Naguri around.  When you finish, Kaguya will return to space in the
rocket that was buried there, and she'll give you a Fire Tablet for all
your help.  If it seems odd that she's from space, just look up Kaguya
on Wikipedia or something and it should be pretty clear.  Anyway, with
the Fire Tablet, head back to Sei'an.
---Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---
This time, go to the northern entrance.  There are some guards in front
of the gate that won't let you through, so use Mist and you'll get past
them before they can stop you.  Enter the palace to the north.  Enter
the elevator straight ahead from the entrance, and when you get to the
top there will be a pit of lava.  Equip the Fire Tablet and you can
swim through the lava just as if it was only water.  Then there's just
a lot of running to do and you'll arrive at Himiko's throne room.  Talk
to Himiko for one heck long cutscene.  Himiko explains that the dark
forces make their home on Oni Island, an island that constantly shifts
location.  Himiko has holed herself in her palace not only for
protection from the dark forces but also so that she could use her
crystal ball to find where Oni Island will be next.  She also says that
you'll need the Water Dragon's help to break the shield around Oni
Island.  On that note, she sends you to the Dragon Kingdom under the
sea because the Dragonians control the Water Dragon and they might know
what's wrong with it or how to fix it.  She gives you a Border Key so
you can continue further into the Ryoshima Coast.  Now leave and get on
with it.
---Ryoshima Coast---
Take a right just after you get out of the wooden gate leading to
Sei'an and go down a narrow passage and you'll arrive at the border.
Talk to the guard on the right and he'll open the gate.
---N. Ryoshima Coast---
Waka decides to irritate you again as soon as you get into this place.
He says that he heard Issun was actually not an artist and just ran
away from home, and he also says that he restored the Guardian Sapling
"for you."  Bah, work-stealer...  Continue forward and you'll have to
fight an Earth Nose (shouldn't it be WIND Nose?).  Continue through the
middle of the mainland here and up on a raised platform you'll find
Yoichi practicing his archery on a weird stone fruit hanging from the
Guardian Sapling.  Soak his arrow in the questionably colored "water"
nearby and his arrow will fertilize the fruit.  He'll get scared and
run off.  You can go over and cut down the fruit for some praise.  Move
along the beach at the northern edge of the mainland and you'll find
three little kids beating on some guy named Urashima.  Urashima says he
met an emissary for the Dragon Kingdom over at the wooden pier.  Go
over to the wooden pier, also along the same beach near Urashima's hut.
Go out to the edge and use Sunrise and Orca will come up to meet you.
Orca says that you must pass a trial to enter the Dragon Kingdom, and
in this case your trial is to find the whirlpool that leads to the
Dragon Kingdom.  Jump on Orca and you'll be able to swim wherever you
want, and the Water Dragon won't be able to eat you even if you get
close.  Although there are a lot of islands that you should explore
(Especially the one in the center, Power Slash the rock there, drop
down, and contribute money to the spring until you get Power Slash
Level 2), the one that you have to go to is the one on the far right,
the one with the ultra-tall tower and the forest on it.  Swim to that
island and enter the forest.  MAKE SURE you have at least one Fish
Feedbag before you enter.
---Catcall Tower---
When you get in here, you'll have to fight a Poltergeist.  Then, Issun
points out the marks on the walls, saying that you can climb up them.
Before you do so, there are a few clovers around the base of the tower
if you want them.  Then, start climbing.  You can climb by pressing X
to stick onto the wall, then press X to jump up, then stick again, etc.
Every time you climb to a landmark height, you'll notice a ring of
clouds appear below you.  You can walk on these clouds and I actually
recommend you do so because at every landmark height there's a platform
with a treasure or a cat to feed on it.  Be sure you save at least one
Fish Feedbag as you go up, however.  When you finally reach the top,
climb up the stairs and on a lookout deck at the very top, feed the cat
and a constellation will appear.  Fill it in and Kabegami will come and
give you Catwalk, the power to make pawprint trails like the one you
climbed the tower on whenever you see a cat statue.  Test it out on the
nearby cat statue and go to the end of the platform you get onto by
doing so to find a Sun Fragment.  Then, climb all the way back down or
just use the Mermaid Spring up here.  Either way, leave and go back to
N. Ryoshima Coast.
---N. Ryoshima Coast---
On the western part of the mainland, there's a huge raised plateau.
Approach the southern side of the plateau and you'll find a Kabegami
statue.  Draw the trail and climb up.  Go north and you'll have to
fight a Blue Cyclops.  Talk to the guy here called the "Watcher."  If
it isn't night, make it night.  The Watcher will say that there used to
be a whirlpool galaxy in the sky, and that if you wish upon a star it
will come true.  He says that if he saw a shooting star, he would wish
for the whirlpool galaxy to come back.  Put a dot in the sky and a star
will appear.  He'll wish, and the whirlpool galaxy will come back.  Run
north all the way down to the end of watcher's cape and stand on the
viewing platform.  Use Wind to spin the whirlpool galaxy around and
around and around and an actual whirlpool will appear in the sea below.
Hop on Orca and enter the whirlpool.
---Dragon Kingdom---
Enter the building up ahead.  Never mind how eerily similar this place
is to Sasa Sanctuary.  Go up the elevator at the back and talk to the
queen, Otohime.  She'll say that the Water Dragon is raging out of
control because it was wounded fighting the dark forces in the area.
She says you can still break the barrier around Oni Island if you take
the Dragon Orb from inside the Water Dragon.  Bad and kinda scary an
idea it is, but you have no choice.  Go back down and through the door
on your right as you come down the stairs and you'll be in the Water
Dragon's garden.  You'll find the the Dragon has settled down in a hole
and his mouth fills the entire hole, like one of those things in Star
Wars.  Jump down into his mouth.

---Inside the Water Dragon---

Man, there's a lot of going inside people and stuff as of late.  Go
forward into the main chamber, which is a long channel with some high
ledges on the sides.  Go down the channel first because there is an
Exorcism Key at the end.  Then climb around the higher ledges to where
the Lockjaw is.  You may need more speed to make some of the longer
jumps, or you could use Power Springs in the channel to get higher up
on the ledges.  When the Lockjaw's dead, go through and you'll find the
Dragon Orb tangled up in a bunch of gross stretchy stuff.  Ignore it
and the fact that this looks just like the altar room in Hana Valley,
and go out the side door.  You'll come to a big room filled with some
gross red blood or digestive fluid dripping from a disgusting ulcer in
the ceiling.  Soak the ulcer in the digestive fluid below repeatedly
and the ulcer will bust and the whole room and the passage back to the
Dragon Orb room will flood with digestive fluid.  Sick.  Lily Pad your
way back to the altar room.  Soak the gross stretchy stuff around the
Dragon Orb in digestive fluid until it breaks.  You'll take the Dragon
Orb, then suddenly nine Tube Foxes will rush into the room.  Kill them
and you'll get the Fox Rods, which the Water Dragon had apparently
taken and swallowed from the Sunken Ship.  Without the Dragon Orb,
however, the whole Dragon will start to collapse.  Run back out to the
entrance as fast as you can, watching the shadows on the ground so you
don't get any digestive fluid on you as it drops from the ceiling.
You’ll get out just in time to see the Water Dragon fall to the floor
of the ocean DEAD.  Then, in spirit or something, King Wada will appear
and say that he took the form of the Water Dragon in order to defeat
the dark forces, and that he swallowed the Fox Rods to keep it away
from the dark lord.  When he’s done, you’ll be back at the Water Dragon
garden.

---Dragon Kingdom---

Rao will find you at the Water Dragon garden somehow and you’ll give
her the Fox Rods to take back to Sei’an so they can be used.  Go back
to Otohime’s throne room.  She’ll thank you for getting the Dragon Orb,
then the Dragon Orb will show you a scene of Rao being attacked by some
shadowy figure.  Now it’s time to HURRY!  Run out of Dragon Palace and
back to Ryoshima Coast (not N. Ryoshima Coast).

---Ryoshima Coast---

Find Ankoku Temple on the eastern side of the mainland and Rao’s spirit
will appear and lead you up the temple stairs, around the back of the
temple and through a secret passage.  Don’t worry about the wall that
seems to be in the way, it will go away when you get close.  Follow the
tunnel back to...

---Sei’an City (Aristocratic Qtr.)---

You’ll resurface near Himiko’s palace.  Get in the palace, go up the
elevator, across the sea of fire, and through the numerous gates until
you reach Himiko’s throne room.  When you get there, you’ll find Himiko
dead with Rao standing nearby.  Rao will reveal herself (Bad wording,
but keep the jokes to YOURSELF) to be the leader of the dark forces in
Ryoshima, saying that she’s been trying to kill you all along.  She
knew that the Fox Rods weren’t in the Sunken Ship, the only reason she
dragged you there was in the hope that the Water Dragon might eat you.
She also murdered Himiko so that she would be unable to use the crystal
ball to find the location of Oni Island.  And now that she has the Fox
Rods, she’s more powerful than she ever was.
========================
       BOSS: EVIL RAO
========================
This boss is pretty easy.  All she'll do is launch a volley of flaming
swords at you exactly like Blight did.  If you get too close, she'll
also try to slash you.  Just keep on attacking and this fight shouldn't
be tough nor long.
========================
She’ll knock you down and run away to Oni Island so you can never find
her again.  Himiko’s crystal ball will come to life with her spirit and
tell you that Oni Island will appear at Watcher’s Cape this sunset.  Of
course, since it’s already sunset, you’d better hurry up!

---N. Ryoshima Coast---

You’re on a time limit the second you get into this place, so as soon
as you can scale the cliff and get down to the tip of Watcher’s Cape,
where you’ll find Otohime watching Oni Island.  She’ll use the Dragon
Orb to transform into a dragon and she’ll make a bridge through the
barrier to Oni Island.  Cross it.

---Oni Island---
Get ready for a looooong dungeon.  At the start, create a magma Power
Spring and ride up it.  Be sure you have the Fire Tablet equipped or
this won't work.  Go north and drop off the bridge into the huge magma
pit.  From here, you can go either east or west into different magma
pits.  It doesn't matter which, you can even do both if you want all
the treasure.  Whichever pit you choose, there'll be a platform far
away from the others with a Konohana Bud.  You can get the treasure on
that platform.  When you're done with that, go to the north edge of the
pit and make a magma Power Spring to get up to the front of the castle.
Near the entrance, you'll have to fight a Blue and a Red Ogre.  You can
also Power Slash the rocks here for clovers if you got Power Slash
Level 2 in N. Ryoshima.  Enter the castle.  There's a merchant in the
lobby if you need anything.  Go west down the narrow passage and go
into the northern room off that passage.  Kill the two Poltergeists and
take the Exorcism Key.  Take the Exorcism Key to the eastern passage
from the lobby and kill the Lockjaw.  Go down the stairs further down
the passage, and be sure to get the treasure chest on a ledge above the
staircase.  At the bottom, you'll meet a weird scrap of paper named
Tobi.  Step on the button he's floating over and you will have to race
him to the nearby gate.  This race is simple, use Square to get going
faster immediately.  I recommend Square dashing over the button to
start the race.  In the next room, you'll have to race Tobi again, this
time across small platforms above a spike pit.  Be careful how you jump
here, sometimes a single jump will be too short and a double jump too
long.  In this case, try going for a different platform.  Note that if
you lose this race repeatedly the platforms will grow to make it
easier.  Isn't that nice.  In the next room, take the treasure near the
stairs then go up the stairs.  Use the Kabegami statue at the top, then
turn all the way around and go back on yourself, in the higher passage
you're in.  Now you'll have your third race with Tobi.  This one's
easy, just jump along the long platforms in this hall.  In the next
room, you'll have a fourth race with Tobi.  This time, there are narrow
saws coming up out of the ground.  Jump over the saws quickly.  If you
see two saws close together, jump over both of them with one double
jump to save time.  Make sure you jump well over the saws, if you get
hung up on a saw Tobi will very likely win.  In the next room, you'll
have your fifth race.  This time, there are pairs of wheels moving back
and forth.  Run in the niche near the bottom of each wheel pair between
the wheels.  You'll have to react fast as you get going faster and
faster.  Jump up the stairs at the end and finish.  In the next room,
you have YET ANOTHER race with Tobi.  The course appears to be just a
plain room, but just before the finish you'll have to fight a battle
with three Headless Guardians.  Kill them as fast as you can.  If
you're finding this difficult, try using Exorcism Slips or Steel Fist
Sakes to speed things along.  During the fight you'll be able to see
Tobi slowly moving across the room.  Finish the battle before he gets
to the finish and beat him to it.  Go up the stairs and into a room
where there are a whole bunch of statues shooting lasers down narrow
walkways.  You can Power Slash the statues to make them stop firing off
their lasers for a second or so.  Concentrate on making progress SOUTH,
whenever you can go in that direction.  Use the small metal platforms
aside the walkways as safe spots.  Kill the Blue Cyclops in the next
room, noting that you can use the torches nearby to light his pipe if
need be.  Go through the sliding doors at the far end of the room, and
at the end of the passage you get to have a SEVENTH race with Tobi.
This is a lot like the fourth race, only there are less saws and there
are spikes closing in on both sides.  The spikes don't make much
difference, if you are ahead of Tobi you won't get crushed by the
spikes anyway.  Cherry Bomb the wall here, and walk outside onto the
eaves of the castle.  Head west along the roof, use the Kabegami statue
to climb up onto the next eaf, then go west and take the Exorcism Key.
Backtrack to where you found Tobi and kill the nearby Lockjaw.  In the
next passage, there's a chest surrounded by rows of bamboo.  The rows
have holes in them, so I guess the game expects you to walk through the
holes, but really it's much simpler to approach from the side so you
don't have to cross any rows.  Yet another underhanded trick!  Exit to
the north when you're done.  In here, approach the giant tiger statue
and the camera will pan to a view where you can see the bow clearly.
Fill an arrow in, the back of the arrow even with the bowstring and the
front of the arrow extending a little ways past the bow.  When you do,
you get to fill in another constellation.  Gekigami the tiger will give
you Thunderstorm for it.  Issun will have you test it out like usual.
Issun will have a little dramatic moment about only having one more
brush god to find.  Melodrama aside, zap the rod in the next area to
get a bridge swirling around and around.  Jump up onto it as soon as
you can and hurry to the other side before it angles up too much for
you to get across.  Dig up the clover ahead and then go back inside.
Zap the chest in here using the lightning ball on the ceiling, then
Bomb the floor ahead.  Fall down the long chute.  Go west (Yes, through
the tapestry) and take the Lightning Key at the end of the hall.  Go
back and go down the eastern passage this time, noting that holding the
Lightning Key lets you walk on the lightning platforms.  Zap the rod
near the door ahead using lightning from the Lightning Key.  BE SURE
THAT YOU KEEP THE LIGHTNING KEY.  DON'T THINK YOU'RE DONE WITH IT AND
DROP IT.  Kill the lone Headless Guardian in here (Why are they giving
you such an easy fight?).  Next, you'll have to go through the
"Labyrinth of Torment."  This is just a maze of sliding doors.  In the
labyrinth, be on watch for cracks for you to go through on the wooden
walls.  The cracks can be on any corner of the wall so look well.  You
should end not exactly, but extremely close to the southwest corner of
the room.  If you're at the end, you'll see a Cherry Bomb wall.  Blow
it up and you'll find yourself in the room where you got your Exorcism
Key at the beginning of the dungeon.  You can now zap the western door
for a Pearl.  Go back to the lobby now and put the Lightning Key into
the box in the center and the northern gate will open.  Zap the two
treasure chests ahead using the lightning box and go north.  Use the
lightning ball on the ceiling in here to zap the sword that the
statue's carrying.  The statue will explode and reveal a secret
passage.  Go down and into a dark room.  When you enter, an alarm will
go off and lava will start to rise.  Power Slash all the eyes in here
to deactivate the alarm so you can go through.  Note that you don't
have to get all of them in a single stroke or anything, just hit them
all.  The next section is semi-two-dimensional for some reason.  Follow
the only road there is until you reach a huge gear with bamboo spikes
sticking out of the platform attached to it.  Use the Kabegami statue
to make a Catwalk trail up the gear.  You can Power Slash the gear if
you need it to stop for a second.  From there, keep climbing upward
and, at the top, you'll see a Lightning Key in a room separated by a
little wall.  Power Slash the wall out of the way and take the Key.
Take the Key back to the electric box you passed on your way here and
then take the route that opens out of here.  Look out for the bamboo
spikes that will come out of the ground along this passage, as the rows
in the ground are tough to see if you aren't looking for them.  Next,
you'll have to climb a strange whirligig thing.  This consists of
several Pac-Man shaped platforms rotating around.  Jump up through the
gaps (where Pac-Man's mouth would be) all the way up to the top.  Watch
that you don't fall through the hole on your platform either.  Exit the
2-D place.  In the next room, head north and immediately turn left and
you'll find a Lightning Key.  Go up the stairs nearby and go up the
trails of lightning platforms.  Slow down the blocking spider when you
come to it.  At the end, you'll find yourself at a sort of chimney
blocked up by lightning platforms.  Drop the Lightning Key so the
platforms will deactivate so you can fall through.  Take the Exorcism
Key in here and bomb the east wall, the one with the tapestry on it.
This will bring you straight to the Lockjaw.  Kill it.  NOTE: Although
it's entirely optional, you may want to take the Lightning Key with you
past this Lockjaw gate.  It will get you a treasure, make a small
section a little easier, and of course, it'll be a convenient source of
lightning.  If you want it, it transported to the altar where you
originally found it when you grabbed the Exorcism Key.  I'd recommend
you keep it at least for a little while.  With or without the Lightning
Key, go up the stairs past the Lockjaw.  Here, you get to have an
EIGHTH race with Tobi.  Get across the pit, whether by lightning
platforms or just jumping, making sure you slow down the spider first.
When you get to the flights of stairs, look out for bamboo spikes,
there are rows at the foot of each flight of stairs.  When the race is
finished, go east and fight another Red and Blue Ogre pair.  Go through
the far south sliding door in here, the other ones are barricaded by
bamboo.  In the next room, cross the lightning platforms (if you can)
and you'll come to a wall with two patches of spikes.  The Kabegami
statue is at the TOP of this wall, draw the trail going down the wall,
being sure that you go around the patches of spikes.  When you're up
here, you'll notice that there's a lightning chest across the way.  Zap
it if you kept the Lightning Key.  Then drop down and get past the
spider into the next room.  You'll have to fight an Executioner
Guardian and two Headless Guardians in here.  Go outside onto the
balcony.  Follow the balcony around and kill the Blockhead.  When you
get back inside, get ready for your NINTH race with Tobi.  This is the
last one.  No, seriously.  Bomb the far wall before you start the race,
and when the race starts lash yourself to the bud across the way as
soon as you can then take a couple steps to the finish.  When you win,
Tobi has to die, adding to the growing sum of depressing stuff in this
part.  Gragh.  From here, it's just a matter of following the path.
When you get to the top of the castle, fill in the constellation and
you WON'T be treated to another brush power, but instead you'll be
treated to Ninetails.

============================
       BOSS: NINETAILS
============================
I'll warn you right now, this one is TOUGH.  One thing you should
remember throughout the fight is that Ninetails can DRAW.  Keep your
brush pad open too long and Ninetails will get in on it and start
scribbling.  Don't let her finish, EVEN IF that involves aborting your
drawing suddenly or you've got a whole lot of trouble coming.  All
you'll be able to do as the fight opens is Inferno her tails to hurt
them a bit.  Your main focus should be dodging Ninetails's attacks.
The most common and most irritating is a simple dash attack.  Simple as
it is though, Ninetails still moves insanely fast and it's hard to get
out of the way in time.  If you get too close, Ninetails will unleash a
flurry of strikes with the sword on her back.  Occasionally, she'll
turn around and her tails will spit out gobs of poison that will sit on
the arena for a while.  The thing you should be on the lookout for is
when Ninetails reaches her sword to the sky.  The game will stop the
action and zoom in on it the first time she does it, the other times
you're on your own.  When she does this, take lightning from a nearby
storm cloud and zap the sword.  This will cause Ninetails's nine tails
to split up.  Initially, you'll have four of them fighting you, three
floating around as masks shooting things at you, one old, crippled one
staying away from combat, and you'll have Ninetails's "main" soul,
which will float around with the sword and do nothing.  Only the
fighters and the Cripple are vulnerable, don't bother with the masks or
Ninetails herself because they are invincible.  Cherry Bombs work very
well against the fighters as they tend to clump up as they're chasing
you down.  When the initial wave of four fighters dies, or a certain
time passes, Ninetails will regroup and you'll have to zap the sword
again.  As you kill the fighters, the masks will turn into replacement
fighters the next time you split Ninetails up.  When all the fighters
are dead, be sure you find and kill the Cripple.  The Cripple stays as
far away as possible from you most of the time, so it might take a
little looking to find him.  He has no fighting ability and very little
health, so when you do find him he's easy to kill.  When all are dead
except Ninetails's main soul, she'll turn into a plain old brown fox.
Well, a really big plain old brown fox.  In this form, Ninetails only
has the dash attack, sword flurry and lightning sword.  Zapping the
sword will only do a bit of damage now, though.  Right after she
dashes, she'll be tired and vulnerable to Power Slash.  It shouldn't
take much beating to take her down now.
============================
You'll receive the Level 3 Glaive, Blade of Kusanagi, for defeating
Ninetails.  Ninetails's soul will leave her body as Orochi's and
Blight's did, and Blight's and her soul will head for the northern
lands.  Take a wild guess where you're going next.  You're right.  At
last, you're going on to the final part.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
////////////////////////////////////
        Part 3: Kamui (PRT3)
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
////////////////////////////////////

---N. Ryoshima Coast---

You'll be put here after all the post-Ninetails cutscenes.  Waka will
appear just to be annoying.  He sticks around for a while, and he marks
a place in Shinshu Field that he wants you to go to.  As much as you
might hate doing something he told you to do, you have to.  You can
swing by the Sei'an weapon shop for the Level 4 Reflector, Trinity
Mirror, then go to Shinshu.

---Shinshu Field---

Ooh, an ominous storm.  Use the Kabegami statue (marked on your map by
a pawprint) to get up onto the western plateau where Waka's mark is.
Go to Waka's mark and you'll find a big stone thing with a lightning
sword sticking out of it.  Zap it and go through the door that opens.
Ignore Issun's bad feeling and go all the way through the long tunnel.

---Kamui---

This place is cursed too, you just can't see it from here.  Go along
the path and when you hit the large circular clearing, you'll have to
fight a whole mess of Namahages and Blade Namahages.  When you're done,
enter the tent nearby.  Inside, you'll find some mysterious guy who
will promptly run out of the tent when you come in.  Er, it's a lot
more cinematic when you see it rather than read about it.  Anyway, go
back outside and you'll have to fight him.

========================
       BOSS: OKI
========================
Stage 1: This isn't too tough.  He has a basic slash, a sword flurry
like you've seen with Blight and Evil Rao, and one new-ish attack where
he sends out a jet of ice at you.  Watch for him to raise his sword
above his head for the jet.  Just beat on him and it shouldn't take
long.  When he's out of health, he'll turn into a dog.

Stage 2: This is a little tougher.  He'll mostly use an attack that's
exactly like the Canine Warrior's golden howl attack, where he'll howl
then dash forward.  He can also use a kind of sword flurry except the
"swords" are really huge and they come at you fast and all at once.  He
also has an attack where he jumps up in the air and dive-bombs you.
Just pound him when you can.  When he gets down to about half health,
he'll start making clones of himself.  Do take the time to kill the
clones as they are insanely annoying and don't take that much effort to
take them down.  If you leave them alive, you're essentially fighting
three Okies at once, which is two too many.  The Blade of Kusanagi is a
great choice for taking down the clones as it kills them in 1-2 hits
depending on if you've Gold Dusted it.  When the clones are gone resume
beating Oki to death.
========================
Oki will tell you about how Kamui is about to freeze over because of
the return of the twin demons Lechku and Nechku, who are sending a
blizzard down into Kamui.  He says that he took the sacred sword so
that he could defeat the demons himself.  When he's done, head north
into a huge cursed zone.  Go east around it and find good ol' Yoichi
again.  Zap his arrow with one of the storm clouds nearby and the rock
he's shooting will explode to reveal the Guardian Sapling.  Yoichi is a
little smarter than Susano in that he figures out that weird stuff only
happens while you're around.  Bloom the Sapling like usual.  With the
curse driven back, you can exit out the north of this map.  Be sure you
check out the southeast first for Onigiri Sensei's third dojo and a
fishing spot with Kokari.  Be sure you stick around here for a while
though, as EVERYTHING here deals out huge amounts of Praise.

---Wep'keer---

After Issun's little comment, head to the far north of this town, going
up a narrow trail to get to the top.  Talk to Samickle in front of the
chief's hut.  He says that the chief went up the Ezofuji mountains to
try to kill the demons, only to nearly be killed himself.  Samickle
says he's now chief and then he'll chase you away.  Try to leave
Wep'keer and you'll be stopped by Kai.  Talk to Kai in her house and
she says that in addition to everything else, her little sister, Lika,
has gone missing.  She'll start to say something about it meaning the
end of the village when you're interrupted by Kemu howling outside.  Go
back to the chief's hut where you found Samickle.  Go inside.  Kemu
will hear Issun insult him and he'll get up and start chasing after you
trying to tan your hide.  Power Slash him to make him stop.  He'll say
that they need Lika because she has a lot of spiritual power and can
recite the Volcanic Incantation to make the volcanoes erupt and warm
Kamui.  He says that you should go looking for her in Yoshpet.  After
this scene, the shop will be open and it sells the Level 4 Rosary,
Resurrection Beads.  Before you go to Yoshpet though, go north.

---Kamui (Ezofuji)---

Go up around the trail on the western side of the area.  Note that in
the far northwest, you can jump off the trail onto a platform.  Cut the
iron rock here if you have Power Slash 2 and deposit 360,000 Yen in the
fountain to get Power Slash 3.  You can use it to cut the diamond
rocks.  At the end of the trail, enter the house and talk to Tuskle.
She'll tell you about the Ark of Yamato in the lake and how it carried
the Celestials to earth.  A whole mess of monsters kill the Celestials
and now roam the earth.  She says that one Celestial got away, and to
this day the Ruler of Darkness living inside the Ark sends out monsters
to find him.  Then she'll give you Sewaprolo, the key to Yoshpet.  Go
back to Kamui.

---Kamui---

The entrance to Yoshpet is only a short ways southeast of Wep'keer.
You'll have to fight a Bull Charger along the way.  Approach the stone
wall where the entrance of Yoshpet should be and it will disappear,
like the Sasa Sanctuary and River of Heaven entrances.

---Yoshpet---

Just in case your irritance was running low, WAKA has to show up.
How'd he find you here anyway?  When he's gone (at last!) go to Kai
here and she'll agree to guide you through the forest.  For your first
time through here, just run.  Don't bother too much about the cursed
trees or the treasure chests.  You'll have three areas to go through
before you reach your destination.

---Inner Yoshpet---

Approach the stump in the middle of the clearing here and the Lucky
Mallet will apparently fly all the way from Sei'an to meet you.  Shrink
down and enter the stump.  Issun won't come with you.

---Ponc'tan---

Be sure you visit the shop in here for the Level 4 Glaive, the Eighth
Wonder.  It's located down the western path from the plaza with the
pond with the mushroom sticking out of it.  Before you drop all that
Yen on it though, know that you're getting the Level 5 Glaive, Thunder
Edge, for free in about 20 minutes so it might not be that great an
investment.  Go north from that plaza and talk to the guards outside
the house.  They'll let you in, then speak with Ishaku inside.  He's
apparently the Poncle that helped Shiranui 100 years ago.  He tells you
about Celestial Envoys, the Poncles who help the gods.  He'll tell you
to pick a Celestial Envoy from the Poncles in the town.  Go outside and
talk to everyone, both inside and outside houses.  Be sure you go up
from Ishaku's house and lash to the bud on the house nearby, and make
your seal inside.  From the villagers, you'll learn that Lika went
through the Spirit Gate deep in the forest.  Go back to Ishaku and talk
to him again when you've talked to everyone.  Then leave.

---Inner Yoshpet---

One of the Poncles will come out and find Issun.  All drama aside, exit
out of the clearing.  Issun will agree to be your guide.  This is no
different from the Yoshpet areas you've been through before, with the
exception that there are now Demon Scrolls flying around.  Don't waste
time on these.  When you get through, you'll be at the Spirit Gate.
Issun will force it open.  Oki will show up and rush through, hoping to
find enough monsters on the other side to make Kutone glow.  You'll
follow him.

---Kamiki Village???---

When you arrive, Issun will point out that this is Kamiki Village.
However, Sakuya's tree is a tiny sapling and it's a full moon even
though you just had one of those a little while ago.  One thing to keep
in mind here: BE SURE YOU GET ALL THE PRAISE YOU CAN GET.  Bloom all
the trees, dig up all the clovers, etc., because you won't be able to
come back here later.  If you talk to the villagers, they'll call you
Shiranui and chase you off.  Go to Susano's house and find him sleeping
behind the house.  Whack him and he'll wake up.  He'll call himself
Nagi and challenge you.

========================
       BOSS: NAGI
========================
This one's easy.  He just has a sword flurry like you've seen before
and a basic stab.  Just pound on him.  Use Cherry Bombs if he's proving
too resilient.
========================
At the end of the fight, Nagi will be knocked out.  Issun will figure
out that the Spirit Gate took you 100 years into the past, and that by
knocking Nagi out you've royally screwed up history.  Orochi's arrow
will hit Nagi's house, and she'll go to change into the sacrificial
robe.  Go to the pond with the waterfall and you'll find her bathing in
the water (Don't get no ideas.).  Walk up SLOWLY and take the robe and
the sake, and be sure you walk slowly AWAY until Issun says that you've
successfully swiped the robe.  Take it back to Nagi and you'll dress
him up and put him on your back.  Now leave Kamiki.

---Shinshu Field (100 Years Ago)---
Be sure you get all the praise you can in here too, be sure to scour
the entire area for clovers and cherry blossoms.  When you get in,
you'll have to fight a huge group of Clay Soldiers and Clay Samurai.
Make your way to the Moon Cave in the south.  Fighting the enemies
around here will net you extreme amounts of money, so I'd recommend
killing everything you can.

---Moon Cave (100 Years Ago)---
As you approach the entrance, you'll have to fight a pair of Dogus.
When they're dead, approach the entrance and Nagi will wake up.  Orochi
will reach out and snatch him, then promptly spit him out again.
You'll automatically go inside.  Go up the stairs and take the sake
Nagi dropped.  In the throne room, you'll find that Oki got here before
you.  Lika will be on the shrine on Orochi's body.  Oki will challenge
Orochi and start fighting.  So will you.

=============================
       BOSS: TRUE OROCHI
=============================
This fight's no different from your previous fight (other than that
he's more powerful so he isn't a pushover), so you should know what to
do.  Just for posterity I'll copy the head strategy down here, too.
Fire Head: This one will breathe fire at you.  You can usually run
around the fire, but if it's giving you trouble you can use Wind to
blow the fire away.  After he's done using fire, he'll roar, shoot the
sake into his mouth.  When he's drunk, you can pummel away at him.
Earth Head:  This one will slam itself into the ground to create a
shockwave.  After the initial shockwave, three "creepers" will try to
home in on you, you can just jump to foil them.  After making the
shockwave, the Earth Head will be stunned.  Whack it and it will get up
and roar.  Get it drunk, pummel it.
Poison Head:  This one will spit poison at you.  It works basically
like the fire attack except it's tougher to dodge.  I would definitely
recommend always using Wind to blow the poison away.  When he's done
attacking, he'll roar, make him drink and pummel him.
Holy Head:  This one will conjure up spheres of light that will, after
a moment's hesitation, fire a beam of light at you.  This hurts a LOT
so watch out.  What's most annoying about this one is that it roars
while the spheres are still firing, so be sure you're in motion when
you enter the brush pad to get it drunk otherwise the spheres will
pummel you when you close the brush pad.
Lightning Head:  This one will launch balls of lightning all over the
place.  These aren't too tough to dodge, they aren't very large and you
can see where they're going.  When he's done attacking, somehow he'll
lose sight of you.  Whack him and he'll roar, so get him drunk and
pummel.
Water Head: When you approach this head, get on the slightly raised
portion of the arena on the edge opposite this head.  The head will
immediately flood the arena when you approach, then lily pads will be
created and he'll start bathing in his nice water.  Jump along the lily
pads and smack him.  I recommend using a Rosary to smack him because
with a jump strike you can hit him from the second lily pad instead of
going all the way to the third.  After you smack him, he'll roar, get
him soaked in sake, and pummel.  On a side note, how does the sake stay
in that channel when the arena is flooded?
Wind Head:  This one will send a tornado at you.  You can just run
around and dodge it, or you could use Wind to blow the tornado away.
Either way, he'll roar when he's done attacking, so force sake down his
throat and pummel.
Darkness Head:  This one won't really attack your health.  When you get
close, he spits out two dark buds.  If you fail to Bloom them both, the
arena will get dark and, like Kusa Village, your ink will drain
constantly.  However, regardless of whether you Bloom them or not,
he'll roar, get drunk, and be pummeled.
=============================
Oki will try to kill Orochi using Kutone, only to be pummeled and
thrown against the wall.  You'll have to help Nagi by drawing a moon
and cutting off Orochi's heads like Susano did (don'tcha miss good ol'
Susano?).  When Orochi is dead, you'll receive the Level 5 Glaive,
Thunder Edge.  Oh, those lucky Glaive users.  Oki will slink away
without anybody noticing.  A boulder will fall on Nagi and Shiranui
will show up and save him.  Nagi will pick up Shiranui and run out of
the room.  You'll regain control with Lika on your back.  Again, how
did she survive the shrine fire?  Run out of the throne room, being
sure to watch for the falling rocks.

---Inner Yoshpet---

There'll be a brief conversation with Lika, then you'll enter the
traditional "running somewhere at top speed while dramatic music plays"
situation that has happened in every part.  Go through a nasty blizzard
through Wep'keer to Ezofuji.

---Kamui (Ezofuji)---

Go to the altar here to find that no-one's there.  Go up around the
western trail to find everyone gathered at the gate to Wawku Shrine.
Kai will tell you that Oki just stormed through here, broke the gate
and went into Wawku Shrine to kill Lechku and Nechku.  Tuskle and Lika
will run off to recite the Volcanic Incantation.  Go through the gate
into Wawku Shrine, because there's no way Oki's gonna take all the
credit.

---Wawku Shrine---

In the long hall at the beginning, Issun will point out the cannons at
the other end.  Use Mist to slow down their fire and Power Slash the
cannonballs back at them to destroy them.  Oh man, if I had a nickel
for everyone who thought "take it nice and slow" meant "walk slowly"
and not "use Mist," no doubt I could buy a mental help tutor for at
least 1,000 of them.  In the next room, pass up the Lockjaw to the
north and head into the eastern room.  Look out for icicles in the
narrow hallway.  In this room, you'll find a giant scale.  You'll also
see an ice ball, and across a pit, the switch it's supposed to be on.
Melt the two ice chunks on the right side of the scale and it will
become unbalanced, and one of the platforms in the pit between the ice
ball and the switch will raise.  Now take one of the houseplants in the
southwest corner of the room and put it on the scale.  Bloom it and it
will become a full-sized tree.  Put another houseplant on the scale and
do the same thing and the scale will be balanced.  Use Wind to push the
ice ball over to the switch.  Doing so will open a door revealing an
alcove with an Exorcism Key.  Take the key, backtrack, and kill the
Lockjaw.  Melt the huge chunk of ice in the next room and use the Power
Spring in the middle of the pond created to get up to the next floor.
Go around the circular path up here until you come to a wall with two
icicles on it.  Use the Kabegami statue at the top of the wall on the
right to climb up this wall.  When you get up here, the camera will pan
around to show you the many cannons aimed at the circular path up here.
This path is tough.  In addition to the cannons, you have to put up
with ultra-fast cogwheels spinning around that you need to use as
bridges.  Timing your jumps and Mists AND using Mist and deflecting
cannonballs can prove to be a little too much.  You may want to use an
Inkfinity Stone so you can keep Mist up constantly and use brush powers
how you like.  When you get to the top of this path, press the switch
and the ultra-fast wheels will stop.  From the top of the path, head
directly west through the door.  Use Mist to slow the wheels in here so
you can cross.  Go out the door and you'll be outside.  Go south past
the Flame Spiders, using Mist if you have to because they are rather
fast.  At the end of the mountain trail, jump down onto the next ledge
and you'll have to fight a Great Tengu.  When it's dead, approach the
phonograph-like device ahead.  Melt the ice covering a lever on the
left side of the thing, then flip the lever when the eyes on the gears
on the contraption are in the correct position.  For example, wait
until the eye on the far left gear is in the up position before you
Power Slash the lever.  Then, Slash the lever when the middle wheel's
in the "right" position.  The last wheel should be slashed in the left
position.  Note that the eyes don't have to be in that position
EXACTLY, if you get it pretty close it'll count.  If you want to see
the pattern for wheel-stopping, you can Bomb the wall to the north and
blow away the leaves in the next room to see the pattern.  When the
device is stopped, the weird gourd-thingy inside will fly away and
become a constellation, so you can finally get your last brush power
from Itegami.  Itegami will also give you the Level 5 Reflector, the
Solar Flare.  Issun will have you test out Itegami's power on the Flame
Spider.  When you're done, backtrack all the way back inside the
shrine.  Head north along the balcony when you get back inside, and
freeze the Blaze Spider to get up onto the next balcony.  When you get
up here the camera will pan around to show you a trail of Blaze Spiders
to climb up.  The first one you'll run across isn't necessary, but you
can get a treasure for climbing it.  The balcony will suddenly end
before you get to the trail of spiders.  Melt the ice on the other side
and lash to the bud behind it.  Climb up the wall with the statue and
go up the Blaze Spiders.  Note that you really don't need to stop them
very high, you get a pretty good vertical jump so don't stop them so
high you can't get to them.  Go into the next room.  In here, there are
some rapidly spinning wheels.  Use Mist to get across, being sure to
melt the chest along the way.  The ice barring the exit here can be
melted with the torch, but I prefer to equip the Solar Flare for a sec
and draw the fire from there.  In the next room, you can Power Slash
the slow moving wheels to stop them until the other wheel is in a
walkable position so you can cross.  Freeze the flame wheel ahead,
making sure it's in a walkable position when you do.  Just check the
position as you enter the brush pad, and if it isn't good try again.
Go through the next room with the Demon Scroll in it.  At the pit with
snowflakes in it, use the icicle on the other side of the pit to make
platforms in the pit.  The ridge you come out on is by far the place
with the spottiest brush recognition in the entire game.  Blooming is
often misinterpreted as trying to make a loop of ice, Power Slashing is
hard to target, and it's basically a huge pain.  Make sure there's
nothing in the background when you Bloom the cursed trees.  There's
another ice pit before you get out of here, cross that as you did the
previous one.  In the hall going back into the shrine, you'll see the
flamethrowers you dealt with way back in the Gale Shrine.  You can use
Wind to blow them out like you did before.  Be mindful that there's a
cannon at the end of the hall, so be sure to Mist when you hear it
charging.  In the next hallway, there's a golden cannon at the end.
You'll have to deflect two cannonballs to destroy it.  Destroy it from
the solid platform in the middle, it's too hard to manage on the pointy
platforms or on the ice.  Save in the next room if you want, then
proceed to get a heaping helping of boss fight.  And now, for a limited
time only: with Shiranui!

=============================
       BOSS: NECHKU
=============================
With Shiranui, this guy is way too easy.  You barely even have to try.
He will mostly launch the fruit-like things that the cannons and cursed
trees launch; you can deflect these with Power Slash.  Same goes for
the icicles he'll launch.  He can also dive at you in an attempt to
pick you up.  Shiranui will basically beat the crap out of him if you
try or not.  He has some pretty awesome attacks.  If you want to do
anything, you can hit him with fruit and icicles until he's stunned,
then Shiranui can knock him out of the air for you to pound.  There's
really no need for you to expend such effort though.
=============================

Oki and Lechku show up before you can finish Nechku to mess stuff up.
Lechku stops time and nearly kills Oki if not for Shiranui diving into
the way of the blow and tearing a gear out from Lechku.  Oki decides
not to finish off Lechku and Nechku and instead to help Amaterasu and
Shiranui, who has fallen halfway off the shrine.  Because he did this,
Kutone finally glows silver.  When the cutscene is over, take the gear
that fell off from Lechku and talk to Oki to make the elevator work.
Back down inside the shrine, use the gear to unlock the locked door you
passed earlier.  Out here, fire all four cannons at the opposite ledge
to destroy four cannons, then cross the ice pit to challenge the golden
cannon yourself.  When you land, you'll be forced to fight a Great
Tengu.  When it's dead, melt the BLOCK (not any of the pillars) of ice
in the southeast corner of this ledge to reveal an ice ball.  Use Wind
to blow the ball into the next room.  Use the ice ball to freeze the
flaming wheels and go to the ledge with the bomb crack.  Blow it up and
take the Exorcism Key beneath.  Freeze the wheels to get over to the
ledge with the locked door.  In the next room, you can save and visit
the merchant if you need stuff like that.  Talk to Oki (how'd he get
here so fast?  He doesn't REALLY explain) and ride the elevator up
to...

=============================
BOSS: LECHKU & NECHKU
=============================
Remember:  Lechku is the gold one and Nechku is the silver one.  Nechku
(with an "N")is the silver one because he's Not (with an "N") made of
gold.  While Shiranui was very helpful, Oki does almost nothing.  You
need him to knock the demons out of the sky when they're stunned, but
that's it.  It's best to focus on one at a time, so I'll start with
Lechku.  Lechku has a few attacks, none of which are very dangerous if
you know what to do.  He can conjure a lightning sword like Ninetails
did, you can zap it to hurt him a little.  He will also conjure an egg
above his head, you can Power Slash it to make it blow up in his face.
He also is able to shoot icicles like Nechku did.  Nechku comes to the
fight with basically the same attacks he had before.  He can now
conjure a bomb above his head; you can draw fire from the gargoyles
around the arena to make it explode in his face.  He can also launch a
bud at you.  While you could just dodge it, if you open it up before it
hits the ground you can get some health.  Whenever either demon is
stunned, Oki will run over to you.  Use triangle to grab his bow and
pull it back, then release to hit the stunned demon with an arrow.
Then you can Power Slash it out of the sky.  Just pound on it for a
while, then when it's shaking and about to get up, Power Slash it
again.  Don't Power Slash it while it's on the ground because he'll get
up immediately if you do.  It's best to pound on him a little before
you Slash him.  When they're both dead, the fight will be over.
=============================
For winning, you'll receive a Sun Fragment instead of the Level 5
Rosary for some reason.  All the souls of the demons you've killed will
meet above the Ark of Yamato.  You go down to Laochi Lake.

---Kamui (Ezofuji)---
With Lechku and Nechku dead, and Kutone glowing silver at last, Laochi
Lake will shatter and the Ark of Yamato will rise up out of the lake.
Note that when you enter, YOU CANNOT GO BACK.  DO EVERYTHING YOU WANT
TO DO BEFORE YOU GO IN.  I would advise at least visiting the Sei'an
Weapon Shop for the Level 5 Rosary, Tundra Beads.

---Ark of Yamato---
There's a save point and a merchant here if you need them.  In here,
you'll see five doors with a crude picture of five bosses you've fought
before.  They are the Spider Queen, Crimson Helm, Blight, Ninetails,
and True Orochi.  You've fought all these guys before, you should know
what to do (with Orochi, you should know what to do REALLY, REALLY
well) and with your new weapons it'll be less than a cinch to beat
them.  When they're all dead, step on the platform in the center to be
transported to the final boss.  You'll walk in on Waka just as he loses
the fight with Yami.  Yami then blots out the sun so you have
absolutely no power.  As you can see, this is going to be a problem.

==============================
==============================
     FINAL BOSS: YAMI
==============================
==============================

---STAGE 1: You'll have no weapon or any brush power.  Just bash him
whenever he's not on fire or shooting at you etc. and eventually a
little lid in his top will open up and you'll get your weapon and
Rejuvenation back.  You can use Rejuvenation to fill in the massive
holes Yami will create in the arena.  Continue pounding on him.  Pound
on him enough and he'll give up Sunrise, Power Slash, and Greensprout.
With Greensprout back, you can Bloom him when he's stunned and he'll
open up and you can attack Yami directly for more damage.  It still
isn't much, but it's more.  When his health is gone, he'll transform.

---STAGE 2: I like to call this stage "Orangeslices."  You'll see why.
When he splits into slices, his bottom-most slice will catch on fire
and swoop at you.  After you get Waterspout back from him, you can
douse this flaming slice and he'll drop Yami so you can attack.  Cherry
Bomb him when he's stunned and he'll blow apart into a bunch of
platforms with Yami wriggling around on one of them.  As his health
gets lower, he'll retreat to higher and higher platforms.  You'll also
get Crescent in this fight.  You can use Crescent when he makes an arch
shape out of himself and a giant version of Oki will show up and slash
him for a lot of damage.

---STAGE 3:  The slot machine.  He'll float out of range and spin his
slots around wildly until you Power Slash them.  There's really no
skill involved in this, just Power Slash them all in one stroke and see
what happens.  Usually, he'll end up flinging a bunch of projectiles ar
you, most if not all of which can be deflected back at him with Power
Slash.  Deflect enough, and the slot machine will malfunction and spit
Yami out so you can attack.  The other result you can get is three Yami
emblems, which will force him to give back a power.  Always watch the
top and bottom of the machine closely, as Yami sometimes peeks out and
you can Power Slash him.  Be sure you're quick, as he can retreat even
if the brush pad is open.  You'll get back Windstorm, Inferno, and Mist
during this fight.

---STAGE 4:  This guy kinda reminds me of the final boss of Majora's
Mask.  He'll mostly launch missiles at you that you can deflect with
Power Slash.  He also raises his swords to the sky like Ninetails did
for a shadow wave attack.  When you get Thunderstorm back you can zap
his swords (you only have to zap one.)  Zapping him will make Yami
spill out so you can murdalize him.  Hitting him with enough missiles
will also yield this result.  Be mindful that he'll open the hatch in
front to peek out and you can Power Slash him when he does.  You'll get
Catwalk and Icestorm back in this fight also.  You can use Catwalk to
climb the walls at the corners of the arena for some treasure, but I
wouldn't bet on having enough time to do so while Yami's breathing down
your neck.  You can use Icestorm when he opens the hatch to freeze him
in this position, so he can't close the hatch.

---STAGE 5: ...we have one more stage.  When the battle starts, it'll
be very dark.  Use Sunrise (don't worry about looking up at the sky,
you can use it anywhere but the floor) and this will stun Yami and the
giant hand will drop him.  The hand will mostly execute hand-type
attacks (that description is sure to win me a Pulitzer), like grabbing
you or whacking you.  Note that Yami is vulnerable almost all the time,
he is located in the palm of the hand.  One attack you need to watch
out for is when the hand holds Yami straight up in the air.  Yami will
then launch a gigantic searing beam of fire.  You should pay attention
to this not because it's hard to dodge or anything, but rather because
if you Power Slash Yami while he's doing it the hand will get confused
and drop him.  Yami will occasionally re-cast the darkness like you saw
at the beginning of the fight, which will drain your ink.  When it
recovers (or when you use an Inkfinity Stone), Sunrise him again and
pummel Yami.  It will take a while, believe me, but he'll die.
==============================
==============================
Now, just sit back and enjoy the ending, which is the one thing I'm not
going to spoil for you.  Cheers!

Miscellaneous (#MISC)
+++++++++++++++++
===THE LAST TREE IN SEI'AN (SEITR)===
It seems everyone on the planet has this problem.  I'm getting e-mails
from people in Russia and stuff about this.  The last tree in Sei'an is
ON MR. FLOWER'S HEAD.  It's that little tree he has on his head.  In
case you HAVE Bloomed him and you're still missing one, here's some
more commonly missed trees:
1. There's one inside Mr. Flower's house.  You actually have to go
inside to find it.
2. There's one BEHIND Mr. Flower's house.  Man, Mr. Flower is a sneaky
guy.
I think that's all.




===BESTIARY (#BEST)===

---------------------
No. 01  GREEN IMP
---------------------
Oh man, these guys are AWESOME.  They can attack with an extendable
flute (???) but most of the time they'll be too busy getting pounded to
attack.  These really aren't a problem.

---------------------
No. 02  RED IMP
---------------------
Basically like the Green Imp, except they can guard with a lute if you
pound on them too much.  Power Slash them while they're guarding to
break their little lutes.  Then they're pretty easy.

---------------------
No. 03 YELLOW IMP
---------------------
These guys tunnel into the ground.  Watch them when they come up and
get behind them.  When done correctly, they'll pop up and get all
confused because they can't see you.  Take this opportunity to plant a
friendly Cherry Bomb in their face to blast them out of the ground.
Then you can just pummel them.

---------------------
No. 04  BLUE IMP
---------------------
These guys fly.  The game seems to recommend using Wind, but I
personally prefer Power Slashing because doing that prevents them from
getting back up into the air.  Ever.  Wind will floor them, but they'll
get back up after a while.  They'll mostly spit projectiles at you as
they fly around.

---------------------
No. 05  BLACK IMP
---------------------
These ones have a bunch of laser-shooting skulls around them.  You can
Power Slash them to get rid of them.  There's not a lot else
spectacular about these except the fact that they're pretty strong for
an imp.

---------------------
No. 06 HEADLESS GUARDIAN
---------------------
The bigger brother of the Red Imp.  You fight it in the same way, only
it's a little stronger to adjust to you getting stronger.

---------------------
No. 07 BELL GUARDIAN
---------------------
The bigger brother of the Yellow Imp.  Just more powerful.

---------------------
No. 08 HALO GUARDIAN
---------------------
The bigger brother of the Blue Imp.  Just more powerful.  On a side
note, these things are really rare.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if
you never find one.

---------------------
No. 09 EXECUTIONER GUARDIAN
---------------------
The bigger brother of the Black Imp.  Just more powerful.

---------------------
No. 10 NAMAHAGE
---------------------
The biggest brother of the Green Imp.  Again, just more powerful.

---------------------
No. 11 BLADE NAMAHAGE
---------------------
The biggest brother of the Red Imp.  More powerful.

---------------------
No. 12 BUCKET NAMAHAGE
---------------------
The biggest brother of the Yellow Imp.  These guys will stick their
mallets above ground while they're digging around, so they can still
hit you.  Just keep an eye on them while they're burrowing around.

---------------------
No. 13 UMBRELLA NAMAHAGE
---------------------
The biggest brother of the Blue Imp.  More powerful.

---------------------
No. 14 CANNON NAMAHAGE
---------------------
The biggest brother of the Black Imp.  More powerful.

---------------------
No. 15 CLAY SOLDIER
---------------------
The biggest...est brother of the Green Imp.

---------------------
No. 16 CLAY SAMURAI
---------------------
The biggestest brother of the Red Imp.

---------------------
No. 17 CLAY DRUMMER
---------------------
The biggestest brother of the Yellow Imp.  Still has the burrowing
attack so be careful.

---------------------
No. 18 CLAY FLYER
---------------------
The biggestest brother of the Blue Imp.  Not too creative a name.

---------------------
No. 19 CLAY SHOGUN
---------------------
The biggestest brother of the Black Imp.  You'll be glad to hear there
are no more imp variants.  I'm also glad because biggestestest looks
even dumber than biggestest.

---------------------
No. 20  BUD OGRE
---------------------
Knock these guys around until they're stunned, then Bloom them to
expose their core.  If they start flying, knock the fruit they launch
back at them to continue damaging them.  It may take more than one
opening of the bud to kill them.

---------------------
No. 21 CHIMERA
---------------------
Like a Bud Ogre, pound them until they're stunned, then pummel them.
While the game recommends Power Slashing them when they're down, I
recommend beating them up a little THEN Power Slashing them because
Power Slashing them makes them get up.

---------------------
No. 22 IGLOO TURTLE
---------------------
Like the others in this species, pound him until he's stunned, then use
the fire from his tail to melt the igloo and expose the raincoat, which
is his core.  You must you his tail fire 'cause other fire doesn't seem
to work.

---------------------
No. 23 DEAD FISH
---------------------
These are weird.  Power Slash them out of the sky then you can
basically just pummel them.  If they get low on health, they'll charge
after you like a nutter and then explode.  Use Power Slash and Cherry
Bomb so you can hopefully kill them before they detonate.

---------------------
No. 24 CROW TENGU
---------------------
A lot like Red Imps, actually.  Power Slash them out of the sky then
attack them, and they will raise their swords to block you.  Power
Slash them and they'll be open to attack for a little while.  When they
recover, you'll have to Power Slash them when they block again.  For
some reason Rosaries don't seem to work right on these things; you
can't get a good combo going.

---------------------
No. 25 UBUME
---------------------
These are SUCH A PAIN when you first find them, but you get so used to
it they're easy eventually.  Get them out of the sky like you would a
Crow Tengu then attack, and they'll block the attack with their
umbrella.  WHILE THE UMBRELLA IS OUT, use Wind and it will snap back
and the Ubume will be vulnerable for a second.  This makes for a lot of
ink use which is annoying.

---------------------
No. 26 FIRE EYE
---------------------
Use Wind to put out their fire, then you can attack normally.  Be ready
to move out of the way if they position themselves above you, as
they're going to slam down.  You can use Mist to temporarily cancel out
the fire.

---------------------
No. 27 ICE LIPS
---------------------
My most hated enemy in the entire game.  The ice crystals are nigh to
impossible to deal with.  You can use the fire from a Fire Eye if
they're present, or you can use Fireburst if you have it.  You could
use the Solar Flare too, but if you have that you're too strong to be
fighting these anyway.  These are the only types of wheels that you
cannot use Mist to dispel their element.  They'll also do the slam-down
attack like Fire Eyes.

---------------------
No. 28 THUNDER EAR
---------------------
Wind will dispel the thunder for some reason.  They're basically like
Fire Eyes except they're not eyes and they're not on fire.

---------------------
No. 29 EARTH NOSE
---------------------
Shouldn't it be Wind Nose?  Use Mist to dispel their wind.  You'll
probably want to use Mist anyway because these things are blindingly
fast.  Speed a Fire Eye up ten times and you'll have one of these.

---------------------
No. 30 FIRE DOOM MIRROR
---------------------
Just a Fire Eye, basically.  I don't even think there's a difference in
strength.  I think the Doom Mirrors were created just because when you
find them you're too small to fight the wheels.

---------------------
No. 31 ICE DOOM MIRROR
---------------------
Like an Ice Lips (shudder).  Deal with them in the same way, drawing
fire from Fire Doom Mirrors if necessary.

---------------------
No. 32 THUNDER DOOM MIRROR
---------------------
Like a Thunder Ear.  Besides having the longest name of any monster,
unremarkable.

---------------------
No. 33 WIND DOOM MIRROR
---------------------
Like a Earth Nose.  Why'd they get the element right here but not with
the Earth Nose?

---------------------
No. 34 POLTERGEIST
---------------------
These guys are a little like all the wheels rolled into one.  They'll
cycle elements every time you dispel them and pound them.  Fear the
ice.  They also have a weird attack where they grab you and throw you
around, but it only happened once, while I wasn't playing (I was only
watching), and I've never gotten them to do it again.  If anyone knows
how this works, e-mail me.

---------------------
No. 35 ICHIRO
---------------------
These guys seem a lot harder than they actually are.  Keep Power
Slashing them until their armor comes off, then Power Slash them to
death.  When you're attacking the armor, I know it seems like your
attacks are doing nothing, but keep at it and the armor will break off.
All he can do to you is a slow, predictable belly-flop.  To my
understanding, there's only one of these in the entire game.

---------------------
No. 36 JIRO
---------------------
This is a crab that will launch little... thingies at you.  Pound on it
until its shell breaks, then just pound it to death.  I know your
attacks seem to do nothing against the shell, but keep at it and it'll
break.

---------------------
No. 37 SABURO
---------------------
This crab will dig holes in the arena, occasionally one of the holes it
digs will be a spring and the whole arena will flood annoyingly.  Use a
Lily Pad if necessary, then break the shell and kill it as you would a
Jiro.

---------------------
No. 38 BLUE CYCLOPS
---------------------
These guys have a lot of attacks.  They can spit fire all over the
place and breath poison through their pipe.  If their pipe goes out,
they'll go nuts and enter some kind of overdrive mode and become
invincible and massacre you.  To prevent this from happening, you can
relight their pipe when they start fuming and making a repetitive
noise.  Usually their attacks leave huge bonfires everywhere, so you
can use those to light the pipe and calm it down.

---------------------
No. 39 GREAT TENGU
---------------------
Probably statistically the toughest enemy, but not that annoying.
Fight it like a Blue Cyclops.  When it gets angry however, you must hit
it with water or ice to calm it down.  Deluge is extremely useful in
this respect, as you can instantly douse it with a 0% chance of
failure.  More info on Deluge is in the Advanced Brush Techniques
Section, a little ways below the Bestiary.  If you don't want to
scroll, use the tag in the table of contents at the very top of this
guide.

---------------------
No. 40 RED OGRE
---------------------
These guys have huge face masks, so you can only attack from the sides
or back.  If you're a Rosary fan, make sure you get pretty far to their
sides 'cause the Rosary wants to target the mask.  They can charge at
you, breathe fire at you, and jump up and try to crush you.  If you
manage to stun them, you can Power Slash them to break their masks and
make them easier to fight.

---------------------
No. 41 BLUE OGRE
---------------------
A Red Ogre with ice breath instead of fire breath.  Um, and it's blue.
You still have to attack from the sides and back because of the face
mask.

---------------------
No. 42 BULL CHARGER
---------------------
These are like an extremely powerful ogre.  You can count on a better
breath attack, more attack power etc.  They still have a face mask like
ogres do.  These guys are right up there with Great Tengus on the
toughness meter.

---------------------
No. 43 DOGU
---------------------
Dogus are damn durable.  You can pound on them for a long, long time
and not get anywhere.  If you have the Tundra Beads, rejoice!  You can
ice them down for huge damage (well, huge considering it's a Dogu) and
it will freeze them so you can pound them more.  These monsters have
the same "attack faster than you can see" thing that Blight did, but it
isn't so much of a problem to dodge and they're vulnerable even if
they're not attacking, unlike Blight.  In closing, these guys give a
LOT of money.  I got about 56,000 Yen for killing a group of two of
these.  If you want money, you can find them in Kamui after completing
the Spirit Gate quest.

---------------------
No. 44 TUBE FOX
---------------------
Not quite sure if these are a boss or not.  I'll call them enemies.
The most deadly thing they can do is drain your ink.  If you see a
black trail coming out of you, follow it to the offending Tube Fox and
wallop it to make it stop.  Rosaries don't work too well for this kind
of walloping.  You can use an Inkfinity if the ink draining is too much
for you.  Otherwise, these guys fight a lot like Amaterasu would with a
Reflector, so you can predict them fairly easily.
---------------------
That's the end of the Bestiary.  You will note that Bosses aren't in
it.  That's because they're in the Boss guide (and in the walkthrough,
too).  Where's the boss guide?  Scroll down about half an inch.


===BOSS GUIDE (#BOSS)===
Too lazy to dig through the guide to find boss strategies?  Don't blame
ya.  Here they are, collected here for convenience.  I'm only including
ONE canine warrior though, 'cause they're all the same.

=========================
       BOSS 1: WAKA
=========================
About time we had a boss.  Anyway, this guy isn't too tough.  His
attacks are either to come up close and slash at you or he'll throw a
sword at you.  Be careful of the thrown swords.  As you keep beating on
him he'll become stunned every now and then and you can Power Slash
him.  You can also plant Cherry Bombs on him constantly for an easy
win.  I wouldn't recommend using the Devout Beads for this fight unless
you know what you're doing with them.  If it's your first time using a
Rosary, stick with the Reflector for this fight.  You won't do well not
knowing what you're doing and this certainly isn't the place to learn.
=========================
=========================
BOSS 2: SPIDER QUEEN
=========================
This is the first "real" boss.  This boss doesn't have a lot of
attacks.  It will mostly just launch a flurry of darkness orbs at you.
If you get too far away it will rush REALLY fast at you, but this can't
actually hurt you even though it really, really looks like it should.
Whenever you can get a decent view of the hooks on its back AS WELL AS
a bud, go into the brush pad and lash the bud to the hook.  Then you'll
have to QUICKLY lash another one, otherwise it will just shake off the
one you already have.  When two vines are attached, it'll fall on its
face and open the bud.  You have a very short time to pummel the
eyeballs inside before it shuts again.  Personally, I recommend Power
Slashing it over and over with a really long line so that it will hit
every eye.  Make sure you're not in the bud when it closes.  It will
start twitching when it's about to close.  Later on, the Spider Queen
will occasionally produce an egg and hold it over its head.  Power
Slash it quickly and the explosion will stun the Queen and it'll fall
on its face and leave you free to lash vines to its back.  When all the
eyeballs are destroyed, the fight will be over.
=========================
=========================
       BOSS 3: WAKA
=========================
This fight is basically the same as the first.  He has a few new
tricks, like teleporting around the arena rapidly and throwing swords
and flying around the arena quickly with his sword, but that's all.  In
fact, that's all that's new about this fight.  Otherwise, just pummel
him like last time.
=========================
=========================
       BOSS 4: TEI
=========================
This is more of a mini-boss, I guess.  Tei has two attacks: one, he'll
howl and glow yellow, then he'll dash FAST at you, and two, he'll howl
and glow blue and launch a four to five hit combo against you.  He
performs the combo the same way Amaterasu does with a Reflector, so you
should be familiar with what it looks like.  He has a lot of health and
defense, not a problem if you're using Infinity Judge but Rosary users
may wish to use Cherry Bomb whenever you can to speed the fight along.
Note that he's invincible while doing the yellow howl thing, so
tempting as it is don't try to bomb him while he's doing this.
=========================
================================
       BOSS 5: CRIMSON HELM
================================
This guy isn't too tough. When the fight starts, Cherry Bomb him over
and over. He'll try to swipe you with his swords and if you're too far
away he'll try to rush you, both of which are easily evaded, just be
sure to watch him carefully. He'll pull back his sword for a second
before he swipes at you. Also, be mindful that he slashes twice so
don't relax after the first slice. Once you've Cherry Bombed him
enough, his armor will fall off and he'll just be a burning skeleton.
Use Wind to blow out his flame and make him vulnerable to attack. Pound
on him as much as you can, the Wind will stun him for a few seconds and
then he'll be back to slicing, so watch so that you don't get hit while
you're pounding. The Satomi Power Orbs will occasionally give you a
white Godhood layer to protect you, but don't count on them. If
necessary, knock his armor off again and wash, rinse, repeat.
================================
==========================
       BOSS 6: OROCHI
==========================
The instant the fight starts, just whack him once and a cutscene will
start.  When it's over, you'll want to dodge Orochi's attacks and
Waterspout the sake into his mouth when he roars.  Pour sake into a
head's mouth twice and it will become drunk.  Get three heads drunk and
he'll pass out.  You can find strategies on the heads below, but for
this stage don't try to pummel the heads when they're drunk.  Climb up
one of his necks after he passes out onto the shrine in the middle of
the arena and pummel the living snot out of the bell in the shrine.
When the bell is destroyed, Orochi's barrier will go down and then the
fun REALLY starts.  A strategy for each head is written below, in order
going clockwise.
Fire Head: This one will breathe fire at you.  You can usually run
around the fire, but if it's giving you trouble you can use Wind to
blow the fire away.  After he's done using fire, he'll roar, shoot the
sake into his mouth.  When he's drunk, you can pummel away at him.
Earth Head:  This one will slam itself into the ground to create a
shockwave.  After the initial shockwave, three "creepers" will try to
home in on you, you can just jump to foil them.  After making the
shockwave, the Earth Head will be stunned.  Whack it and it will get up
and roar.  Get it drunk, pummel it.
Poison Head:  This one will spit poison at you.  It works basically
like the fire attack except it's tougher to dodge.  I would definitely
recommend always using Wind to blow the poison away.  When he's done
attacking, he'll roar, make him drink and pummel him.
Holy Head:  This one will conjure up spheres of light that will, after
a moment's hesitation, fire a beam of light at you.  This hurts a LOT
so watch out.  What's most annoying about this one is that it roars
while the spheres are still firing, so be sure you're in motion when
you enter the brush pad to get it drunk otherwise the spheres will
pummel you when you close the brush pad.
Lightning Head:  This one will launch balls of lightning all over the
place.  These aren't too tough to dodge, they aren't very large and you
can see where they're going.  When he's done attacking, somehow he'll
lose sight of you.  Whack him and he'll roar, so get him drunk and
pummel.
Water Head: When you approach this head, get on the slightly raised
portion of the arena on the edge opposite this head.  The head will
immediately flood the arena when you approach, then lily pads will be
created and he'll start bathing in his nice water.  Jump along the lily
pads and smack him.  I recommend using a Rosary to smack him because
with a jump strike you can hit him from the second lily pad instead of
going all the way to the third.  After you smack him, he'll roar, get
him soaked in sake, and pummel.  On a side note, how does the sake stay
in that channel when the arena is flooded?
Wind Head:  This one will send a tornado at you.  You can just run
around and dodge it, or you could use Wind to blow the tornado away.
Either way, he'll roar when he's done attacking, so force sake down his
throat and pummel.
Darkness Head:  This one won't really attack your health.  When you get
close, he spits out two dark buds.  If you fail to Bloom them both, the
arena will get dark and, like Kusa Village, your ink will drain
constantly.  However, regardless of whether you Bloom them or not,
he'll roar, get drunk, and be pummeled.
During this fight, make sure you stay with your head.  Stay straight in
front of it.  If you don't, you risk the head adjacent to the one
you're fighting trying to interfere.  Get too close and it will try to
bash you or it might even use its attack on you.  Once I got too close
to the Holy Head while fighting the Poison Head, which resulted in me
running from a cloud of poison and dodging beams of light at the same
time, which was not fun.  This probably goes without saying but also
keep your distance because it is not uncommon for a head to just lash
out at you instead of using its attack.
========================
========================
       BOSS 7: BLIGHT
========================
The thing with this boss is that he attacks faster than you can see.
Thus, you have to slow him down with Mist.  When the fight starts,
he'll just idly float around.  When you see him stop, tense up, or
start shaking, or do anything like that use Mist immediately.  Once his
attacks are slowed down they're very easy to dodge as he just moves in
a straight line hoping that he'll run into you.  You'll also notice
that when he's doing such an attack, the green mist around him goes
away.  This means he's vulnerable, and it's the ONLY time he's
vulnerable, so pound him as he goes by.  Pound him enough and he'll be
stunned and his sword will go flying.  Ignore him, go find where his
sword fell and pound the snot out of the sword because beating on
Blight himself will do very little damage.  Wash, rinse, repeat until
the sword breaks, then the fight is over.  Also note that he has one
attack that does not make him vulnerable or make him move at super
speed: he'll call up a bunch of swords in a ring and then they'll all
swoop at you.  You can avoid it with a well-timed double jump, or, if
that's too tough, use Mist to slow them down.  You can still get your
licks in with this attack by pounding on HIS SWORD- it will glow blue
while the others are green.  Because of the extensive and frequent use
of Mist in this fight, using an Inkfinity Stone would be a good idea.
========================
============================
       BOSS 8: EVIL RAO
============================
This boss is pretty easy.  All she'll do is launch a volley of flaming
swords at you exactly like Blight did.  If you get too close, she'll
also try to slash you.  Just keep on attacking and this fight shouldn't
be tough nor long.
========================

============================
       BOSS 9: NINETAILS
============================
I'll warn you right now, this one is TOUGH.  One thing you should
remember throughout the fight is that Ninetails can DRAW.  Keep your
brush pad open too long and Ninetails will get in on it and start
scribbling.  Don't let her finish, EVEN IF that involves aborting your
drawing suddenly or you've got a whole lot of trouble coming.  All
you'll be able to do as the fight opens is Inferno her tails to hurt
them a bit.  Your main focus should be dodging Ninetails's attacks.
The most common and most irritating is a simple dash attack.  Simple as
it is though, Ninetails still moves insanely fast and it's hard to get
out of the way in time.  If you get too close, Ninetails will unleash a
flurry of strikes with the sword on her back.  Occasionally, she'll
turn around and her tails will spit out gobs of poison that will sit on
the arena for a while.  The thing you should be on the lookout for is
when Ninetails reaches her sword to the sky.  The game will stop the
action and zoom in on it the first time she does it, the other times
you're on your own.  When she does this, take lightning from a nearby
storm cloud and zap the sword.  This will cause Ninetails's nine tails
to split up.  Initially, you'll have four of them fighting you, three
floating around as masks shooting things at you, one old, crippled one
staying away from combat, and you'll have Ninetails's "main" soul,
which will float around with the sword and do nothing.  Only the
fighters and the Cripple are vulnerable, don't bother with the masks or
Ninetails herself because they are invincible.  Cherry Bombs work very
well against the fighters as they tend to clump up as they're chasing
you down.  When the initial wave of four fighters dies, or a certain
time passes, Ninetails will regroup and you'll have to zap the sword
again.  As you kill the fighters, the masks will turn into replacement
fighters the next time you split Ninetails up.  When all the fighters
are dead, be sure you find and kill the Cripple.  The Cripple stays as
far away as possible from you most of the time, so it might take a
little looking to find him.  He has no fighting ability and very little
health, so when you do find him he's easy to kill.  When all are dead
except Ninetails's main soul, she'll turn into a plain old brown fox.
Well, a really big plain old brown fox.  In this form, Ninetails only
has the dash attack, sword flurry and lightning sword.  Zapping the
sword will only do a bit of damage now, though.  Right after she
dashes, she'll be tired and vulnerable to Power Slash.  It shouldn't
take much beating to take her down now.
============================

=========================
       BOSS 10: OKI
=========================
Stage 1: This isn't too tough.  He has a basic slash, a sword flurry
like you've seen with Blight and Evil Rao, and one new-ish attack where
he sends out a jet of ice at you.  Watch for him to raise his sword
above his head for the jet.  Just beat on him and it shouldn't take
long.  When he's out of health, he'll turn into a dog.

Stage 2: This is a little tougher.  He'll mostly use an attack that's
exactly like the Canine Warrior's golden howl attack, where he'll howl
then dash forward.  He can also use a kind of sword flurry except the
"swords" are really huge and they come at you fast and all at once.  He
also has an attack where he jumps up in the air and dive-bombs you.
Just pound him when you can.  When he gets down to about half health,
he'll start making clones of himself.  Do take the time to kill the
clones as they are insanely annoying and don't take that much effort to
take them down.  If you leave them alive, you're essentially fighting
three Okies at once, which is two too many.  The Blade of Kusanagi is a
great choice for taking down the clones as it kills them in 1-2 hits
depending on if you've Gold Dusted it.  When the clones are gone resume
beating Oki to death.
========================

=========================
       BOSS 11: NAGI
=========================
This one's easy.  He just has a sword flurry like you've seen before
and a basic stab.  Just pound on him.  Use Cherry Bombs if he's proving
too resilient.
========================

===============================
       BOSS 12: TRUE OROCHI
===============================
This fight's no different from your previous fight (other than that
he's more powerful so he isn't a pushover), so you should know what to
do.  Just for posterity I'll copy the head strategy down here, too.
Fire Head: This one will breathe fire at you.  You can usually run
around the fire, but if it's giving you trouble you can use Wind to
blow the fire away.  After he's done using fire, he'll roar, shoot the
sake into his mouth.  When he's drunk, you can pummel away at him.
Earth Head:  This one will slam itself into the ground to create a
shockwave.  After the initial shockwave, three "creepers" will try to
home in on you, you can just jump to foil them.  After making the
shockwave, the Earth Head will be stunned.  Whack it and it will get up
and roar.  Get it drunk, pummel it.
Poison Head:  This one will spit poison at you.  It works basically
like the fire attack except it's tougher to dodge.  I would definitely
recommend always using Wind to blow the poison away.  When he's done
attacking, he'll roar, make him drink and pummel him.
Holy Head:  This one will conjure up spheres of light that will, after
a moment's hesitation, fire a beam of light at you.  This hurts a LOT
so watch out.  What's most annoying about this one is that it roars
while the spheres are still firing, so be sure you're in motion when
you enter the brush pad to get it drunk otherwise the spheres will
pummel you when you close the brush pad.
Lightning Head:  This one will launch balls of lightning all over the
place.  These aren't too tough to dodge, they aren't very large and you
can see where they're going.  When he's done attacking, somehow he'll
lose sight of you.  Whack him and he'll roar, so get him drunk and
pummel.
Water Head: When you approach this head, get on the slightly raised
portion of the arena on the edge opposite this head.  The head will
immediately flood the arena when you approach, then lily pads will be
created and he'll start bathing in his nice water.  Jump along the lily
pads and smack him.  I recommend using a Rosary to smack him because
with a jump strike you can hit him from the second lily pad instead of
going all the way to the third.  After you smack him, he'll roar, get
him soaked in sake, and pummel.  On a side note, how does the sake stay
in that channel when the arena is flooded?
Wind Head:  This one will send a tornado at you.  You can just run
around and dodge it, or you could use Wind to blow the tornado away.
Either way, he'll roar when he's done attacking, so force sake down his
throat and pummel.
Darkness Head:  This one won't really attack your health.  When you get
close, he spits out two dark buds.  If you fail to Bloom them both, the
arena will get dark and, like Kusa Village, your ink will drain
constantly.  However, regardless of whether you Bloom them or not,
he'll roar, get drunk, and be pummeled.
=============================

=============================
       BOSS 13: NECHKU
=============================
With Shiranui, this guy is way too easy.  You barely even have to try.
He will mostly launch the fruit-like things that the cannons and cursed
trees launch; you can deflect these with Power Slash.  Same goes for
the icicles he'll launch.  He can also dive at you in an attempt to
pick you up.  Shiranui will basically beat the crap out of him if you
try or not.  He has some pretty awesome attacks.  If you want to do
anything, you can hit him with fruit and icicles until he's stunned,
then Shiranui can knock him out of the air for you to pound.  There's
really no need for you to expend such effort though.
=============================

=============================
BOSS 14: LECHKU & NECHKU
=============================
Remember:  Lechku is the gold one and Nechku is the silver one.  Nechku
(with an "N")is the silver one because he's Not (with an "N") made of
gold.  While Shiranui was very helpful, Oki does almost nothing.  You
need him to knock the demons out of the sky when they're stunned, but
that's it.  It's best to focus on one at a time, so I'll start with
Lechku.  Lechku has a few attacks, none of which are very dangerous if
you know what to do.  He can conjure a lightning sword like Ninetails
did, you can zap it to hurt him a little.  He will also conjure an egg
above his head, you can Power Slash it to make it blow up in his face.
He also is able to shoot icicles like Nechku did.  Nechku comes to the
fight with basically the same attacks he had before.  He can now
conjure a bomb above his head; you can draw fire from the gargoyles
around the arena to make it explode in his face.  He can also launch a
bud at you.  While you could just dodge it, if you open it up before it
hits the ground you can get some health.  Whenever either demon is
stunned, Oki will run over to you.  Use triangle to grab his bow and
pull it back, then release to hit the stunned demon with an arrow.
Then you can Power Slash it out of the sky.  Just pound on it for a
while, then when it's shaking and about to get up, Power Slash it
again.  Don't Power Slash it while it's on the ground because he'll get
up immediately if you do.  It's best to pound on him a little before
you Slash him.  When they're both dead, the fight will be over.
=============================

==============================
==============================
     FINAL BOSS: YAMI
==============================
==============================

---STAGE 1: You'll have no weapon or any brush power.  Just bash him
whenever he's not on fire or shooting at you etc. and eventually a
little lid in his top will open up and you'll get your weapon and
Rejuvenation back.  You can use Rejuvenation to fill in the massive
holes Yami will create in the arena.  Continue pounding on him.  Pound
on him enough and he'll give up Sunrise, Power Slash, and Greensprout.
With Greensprout back, you can Bloom him when he's stunned and he'll
open up and you can attack Yami directly for more damage.  It still
isn't much, but it's more.  When his health is gone, he'll transform.

---STAGE 2: I like to call this stage "Orangeslices."  You'll see why.
When he splits into slices, his bottom-most slice will catch on fire
and swoop at you.  After you get Waterspout back from him, you can
douse this flaming slice and he'll drop Yami so you can attack.  Cherry
Bomb him when he's stunned and he'll blow apart into a bunch of
platforms with Yami wriggling around on one of them.  As his health
gets lower, he'll retreat to higher and higher platforms.  You'll also
get Crescent in this fight.  You can use Crescent when he makes an arch
shape out of himself and a giant version of Oki will show up and slash
him for a lot of damage.

---STAGE 3:  The slot machine.  He'll float out of range and spin his
slots around wildly until you Power Slash them.  There's really no
skill involved in this, just Power Slash them all in one stroke and see
what happens.  Usually, he'll end up flinging a bunch of projectiles ar
you, most if not all of which can be deflected back at him with Power
Slash.  Deflect enough, and the slot machine will malfunction and spit
Yami out so you can attack.  The other result you can get is three Yami
emblems, which will force him to give back a power.  Always watch the
top and bottom of the machine closely, as Yami sometimes peeks out and
you can Power Slash him.  Be sure you're quick, as he can retreat even
if the brush pad is open.  You'll get back Windstorm, Inferno, and Mist
during this fight.

---STAGE 4:  This guy kinda reminds me of the final boss of Majora's
Mask.  He'll mostly launch missiles at you that you can deflect with
Power Slash.  He also raises his swords to the sky like Ninetails did
for a shadow wave attack.  When you get Thunderstorm back you can zap
his swords (you only have to zap one.)  Zapping him will make Yami
spill out so you can murdalize him.  Hitting him with enough missiles
will also yield this result.  Be mindful that he'll open the hatch in
front to peek out and you can Power Slash him when he does.  You'll get
Catwalk and Icestorm back in this fight also.  You can use Catwalk to
climb the walls at the corners of the arena for some treasure, but I
wouldn't bet on having enough time to do so while Yami's breathing down
your neck.  You can use Icestorm when he opens up the hatch to freeze
him in this position so he can't close the hatch again.

---STAGE 5: ...we have one more stage.  When the battle starts, it'll
be very dark.  Use Sunrise (don't worry about looking up at the sky,
you can use it anywhere but the floor) and this will stun Yami and the
giant hand will drop him.  The hand will mostly execute hand-type
attacks, like grabbing you or whacking you.  Note that Yami is
vulnerable almost all the time, he is located in the palm of the hand.
One attack you need to watch out for is when the hand holds Yami
straight up in the air.  Yami will then launch a gigantic searing beam
of fire.  You should pay attention to this not because it's hard to
dodge or anything, but rather because if you Power Slash Yami while
he's doing it the hand will get confused and drop him.  Yami will
occasionally re-cast the darkness like you saw at the beginning of the
fight, which will drain your ink.  When it recovers (or when you use an
Inkfinity Stone), Sunrise him again and pummel Yami.  It will take a
while, believe me, but he'll die.
==============================
==============================



===ADVANCED BRUSH TECHNIQUES (#ABTECH)===
Advanced brush techniques are special drawings you can make to use a
more powerful and/or completely different version of the plain ol'
brush techniques you had before.  This section will describe them and
how you can get them.  If a power isn't listed, there's no advance for
that power.

POWER SLASH:

-->Power Slash 2:  Increases attack power of Power Slash and lets you
slice through iron rocks.
Found in: N. Ryoshima Coast.
There is a trio of islands a short (and I mean SHORT, as in the closest
trio of islands) way the the northwest of Catcall island.  Go to the
western island in this trio and you'll find a rock surrounded by vases.
Power Slash the rock.  In the cave, deposit 60,000 Yen in the pond and
Tachigami will upgrade your Power Slash free of charge.  Um, except the
charge that you had to pay to get him to show up.

-->Power Slash 3: Increases attack power of Power Slash and lets you
slice through diamond rocks.
Found in: Kamui (Ezofuji) *REQUIRES POWER SLASH 2*
Go up the trail winding around the lake on the western side.  In the
far northwest corner, you can drop down off the trail onto a ledge with
an iron rock and a diamond rock.  Slash the iron rock and deposit
120,000 Yen into the pond.  Tachigami will upgrade your Power Slash
like before.

CHERRY BOMB:

-->Cherry Bomb 2: Allows you to plant two Cherry Bombs at once (not in
the same drawing, mind you.  One at a time)
Found in: N. Ryoshima Coast *REQUIRES DOJO TECHNIQUE DIGGING CHAMP*
In the trio of islands northwest of Catcall mentioned in the Power
Slash 2 description, go to the island in the center.  Dig up the flat
rock in the center of the island and enter the cave.  Depost 120,000
Yen into the pond and Bakugami will upgrade your Bombs.

-->Cherry Bomb 3: Allows you to plant three Cherry Bombs at once.
Found in: Kamui *REQUIRES CHERRY BOMB 2*
In a little nook on the north side of the Guardian Sapling (you can get
up in there using the nearby Bud), you'll find a flat rock with two
bomb cracks on it.  Plant Cherry Bombs on both and the rock will blow
up.  Pay the lucrative price of 360,000 Yen to get Cherry Bomb 3.

WATERSPOUT:

-->Deluge: Summons up a rainstorm to soak enemies to death.
Found in: Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.) *YOU MUST HAVE BEATEN
NINETAILS*
Circle around behind Himiko's palace.  Talk to the handmaiden here and
she asks you to sprinkle water on the grave here.  The grave is a bunch
of huge stones way out in the water near the red gate.  Spray all of
them with the water in the little pool (don't use the ocean water) here
on the deck and Nuregami will give you Deluge.

-->Fountain: Allows the activation of Mermaid Springs without using a
Coin.
Found in: Dragon Palace *YOU NEED THE SHELL AMULET FROM OTOHIME*
From the lobby of this place, head to the east where the hot spring is
located.  Talk to the dancer here and she'll whine about how the spring
isn't running.  Why is it that no springs can work in Nippon?  Dig up
the flat rock here and then you'll do a digging minigame with the
dancer.  This one's a little different because you have to climb up to
get the dancer then climb back down with her.  You can use Cherry Bomb
to destroy blocks above you.  When the hot spring is flowing, the
dancer will whine again about there not being the "swirly-whirly."  The
dancers will start sprinting around the pool at mach 2 to try and get
it working again.  Draw a spiral on the hot spring and Nuregami will
give you Fountain.

GALESTORM:

-->Cyclone Slash: Summons a raging tornado to mince enemies to bits.
Found in: N. Ryoshima Coast
Buy the Marlin Rod from the merchant here then go to the huge island in
the west, the one with a wooden pier on it.  On the pier is a
fisherman.  Give him the Marlin Rod and help him fish for the Marlin.
He'll haul it off when you've caught it.  The sushi restaurant he took
it to is back on the mainland in the northwestern area.  Talk to the
chef and watch him cut the marlin up a bit.  When he pauses, draw the
mark on the wall (three horizontal lines on top of each other) and the
marlin will be cut to bits, and you can have a nice sushi dinner.  Oh,
and Kazegami will give you Cyclone Slash, too.

INFERNO:

-->Fireburst: Summons a searing ball of fire to scorch any enemies on
the screen.
Found in: Sei'an City (Commoner's Qtr.) *YOU MUST HAVE DEFEATED BLIGHT*
Yama's restaurant can be found east of the entrance to the Aristocratic
Qtr. (if you hit Mr. Flower's house, you've gone too far.).  In the
back, you can listen to Yama's lament about not being able to make the
best soup because he doesn't have a Golden Mushroom.  Well, go get him
one.  In the northwest exit of Taka Pass, you can find a small tea
shop.  Talk to the Tea Master here and he'll complain about his missing
Teacup, stolen by the Moleys.  Go along the northern edge of Taka Pass
heading west until you find them (if you hit Mr. Cutter's house, you've
gone too far).  You'll have to play a whack-a-mole game.  Beat up their
boss.  He's larger and wears a blue bandanna.  If you're having trouble
finding and bashing him before he dives again, use you brush pad to
find him without wasting any time.  When you're done, take the Teacup
to the Tea Master and he'll give you the Golden Mushroom.  Take it to
Yama and watch him do his silly dance.  When it shows you the kindling,
draw an infinity symbol (a sideways "8").  Moegami (no relation to
Larrygami or Curlygami) will give you Fireburst.

VEIL OF MIST:

-->Mist Transport: Allows you to warp between Ultimate Mirrors by
drawing an X.
Found in: Emperor's Palace *YOU MUST HAVE BEATEN BLIGHT*
Just buy the Fog Pot from the Emperor for 80 Demon Fangs.  Not a lot to
do here.

THUNDERSTORM:

-->Thunderbolt: Calls down a powerful thunderbolt to make your enemies
crispy and dead.
Found in: Sei'an City (Aristocratic Qtr.) *YOU MUST HAVE CATWALK*
In Shinshu Field, you can race the postman named Ida.  You can win a
race by bashing him.  After each race, use Crescent then Sunrise to
make a day pass and he'll be ready to challenge you again.  For your
third and final race, he'll give you the Gimmick Gear.  In the
northwestern area of the Aristocratic Quarter, there is a tall, tall
tower.  Use Catwalk to climb up the western side and enter Gen's room.
Give him the Gimmick Gear and then connect the dots when you're
prompted.  The dot connection should like this:           /
                                                         ---
                                                           /

ICESTORM:

-->Blizzard: Instantly freezes a foe.
Found in: N/A
Well, this one's kinda a secret, in that you don't have to acquire it
like you did all the others.  Just draw an X with a line intersecting
it and you'll use Blizzard (provided you have Icestorm, of course).  I
repeat, you DO NOT have to learn it like the other powers.  You can
just use it right off when you get Icestorm.



===Weapon List & Locations (#WEPN)===

REFLECTORS:

Level 1: Divine Retribution
Location:  You start with it.

Level 2: Snarling Beast
Location: Reward for defeating the Spider Queen.

Level 3: Infinity Judge
Location: First available at Kusa Village Shop (it's also available at
some later shops)

Level 4: Trinity Mirror
Location: First available in Sei'an Weapon Shop AFTER DEFEATING
NINETAILS (also available at some later shops)

Level 5: Solar Flare
Location: Given to you by Itegami, the last brush god, in Wawku Shrine.
Notes: This weapon is considered a fire source, so you can draw fire
from it while it's equipped.

ROSARIES:

Level 1: Devout Beads
Location: In a chest near the Guardian Sapling in Agata Forest, after
it's revived.

Level 2: Life Beads
Location: Reward for defeating Crimson Helm.

Level 3: Exorcism Beads
Location: Reward for defeating Blight.

Level 4: Resurrection Beads
Location: First available in Wep'keer shop (also available in some
later shops)

Level 5: Tundra Beads
Location: Available only in the Sei'an Weapon Shop AFTER DEFEATING
LECHKU & NECHKU.
Notes: This weapon is considered an ice source, so you can draw ice
from it while it's equipped.

GLAIVES:

Level 1: Tsumugari
Location: Reward for defeating Orochi.

Level 2: Seven Strike
Location: First available in Sei'an Weapon Shop (also available in some
later shops)

Level 3: Blade of Kusanagi
Location: Reward for defeating Ninetails.

Level 4: Eighth Wonder
Location: Available only in Ponc'tan shop.

Level 5: Thunder Edge
Location: Reward for defeating True Orochi.
Notes: This weapon is considered a electricity source, so you can draw
electricity from it while it's equipped.

===Accessories (#ACCY)===
I'm gonna call 'em accessories even though the game calls them Divine
Artifacts, just for the sake of convenience.  Okay?  Okay.  Each
artifact has an "analysis," where I evaluate the artifact and tell you
if it's a good buy.

--> Peace Bell:
Effects: When equipped, Demon Scrolls won't approach you (they will
still fight you if you touch them, the difference is that they won't
actively pursue you.)
Found: Any Demon Fang Store, costs 20 Fangs.
Analysis:  It's not too tough to avoid Demon Scrolls, so unless you're
really sick of them you can probably save your fangs.  It is cheap,
though.

--> Wood Mat:
Effects: When Amaterasu sleeps (just stay still a while and she'll go
to sleep), her health will be slowly restored.  Note that this
restoration costs Yen at a steady rate.
Found: Any Demon Fang Store, costs 30 Fangs.
Analysis: I prefer to just have a good stock of Bones.  Most, if not
all, of the time you'll be injured is in a boss fight or a regular
battle, where you can't go to sleep.  It does save on Bones when you're
just wandering around though.  A fairly good buy, especially because
it's comparatively cheap.

--> Golden Lucky Cat:
Effects: Draws Yen and other pickups from monsters to Amaterasu.
Found: Any Demon Fang Store, costs 50 Fangs.
Analysis: This comes in second in the Useful Artifacts Contest.  It
saves a lot of time and maneuvering in battle to have this, and you
don't run the risk of missing anything.  A good buy.

--> Thief's Glove:
Effects: Allows Amaterasu to use Issun to steal items.  Draw a line
from Issun (he's on her head) to the enemy to steal.
Found: Emperor's Demon Fang Store, costs 70 Fangs.
Analysis:  This is pretty good.  It's mostly useful for stealing
salable items and making a quick bit of Yen.  The Demon Fangs you pay
for it are repaid in Yen, so I leave it to you to decide to buy it or
not.

--> Golden Ink Pot:
Effects: Increases ink restoration speed.
Found: Any Demon Fang Store, costs 100 Fangs.
Analysis: GET THIS.  The price is worth it.  It cuts down the time for
an ink gourd to refill from 9 to 3 seconds, a time lapse that is
certainly worth it in the heat of battle.

--> Fire Tablet:
Effects: Allows Amaterasu to swim through magma.  Note that it does not
protect against fire-based attacks.
Found: Given to you by Kaguya as part of the story.
Analysis: You don't have a choice in getting this, so this analysis is
pointless.  You need it for some tasks required in Oni Island and one
in Himiko's Palace, but that's it.

--> Water Tablet:
Effects: Allows Amaterasu to walk on water.
Found: Emperor's Demon Fang Store, costs 100 Demon Fangs.
Analysis: This is mainly for getting Stray Beads and looking cool.
It's not terribly vital or anything.  If you want the Beads, you have
to get this.



Post-Game Rankings (#POST)
+++++++++++++++++
When your game is done, you will be judged by five categories: how many
times you died, how many enemies you killed, how much Yen you got, how
many Demon Fangs you got, and how much Praise you collected.  If you
get the pink tree in a category, you'll be rewarded one (or more)
Karmic Transformers, which you can use to make ol' Ammy look different.
These are the ESTIMATED totals you need to get pink trees.  (If you got
something below these and still got a pink tree, e-mail me so I can
update this.)

Deaths: 1 (or less)
Enemies Defeated: 900
Money Gained: 5,000,000 Yen
Demon Fangs: 300
Praise Earned: 5000

My totals?

Deaths: 0
Enemies Defeated: 917
Money Gained: 5,675,081 Yen
Demon Fangs: 328
Praise Earned: 6340

Again, if you have more info on what's necessary to get a pink tree, e-
mail me so I can get it correct.  Nothing bugs me more than inaccuracy.

Contact Me (#CNCT)
+++++++++++++++++
You can e-mail me at theburrowingowl (at) gmail.com.  Put "Okami" in
the subject line so my filter doesn't mistake it for spam etc.  I'll
ask that you not e-mail me about two things: one, the last cherry
blossom tree in Sei'an, and two, asking a question I already answered
in my guide.  I'll probably answer the second one, but know that I will
not be happy.

Legalities (#LGAL)
+++++++++++++++++
It is illegal to reproduce this guide, or to copy this guide in whole
or in part and claim it as your own work.  Also, do not put it on your
website without permission.  If you want permission, send an e-mail
requesting permission to the e-mail address below.
CURRENTLY AUTHORIZED SITES:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseeker.com
IF YOU SEE THIS GUIDE ON ANY DOMAIN NOT ON THIS LIST, E-MAIL ME SO I
CAN TAKE CARE OF IT.
================
This is the end.  I'd like to thank all the people who e-mailed me with
more info, corrections, etc. for this guide, and Clover Studio for
making this game.  I'll also thank lopp3 for writing from Shinshu Field
to restoring Sakuya for me.  I don't know why I didn't have you do
more.

THE END

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