Prologue Walkthrough — Blood on the Rendaino Fields

The prologue opens on a starving village. Musashi hands his own food to a child, then walks off to settle a duel with Yoshioka Seijuro — which turns out to be the game's combat tutorial in disguise.

The Tutorial Duel

The fight against Seijuro teaches the core loop: enemies here have deep health bars, so real kills come from emptying their posture and finishing with an execution — a Crushing Issen.

Every enemy attack can be answered one of three ways:

• Perfect dodge. Sidestep at the last moment. Dodge within roughly a second of the swing and you unlock a follow-up counter slash.
• Deflect and parry. Both intercept an attack with your blade, but they behave differently. Deflecting stacks toward your buffed Flame state, which supercharges later counters and shreds posture; catch the final hit of an enemy combo and they stagger outright. A sharp parry instead deals heavy posture damage without interrupting their rhythm.
• The Issen. Press attack in the instant before an enemy blow connects and Musashi answers with a cinematic counter. Regular enemies drop dead on the spot; bosses eat a massive chunk of damage. The timing window is famously strict — expect to eat dirt while learning it.

Ambush, Death, and the Gauntlet

Kill Seijuro and the cutscene sours fast: Musashi is surrounded, and after carving through the mob, the swordsman Sasaki Ganryu arrives demanding his own duel. Before blades cross, a strange creature bursts in, murders Ganryu, and kills Musashi too.

In the underworld, a white-robed old man revives Musashi and seals the Oni Gauntlet onto his arm. Welcome to being an Onimusha.

Back Among the Living

Returned to the field, Musashi cuts down the umbrella-hat demons that just killed him — your first real combat playground. Once the area is clear he tries to tear the gauntlet off, and a voice inside it speaks up, directing him to Rokudochinno-ji temple to find a man named Ono no Takamura.

The temple is under attack when you arrive, and Takamura lets Musashi earn his introductions by clearing it. After the fight, speak with him and step through the Demon Gate to learn what an Onimusha is for.

Setting Out for Kiyomizu-dera

Back from the gate, Izumo no Okuni reports that demons have overrun Kiyomizu-dera. Takamura hands the purification job to Musashi. Two housekeeping steps before you go:

1. Talk to Okuni in the courtyard outside — she gives you the lantern pouch, effectively your healing flask.
2. Pray at the save mirror and warp to Kiyomizu-dera.

That wraps the prologue. Next stop: Kiyomizu-dera Temple. New to the mechanics? The defense and parry system guide breaks the timing windows down in detail.

Note: enemy and item names above follow descriptive translations pending confirmation against the official English localization.