Onimusha: Way of the Sword — Every Kubi Akari Location in the Imperial Palace

The Kyoto Imperial Palace hides five Kubi Akari, and hunting them down is what closes out the Ace Archer: Kyoto Imperial Palace mission. These pale, floating Genma tuck themselves behind buildings, drift inside structures, or hover over ground Musashi can’t step on, so the map markers only ever point at a rough area. The real work is picking a spot with a clean line of sight and firing the Oni Bow at the right moment.

Quick answer: Start the mission at Gojo Street, then shoot all five Kubi Akari from the Western Corridor, through a building window, through a rock archway, from an upper platform, and above a tree-covered building near the boss arena. Kill order does not matter.

Start Ace Archer: Kyoto Imperial Palace at Gojo Street

The mission opens at Gojo Street, not at the palace itself. Fast travel to the Gojo Street West Spirit Mirror and find the man standing just north of it. He tells Musashi that flying creatures have been sighted around the Kyoto Imperial Palace and asks for help clearing them out.

Once that conversation ends, the objective updates to find and kill five Kubi Akari in the Imperial Palace. Each target shows up on your map with a notebook icon, but treat those as general zones rather than exact positions. You will almost always need to move to a shooting angle and wait for the creature to drift into view before you can land the arrow.

Image credit: CAPCOM Co., Ltd. / GamesDusk

All five Kubi Akari locations in the Imperial Palace

You can take these in any order, since there is no set route. The numbering below is only there to make each spot easy to reference. A couple of them sit close together, so it helps to know which pairs share the same corner of the map.

Kubi Akari	Where to aim from
1	Northwest corner of the first main section, looking north into the corridor
2	Southeast of the first area, aiming through a house window
3	A rock archway on a roof near the Oikeniwa Pond Garden Spirit Mirror
4	Upper platform above the second area, looking south
5	Near the boss arena, looking south over a tree-covered building

Kubi Akari 1: Western Corridor

Begin at the Palace Entrance Spirit Mirror in the south of the area and head north into the next main section. This space is packed with genma, so wipe them out before you try to line up any shots.

Move to the northwest corner of the section, where a path starts running east. From here, turn your view north toward the corridor between the buildings.

The Kubi Akari patrols that corridor, so it won’t be sitting still in the open. Hold your position, watch the gap, and fire the bow the moment it flies into view.

Note: If it seems to vanish, stay put. It never stops moving, so it is usually just out of sight for a second before it loops back.

Kubi Akari 2: Through the building window

From the first target’s spot, head east and crawl under the stone structures ringing the area. Keep going through the passage until you come out the far side.

On the other side you’ll meet two genma and a chest holding one Oni Stone. Clear the enemies, then move southeast until the corner of a house comes into view.

Aim the bow at the window on that building. The Kubi Akari is flying around inside, and the window gives you the only clean shot at it.

Kubi Akari 3: Through the rock archway

Follow the main path north through the Imperial Palace toward the Oikeniwa Pond Garden Spirit Mirror. Before you reach the mirror, look for a ramp on the west side of the path.

Take the ramp up to a roof covered in rock formations. One of these formations arches over the roof and leaves an opening between the two.

Peer through that gap and you’ll spot the Kubi Akari on the other side. Once it’s clearly framed in the opening, fire your arrow straight through to hit it.

Kubi Akari 4: On the upper platform

This one sits right by the second target, so return to that same general area. On its northwest side, look for a ramp leading upward.

Climb the ramp to reach the upper part of one of the platforms formed by the genma structures. Turn to face south from up there and the fourth Kubi Akari comes into view for the shot.

Kubi Akari 5: Above the building near the boss arena

Keep on the main path and push past the Spirit Mirror into the area beyond it, which is the boss arena. Clear it out first, and watch for genma that fire arrows at you, since they’ll interrupt your aim.

With the arena safe, look south over a building surrounded by trees. The final Kubi Akari drifts above that building, so line up the bow and take it down.

How to confirm the mission is complete

Once all five Kubi Akari are dead, the Ace Archer: Kyoto Imperial Palace mission wraps up on its own. If it hasn’t closed out, one target is still alive somewhere. The most common reason is a Kubi Akari being off in a spot Musashi can’t walk to, so return to the marked area, adjust the camera, and wait a beat for the creature to circle back into your firing line before giving up on the shot.