Ifuu, titled Fearsome Gale, is the boss standing between Musashi and the end of the Windswept Kennin-ji stage. The objective is blunt — Defeat Ifuu — and the fight is split into two very different halves. The first half is a warm-up. The second is where players lose runs, usually because they spent everything they had before Ifuu turned red.
Quick answer: Parry Ifuu’s heavy sword swings until the Blazing Gauge fills, then counterattack in Blazing State. In phase two, absorb the power circulating around the arena before Ifuu reaches it, and switch to the Oni Bow every time he clings to a wall.
Ifuu fight reference (Windswept Kennin-ji)
| Detail | What it means for the fight |
|---|---|
| Location | Windswept Kennin-ji, objective marked as “Defeat Ifuu” |
| Boss name | Ifuu – Fearsome Gale |
| Health value shown | 15,756 |
| Phases | Two, split by Ifuu shifting into a red glow |
| Main defensive tool | Parry, which fills the Blazing Gauge |
| Phase two mechanic | Ifuu tries to absorb power from the arena to buff his attacks |
| Ranged option | Oni Bow, used when he retreats to walls or higher ground |
Phase 1: Save your healing items and build Blazing State
Ifuu opens with wide, heavy sword attacks that are slow enough to read. Treat this stretch as free meter. Every clean parry pushes the Blazing Gauge up, and once Blazing State kicks in your damage climbs and you have a much better chance of shaking blue souls loose. Musashi says the plan out loud during the fight: “I just have to keep parrying until I get there.”
The important discipline here is restraint with consumables. Phase one damage is survivable, so drinking a healing item over a couple of chipped hits leaves you empty later. If you enter phase two with a full pouch, the fight is roughly twice as forgiving.
Note: bosses in this game escalate dynamically. Taking heavy damage early can push Ifuu into his stronger state sooner than expected, so a sloppy phase one directly makes phase two worse.
Phase 2: Absorb the arena power before Ifuu gets it
Ifuu marks the transition by glowing red. His attacks come faster, hit harder, and string together with far less recovery. From this point the fight has a resource race layered on top of it.
Use the Oni Bow when Ifuu clings to walls
Ifuu does not stay on the ground. He repositions onto walls and higher ground, which puts him out of katana range and tempts you into chasing him. Do not chase. Draw the Oni Bow and shoot him where he sits — arrows are unlimited, and the free damage costs you nothing in risk.
This is also the safest moment to top up. If souls are still floating around the arena, absorb them while he is perched, then reset your spacing before he drops back down.
Closing the fight and confirming the kill
The finish follows the same loop as the rest of the fight. Parry his final aggressive strings, let the Blazing Gauge fill, and land a critical counter-attack to take the last of his health. The “Defeat Ifuu” objective clears and the fight ends in a cutscene once the counter connects, so if the objective is still on screen, he is still alive.
When a run collapses, it is almost always one of three things: healing items burned in phase one, letting Ifuu reach the arena power first in phase two, or trading swings instead of parrying and never reaching Blazing State. Fix those three habits and the fight is short.
