Onimusha: Way of the Sword — The Oni’s Apprentice Full Walkthrough

The Oni’s Apprentice is a short main story quest in Onimusha: Way of the Sword that exists mainly to hand you two systems you will lean on for the rest of the game — equipment enhancement and the Deflect counter. There is no boss, no maze, and nothing missable, but the drill at the end will not let you leave until you parry correctly.

Quick answer: Talk to Shizuka Gozen at the Spirit Mirror in Rendaino Temple, enhance your Clothing, Sword and Gauntlet, unlock Deflect in Musashi’s Basic Skills, ring the bell to reach the Practice Ground, then select Drill and Deflect the Genma to death. Open Takamura’s chest for the Wind-Whipper naginata and ring the bell again to finish.

How The Oni’s Apprentice unlocks

The quest becomes available after the “Kyoto, Corrupted” main quest, once you have purged the Rifts at both marked spots in Kyoto. You are then sent back to eastern Kyoto, where Takamura and Shizuka Gozen reveal that the old man who gave Musashi the Oni Gauntlet is Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the Genpei War hero. Takamura offers to train you, and the quest formally begins when you speak to Shizuka.

Detail	Value
Quest type	Main story
Unlocked by	Completing “Kyoto, Corrupted”
Start location	Spirit Mirror, Rendaino Temple
Quest giver	Shizuka Gozen
Unlocks	Equipment enhancement, Deflect, Practice Ground
Reward	Wind-Whipper (Oni Armament, naginata)

Reaching Shizuka at the Spirit Mirror

Open the map and hover over the Rendaino Temple marker, then press the confirm button to set it as your destination. The route line makes the walk back trivial if you have wandered off into side content.

Map screen with a quest marker highlighted and a prompt to set it as the destination — Hover the marker on the map and confirm to set your destination. Image: Capcom

Walk up to the Spirit Mirror shrine and speak with Shizuka Gozen. A cutscene plays in which she explains that the Oni Gauntlet, like Musashi himself, can be made stronger.

Shrine cutscene playing with skip and pause prompts in the corner of the screen — The Spirit Mirror cutscene that opens the quest. Image: Capcom

Enhance equipment and unlock the Deflect skill

Interact with the Spirit Mirror to open the Enhance Equipment / Abilities menu. The tutorial walks you through enhancing your Clothing, Sword and Gauntlet, which consumes upgrade materials such as Fine Silk Cloth and Tamahagane.

Enhance Equipment menu with the Sword selected and the enhance option available — The Sword selected inside the Enhance Equipment / Abilities screen. Image: Capcom

Move to the tab on the right to open Musashi’s Basic Skills tree and unlock Deflect. This is the only skill the quest requires, though Red Souls and Power Stones can be spent on other nodes while you are in here.

Back out of the menu to resume the conversation. Takamura interrupts to offer training in the way of the Oni, which sets up the second half of the quest.

Note: Clothing, Sword and Gauntlet enhancements do not carry into New Game+, while unlocked basic and special skills do. Spend equipment materials freely on your current run rather than hoarding them.

Ring the bell and clear Takamura’s drill

When the cutscene ends, interact with the large bell directly in front of you. Ringing it teleports Musashi to the Practice Ground.

Speak with Takamura to unlock the training feature, then choose Drill from the menu. The other entry, Boss Rematch, lets you refight bosses you have already beaten, including Daidara and Sasaki Ganryu.

Practice Ground menu showing the Drills and Boss Rematch training options — The Practice Ground menu, with Drills and Boss Rematch available. Image: Capcom

Deflect the Genma that spawns in front of you. The prompt asks for three successful deflects and tracks your progress on screen as “Just Before Being Hit,” so a mistimed input simply costs you a repetition rather than failing the drill.

Deflect tutorial prompt reading Just Before Being Hit 2 of 3 during the training drill — The drill counts your deflects up to three before it clears. Image: Capcom

Finish the Genma off. A landed Deflect drains its stamina and leaves it open, so string deflects together and punish the stagger rather than trading blows.

Deflect timing and inputs

Deflect is a timed guard, not a hold. The input has to land in the instant before an enemy’s attack connects, and the payoff is stamina damage that opens the enemy up for a finisher.

Platform	Input
PC (keyboard and mouse)	F + Right Click just before the hit lands
Controller	Hold block, then press the attack button just before the hit lands
Effect	Drains enemy stamina and leaves them vulnerable

If the drill counter is not moving, you are almost certainly pressing too early. Wait until the enemy’s weapon is already travelling toward you instead of reacting to the wind-up.

Claim the Wind-Whipper and close the quest

Once the drill is cleared, Takamura points you toward a treasure chest. Opening it grants the Wind-Whipper, a naginata and your second Oni Armament, which you can freely swap with the Two Celestials from that point on.

Ring the bell again to leave the Practice Ground. The quest is marked complete on exit, and you will know everything landed correctly if Deflect appears as an unlocked node in the Basic Skills tree, the Wind-Whipper is selectable as an Oni Armament, and the Practice Ground remains reachable through the bell for Drills and Boss Rematch runs later.

From here Takamura sends Musashi out to purge the malice across Kyoto, which opens up the next set of main quests. Deflect is the foundation of nearly every fight that follows, so it is worth spending a few extra minutes in the Practice Ground before you head back out.