Onimusha Way of the Sword playable characters come down to one: Miyamoto Musashi. There is no character creation system, no character-select screen and no second fighter — and there is no level number either, so growth comes from souls, skills and equipment proficiency instead.
On this page
Onimusha Way of the Sword playable characters and the NPCs
Musashi fights with a katana as his only melee weapon, built around parry and deflect, the all-angle guard, and Issen. His face is modeled on the samurai film actor Toshiro Mifune, licensed from Mifune Productions after roughly two years of negotiations; the likeness is visual only, with no motion or speech recreation. He is voiced by Kenichiro Thomson in English and Yoshimasa Hosoya in Japanese.
Everyone else is an NPC:
Oni Lady
a female Oni spirit living inside Musashi's Oni Gauntlet. She narrates and explains the Genma and Malice and helps him understand the gauntlet's powers. Her motives are hinted to be partly self-serving.
Ono no Takamura
an elderly master swordsman who cuts through Genma easily and owns an Oni Gauntlet of his own. He is Musashi's mentor, he teaches Musashi the Oni ways, and he opens the Boss Rematch menu at the Practice Ground.
Izumo no Okuni
a young Kabuki dancer tied to Kyoto's supernatural crisis. She wants the strength to fight Genma, she is central to the Hozuki Pouch mechanic, and she is the one who opens the way into Nijo-jo Castle.
Sasaki Ganryu (Sasaki Kojiro)
Musashi's chief rival and the emotional centre of the story. A great swordsman who takes the same path as Musashi and also wields an Oni Gauntlet, using the Tsubame Gaeshi technique. He is fought more than once: at Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Pagoda and Arashiyama.
Shuten Doji
a powerful Genma guarding the fortress on Mount Oe, the main antagonist and the figure Musashi transforms against in his Awakening moment.
Dokyo
a researcher in an underground laboratory beneath Nijo-jo who creates new Genma variants. Greater Nue and other engineered enemies come out of her research.
Also appearing: Daidara, Rasho-gan, Ifuu, Burai, Benkei, Nue, Greater Nue, Dohatsu-ten, Gioh, Kogai, Kogashira, Chijiko, Hirehime, and Minamoto no Yoshitsune. The Man in White is the white-robed principal villain of the late game and the final confrontation. Earlier Onimusha characters such as Oda Nobunaga, Jubei and Kaede do not appear in this game.
What you can customise
Appearance only, through the Change Appearance menu at a Spirit Mirror, which unlocks after "The Stage is Set at Kiyomizu":
- Sword appearances for the katana, plus a wakizashi appearance.
- Haori coats and full outfits. Light Kimono is the default; others include Tasuki Sash, Panda, Wataru-kun, Master's Garb and Warlord's Armor.
- Oni Gauntlet appearances such as the Crimson Lotus gauntlet.
- Companion outfits for Izumo no Okuni and the Oni Lady.
Outfits do not change stats, damage, or Issen timing. The twelve katana appearances are on the weapons guide.
Separate from cosmetics, up to three charms can be equipped on the Equipment screen and those do grant passive bonuses. Two New Game+ exclusives sit inside cosmetic categories but do change play: the Bishamonten Sword amplifies Issen damage and widens the counter window, and Warlord's Armor 2 auto-absorbs nearby souls.
How Musashi gets stronger
There is no visible level number and no experience bar.
Souls
are dropped by defeated Genma and coloured by what they do: yellow heals, red buys and enhances skills, blue charges Oni Armaments, and purple fills the Oni Awakening gauge. Absorbing them is committed — Musashi cannot attack or parry during the animation — and enemies can siphon unattended souls, so collect only after you have created a safe opening.
Skills
are bought at shrine checkpoints. Basic Skills cost Power Stones, while Special and weapon skills cost Oni Stones, and red souls go on combat skill nodes and equipment. The branches include Issen, Break Issen Combo, Deflect, Oni Bow and Assassination on the basic side, and Oni Vision, Oni Strength and Oni Agility on the special side. Good early purchases are Oni Vision: Treasures, its follow-up, and Oni Vision: Search Range, which reveal hidden materials. The recommended order is on [the skills guide](/guides/best-skills/).
Oni Armaments
are supernatural weapons summoned through the Oni Gauntlet, and using one drains the Oni Power gauge. Discovering an armament makes its skill node purchasable with Oni Stones, and you can swap between equipped armaments mid-fight at no extra cost.
Equipment proficiency
runs three separate tracks, each with five Proficiency Levels and its own materials: sword levels raise attack power, clothing levels raise health and stamina, and gauntlet levels raise Oni Power and soul absorption. Enhancement first becomes available at a Spirit Mirror after the quest "The Oni's Apprentice".
Oni Awakening
Oni Awakening unlocks during the story mission "The Demon on the Mount", once you beat the first two phases of the Shuten Doji fight, and it stays available from the final phase onward.
Fill the Awakening Gauge with purple souls.
Activate it with L3 and R3 together — on PC the buttons depend on your bindings.
While awakened, Musashi takes no health or stamina damage from hits, though incoming blows drain the gauge, the gauge constantly drains over time, and the Issen window becomes more forgiving.
Oni Armaments cannot be used in the awakened state.
When the gauge runs low, the finisher Oni Onslaught consumes the remaining gauge, deals heavy damage and ends the transformation.
Purple souls are easiest to farm with armaments such as Still Water, or from purple Break Issen rewards. Avoid firing the finisher the instant you transform — land Issen first and save the Oni Onslaught for when the meter is nearly empty.
New Game+
Purchased skills and the awakened Oni abilities carry over, but completed equipment enhancement does not. Charms, Hozuki Pouches, Genma Notes, Lion Dogs, outfits and collectibles also carry over, while red souls, most materials and the Spirit Mirror unlocks reset.