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Benkei is a boss in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, fought twice: first at Gojo-ohashi Bridge in Eastern Kyoto during the mission Bloodbath on the Bridge, and again, fully armed, at Rendaino in The Clash at Rendaino. He is one of the game's armoured opponents, and the fight is built around stripping that armour before any damage can be dealt at all.
Confirmation
Benkei is named directly in two of the game's achievements, Benkei: Out, but Not Down and Baited by Benkei. Both are description-hidden on Steam; player guides reproduce their in-game descriptions as Defeat Benkei and Defeat Benkei at Rendaino, which ties the second fight to Rendaino rather than to the bridge. Capcom's pre-release character material did not include him, which places him among the opponents held back for players to find.
Genma Note and Story Role
Benkei's Genma Note, as reproduced in player guides, describes a warrior monk famed for his superhuman strength who was once Yoshitsune's most trusted retainer and has been brought back by Dokyo as a mindless Genma. The same note warns that he cannot be hurt at all until his armour is shattered. Community documentation identifies Yoshitsune as the Man in White, the game's final boss.
The note is found in a chest revealed with Oni Power on the bridge, immediately after the first fight.
The First Fight
Benkei opens the encounter encased in heavy armour that takes no damage whatsoever. Ordinary attacks fail against it, and some accounts say Issen and Break Issen do as well. The armour has to be broken open first using the arm-awakening strike, the same Oni Strength application used to break enemy guards elsewhere, which takes roughly five connected hits.
Player guides to the shipped game describe the armour differently. In their account the only ways to damage Benkei are Issen, Break Issen, and the follow-up attack prompted after a well-timed Reflex Dodge, and the armour comes off through the Break Issen itself: once his stamina is drained, the targeting step shows six points on his body, the first strike on any point destroys the armour there, and later strikes on the same point deal more damage.
Once the armour is off, the fight becomes a conventional stamina-drain encounter. Draining a full health bar, or letting one of his unblockable attacks land, pushes him into a soul-empowered state in which his polearm is upgraded and he wields two at once, chaining unblockable attacks back to back.
The Second Fight
The rematch keeps the armour opening and adds two ranged threats:
Attack | How to Answer It |
|---|---|
Thrown war hammer | Two separate dodge windows, one for the landing and one for the lightning that follows it |
Cannon | Can be destroyed with the Oni Bow before it fires |
Paired polearm unblockables | Dodge or deflect; they cannot be parried |
The bow line is the notable one. This is one of the encounters where the Oni Bow is not an optional convenience but the cleanest answer to a specific threat, which makes it a useful checkpoint for whether a player has been investing in ranged options at all.
Player guides place this second fight at Rendaino. It begins as soon as the mission The Clash at Rendaino is accepted; guides differ on whether its opening phase repeats the bridge fight or already uses attacks held back for the second phase there. The Boss Rematch menu lists it separately as Benkei (Fully Armed).
Placement
Benkei's first fight sits in the middle stretch of the campaign, in the same bracket as Burai and Dohatsu-ten, and his second appearance opens The Clash at Rendaino near the end of the story. He also appears in the Genma Notes catalogue, and can be challenged again afterwards at the practice ground.
He is the last opponent standing between the player and the endgame sequence: the castle boss rush begins immediately after his rematch.