Assassin's Creed Shadows: All Kuji-Kiri locations in Izumi Settsu
How to find all of the meditation spots at the start of AC Shadows
What is Kuji-kiri and how do you unlock and find spots for this activity in Assassin's Creed Shadows? Kuji-kiri is an activity found in Assassin's Creed Shadows that Naoe can do. It involves finding a quiet spot to sit down and meditate, and is an important part of the individual questline called "Naoe's Journey," which spans a good portion of the campaign. This questline plays a significant role in the campaign, alongside your quest to hunt down the Shinbakufu, and engaging in Kuji-kiri is great for learning Naoe's backstory and life in Iga up to when you first see her at the start of the game.
You can't just sit and meditate anywhere though. You instead have to look out for locations that will also display an orange icon illustrating a meditating figure. This icon also doesn't appear until you're near a meditation spot, though if you see question mark icons on the world map, it's quite possible that they might be Kuji-kiri locations. This guide will explain where you can find the four Kuji-kiri spots in the starting region of Izumi Setts, as well as what the Kuji-kiri minigame entails.
Assassin's Creed Shadows: Kuji-kiri locations in Izumi Settsu
These are all of the Kuji-kiri locations in Izumi Settsu:
- Eboshigata Hachiman Shrine, Kawachi Heights
- Hideout, Lost Hills
- Rolling Glen, Katano Foothills
- Nakayama Peak
Eboshigata Hachiman Shrine, Kawachi Heights
This is the first Kuji-kiri you're likely to find as the shrine is en route from Makinoodera Temple, where you leave once you're fully recovered following the events of the prologue. As you'll be on the story quest to find Tomiko, you'll be heading northwards, and along that path you will discover Eboshigata Hachiman Shrine on your left. As you past the torii gate and head up the steps, the orange Kuji-Kiri icon should also appear, so head to that spot and sit down to begin your meditation.
Hideout, Lost Hills
As soon as you've unlocked the hideout after reuniting with Tomiko, if you have a wander around, you'll discover there's actually a Kuji-kiri spot there. Just head to the very east side of the map and you'll find it on a small spot of land in a pond surrounded by waterfalls and a cherry tree. Very zen!
Rolling Glen, Katano Foothills
If you're coming from the Hideout, you ought to come across this one as you travel southwest and come to the sub-region Katano Foothills. Keep following this path and you will reach a place called Rolling Glen where you will find a Kuji-kiri spot in front of a Torii gate, and where you can also see Osaka castle in the far distance.
Nakayama Peak
The fourth one is a little out of the way from the others as you actually have to cross a river to get to it, though this still counts as Izumi Settsu. It also doesn't have a specific location name but is technically in the sub-region of Nakayama Peak, though much closer to bordering with Amagasaki - in fact, there is a Kakurega safehouse you can unlock very nearby. If you go west from either Amagasaki Castle or the Amagasaki Kakurega, stick to the coast and you'll find the Kuji-kiri spot just as you leave Amagasaki over a small bridge. The meditation spot is under a tree and overlooking the sea.
Assassin's Creed Shadows: How the Kuji-kiri activity works
When you find a Kuji-Kiri spot, interact with it as Naoe and she kneel at that spot and get into a position to meditate. This takes the form of a rhythm minigame where button icons will appear in a diamond formation on screen (this can either be directional inputs, face buttons or a combination of both).
A ring will appear around an icon and you have to wait until it has shrunk around the icon before pressing the corresponding button. These rings appear in a clockwise direction, but will start to fade the more zen you get. You'll need to stay in sync to the rhythm and keep pressing at the right time until you start seeing kanji characters appear where the button icons once were. The visuals on screen will also start turning monochrome, resembling a Japanese ink painting.
Unfortunately, if you get the timing wrong, the meditation resets, displaying all the button icons again and forcing you to complete the mini-game from the beginning. To make this easier, be aware that your press counts as long as you do so when the ring is on the faint but thick circle around the button image. It's therefore better for your timing to be early than late.
For Naoe's first four Kuji-Kiri sessions, completing the minigame will flashback to her story before the events in the prologue, and you'll be thrown into a substantial playable mission. As the flashbacks occur in chronological order, leading up to the moment you first see her from the start of the game, it shouldn't matter what order you find these Kuji-Kiri spots. Completing Kuji-kiri will also earn you 500 XP and 1 Knowledge point, which you need to unlock Naoe and Yasuke's Mastery skill tree tiers.
That's it for the Kuji-kiri locations in Izumi Settsu, which should also then allow you to advance the next part of "Naoe's Journey." For more on Assassin's Creed Shadows, check out our guides on how to change characters and whether Naoe or Yasuke is the better choice for you.