| Term | Official summary |
|---|---|
| Onimusha | A warrior who has acquired the power of the Oni and can stand against the Genma. |
| Oni Gauntlet | Mystical artifact on Musashi's arm that absorbs souls and grants power beyond human limits. A voice speaks from it. |
| Genma | Monstrosities from the underworld brought into Edo-period Kyoto by Malice. |
| Malice | Malevolent clouds twisting early Edo-period Kyoto and enabling Genma to walk the living world. |
| Issen | Classic Onimusha critical counter: attack the instant before an enemy hit lands. |
| Souls (yellow / blue / red) | Yellow restores health, blue fills Oni Power for Armaments, red is spent on enhancements. |
| Spirit Mirror | In-game menu used to change appearances and claim charms; unlocks as the game progresses. |
| Charm | Equippable item that grants a beneficial effect to Musashi. Changed on the Equipment screen. |
| Oni Armament | Special Oni-forged weapons summoned by spending Oni Power from blue souls. |
| Dark Mass | Resentment given form; absorbing it shows a vision of the past. |
| Swordplay Action | Official Capcom genre line for this 2026 title. |
| Kubi Akari | Demo save-data charm for the full game, and also the name of a floating Genma that eats souls. |
Onimusha
- Official summary
- A warrior who has acquired the power of the Oni and can stand against the Genma.
Oni Gauntlet
- Official summary
- Mystical artifact on Musashi's arm that absorbs souls and grants power beyond human limits. A voice speaks from it.
Genma
- Official summary
- Monstrosities from the underworld brought into Edo-period Kyoto by Malice.
Malice
- Official summary
- Malevolent clouds twisting early Edo-period Kyoto and enabling Genma to walk the living world.
Issen
- Official summary
- Classic Onimusha critical counter: attack the instant before an enemy hit lands.
Souls (yellow / blue / red)
- Official summary
- Yellow restores health, blue fills Oni Power for Armaments, red is spent on enhancements.
Spirit Mirror
- Official summary
- In-game menu used to change appearances and claim charms; unlocks as the game progresses.
Charm
- Official summary
- Equippable item that grants a beneficial effect to Musashi. Changed on the Equipment screen.
Oni Armament
- Official summary
- Special Oni-forged weapons summoned by spending Oni Power from blue souls.
Dark Mass
- Official summary
- Resentment given form; absorbing it shows a vision of the past.
Swordplay Action
- Official summary
- Official Capcom genre line for this 2026 title.
Kubi Akari
- Official summary
- Demo save-data charm for the full game, and also the name of a floating Genma that eats souls.
Gauntlet, Genma, Malice
An Onimusha is a warrior who has acquired the power of the Oni and can stand against the Genma. Genma are monstrosities from the underworld brought into Edo-period Kyoto by Malice. Malice is the malevolent cloud twisting that city and enabling Genma to walk the living world.
The Oni Gauntlet drinks yellow, blue, and red souls. Yellow restores health, blue fills Oni Power for Armaments, red is spent on enhancements. Official copy does not publish a conversion rate between colors.
Steam’s about text and Capcom’s glossary-facing pages are the sources. Community nicknames that do not appear there stay off this list.
Dark Mass is resentment given form; absorbing it shows a vision of the past. Oni Armaments are special Oni-forged weapons summoned by spending Oni Power from blue souls. Those two terms sit next to Issen in searches even though one is a story object and the other is a combat spend.
Swordplay Action versus a Steam tag
When another site calls the game a soulslike, that is the user-tag reading. This glossary repeats Capcom’s Swordplay Action line because that is the first-party phrase the rest of the wiki is built on.
Charms grant a beneficial effect and are changed on the Equipment screen. Until Capcom publishes a charm table with numbers, names such as Lion Dog and Kubi Akari stay as names, not as parsed stat blocks.
Issen stays the late-button counter; Spirit Mirror stays the menu that later unlocks appearance swaps. Neither term is a difficulty slider in any captured sentence.
Steam’s store taxonomy still lists Action, Adventure, and RPG beside that Capcom line. Those store shelves are not a reason to drop Swordplay Action from headings or from this glossary.
If you need Issen as a system rather than a dictionary row, the Swordplay page quotes the full Action-page paragraphs. This heading only exists to keep the genre label from collapsing into a user tag.
Kubi Akari, twice
Kubi Akari is a floating Genma with pale-bluish skin that eats the souls Musashi needs, puffs up, and fires energy blasts. It is also the charm claimed from a demo save via Spirit Mirror. Using the word without the sense will collide those two facts.
The Genma entry lives on Cast as well, under the genma filter. The charm instruction lives on Demo. This terms page is the disambiguation, not a third copy of either full article.
Official Japanese for the 2026 title is 鬼武者 Way of the Sword. That string is locked for Japanese pages; English keeps Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Neither reading should be rewritten as a fan transliteration such as a homemade “Way of the Blade.”
If you only remember one glossary collision, remember this one. Search results that mix the charm and the Genma are why the term has its own heading instead of living only inside the table.