{"id":18580,"date":"2026-07-23T22:05:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18580"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:05:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:05:48","slug":"how-capcom-decided-on-miyamoto-musashi-for-its-onimusha-way-of-the-sword-protagonist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18580","title":{"rendered":"How Capcom Decided On Miyamoto Musashi For Its Onimusha: Way Of The Sword Protagonist"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Onimusha: Way of the Sword<\/a> is the latest game to\u00a0grace the cover of\u00a0Game Informer<\/em><\/a>, and after playing it for a few hours, experiencing never-before-seen parts of it, it\u2019s one of the more titillating releases on the horizon for me. It helps that it\u2019s the first Onimusha game in 20 years, reviving a franchise that many others and I considered abandoned by publisher-developer Capcom. It also features one of Japan\u2019s most celebrated samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, as the protagonist \u2013 a bold but exciting decision in a series with some beloved leads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While using Musashi, a legendary samurai in Japanese history, seems like an obvious choice for an Onimusha game, Capcom chose the historical figure because of his life (and the stories about it) and how it could connect to Way of the Sword mechanically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"How<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn terms of picking Musashi for the story, obviously we wanted to have a samurai as the lead, and when we were thinking about famous samurai and the masters of the sword, Musashi\u2019s name came up,\u201d director Satoru Nihei tells me. \u201cBut looking more into his background and the elements of his real history, where he would use any means necessary to claim victory or use the environment around him, these are things we thought would feed in very nicely to the gameplay to introduce new elements into it. And then also, Musashi is a hero that wants to rise to the top on his own strengths, so him being paired with the gauntlet, this power that he doesn\u2019t want, we thought it would provide an interesting contrast to the previous heroes we\u2019ve had in our Onimusha series.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he isn\u2019t using his famous dual-sword stance in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, as he\u2019s portrayed in his 20s here and hadn\u2019t yet developed that combat style, Musashi\u2019s real-life stories are already evident in their inspiration for Capcom\u2019s action game. Speaking to environmental \u201chelp,\u201d we\u2019ll call it, Musashi has no problem picking up a pallet of wood, for example, to use it as a shield for incoming arrows. And of course he\u2019s going to kick it toward surrounding Genma to gain an upper hand \u2013 there\u2019s no honor when fighting a demon, right? He can also kick large wagons into a cohort of enemies for a surprisingly damaging entrance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are explosive barrels I utilized when fighting Genma in Dokyo\u2019s underground lab in Kyoto, and though all of this was just a taste of using what\u2019s around me in combat, I can already imagine the other boons in each stage I\u2019ll use to defeat enemies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"How<\/p>\n

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Dokyo<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

When I ask Nihei how Musashi compares to other heroes of the Onimusha series, it\u2019s his reticence to use the Oni Gauntlet. Onimusha: Warlords\u2019 Samanosuke uses his gauntlet to rescue a princess; Onimusha 2: Samurai\u2019s Destiny\u2019s Jubei uses his newfound demon powers to stop Nobunaga (again) and get the girl; Musashi just wants to get the dang thing off his wrist. It\u2019s why he kills demons using it \u2013 he suspects the only way forward is through (hordes of Genma). Ultimately, using the gauntlet gets in the way of his quest to be the best swordsman in Japan, with Nihei likening it to an athlete using steroids and performance-enhancing drugs \u2013 Musashi wants to prove he\u2019s the best on his own merits alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Musashi is based on deceased Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune\u2019s likeness; Mifune famously portrayed the samurai in director Horishi Inagaki\u2019s 1950s Samurai Trilogy, which consists of Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto<\/em> (1954), Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple<\/em> (1955), and Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island <\/em>(1956). That tracks with the aforementioned Samanosuke and Jubei, with the former played by Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro and the latter modeled after late actor Y\u016bsaku Matsuda.<\/p>\n

All this said, I\u2019ll be diving deeper into Capcom\u2019s iteration of Musashi, including how it went about using Mifune\u2019s likeness, in upcoming stories. We\u2019ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (as well as a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the\u00a0Game Informer<\/em>\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a> too, so keep the\u00a0Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub<\/a> bookmarked to ensure you don\u2019t miss any of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n