Onma Tadakatsu, the four companions, and the five sakura petals. *Spoilers*
So something that is mentioned but not greatly focused on is Onma Tadakatsu and his companions. We know they all fought together against the Mononoke and managed to defeat it, but we don't really know who they are or what their back stories.
Something that is also confusing is the signifigance of needing the five sakura petals to get the true ending S or why they are given by the people that do.
However, if you managed to collect all the weapons in the game, you realize that they play a larger role in giving us detail about who they were and their stories.
Each of the weapons type when collected tells of five different people, one who used knives, one who used spears, one who used bow, one who used chains, and one who used swords
- The story of the knife is that long ago, a carefree spirit lived in the forest until she met a man who would cut wood. The spirit grew anamored by the man and followed him to serve as his Onibwaban. She fought in the great Mononoke War and contracted a disease and left to die in the forest alone.
- The story of the spears is about a boy after losing his parents is living with his sister and has to work washing laundry. His sister is attacked by a samurai who wants to violate her and the boy uses his clothline pole to defend her. Years later, the boy becomes a thief who uses his stolen money to buy sake to lure in his target and get them drunk before attacking them. One of these would end up being his lord, who he makes a pact with and fights in the mononoke war before retiring as an old man.
- The story of the bow is about a fox spirit who becomes attacted to a man who is a master of archery like her self. She ends up pursuing him, learning enchanting arts to seduce him and eventually getting pregnant with twins. She trains them to use the bow like her, but one of the children dies. She becomes distraught, and eventually after the Mononoke War, chose to forget.
- The story of the chain is about a woman who learning to use the chain weapons to take revenge on a man who hurt her friend. We find out she is a courtesan and that after fighting in the Mononoke war, she returned to making a living as a courtsan.
- The story of the sword is about a man who spent his days chopping wood with his sword. However, he was told his size and strength were wasting doing this and instead he should be a samurai. Thus, the man set on a journey were he fought many beast and creatures before becoming a lord himself.
It's clear from context that these are all the stories of Onma and his companions about how each came to be. The text mention that they all fought in the Great Mononoke War, mentioned characters we know we in the war, and each of the sakura petals gathered directly mentioned to these stories.
So who is who in these stories? With the story of the swordsman, it clear that this is Onma Tadakatsu. We know from the game that he was a peasant who arose to become a samurai lord. The story told by the Sword section would match this, as well as one of the end game sword be named after him.
The one for the spear is also clearly Gozane, the man who we meet in Chapter one for shows us how to use unlock keys. He is said to be a legendary thief, which the stories tells of. Mentions a granddaughter, who we talk to and meet in Smiting the Ungrateful. As well as the end game spear having his name in it.
The one for the chain I believe is actually Okuru, the owner of the Wall Teahouse. The reason I believe this is the story of the chain is about a woman who is a courtesan, which Okuru is. The story also talks about how the courtesan is focus on making money, which Okuru matches with her attepts at creating a rival prositution buisness. Finally, one of the chain weapon we find is located at the Wall Teahouse, which would be explained if Okuru was proficint in that weapon.
The one for the bow is actually Kokotsuzumi's daughter. The story talks about a fox woman who uses a bow and had twins. We know that the fox woman in the story chose to forget her husband and also one of the daughters. These all describe Kokotsuzumi, being the only fox woman we meet and her proficientcy at memory manipulation. We also know from dialogue that Hachishaku is her daughter, thus Kokotzuzumi is a mother. But how do we know Kokotzuzumi had another daughter. Beside hints by Kokotsuzumi trying to forget a painful memory from the war, especially we talking about Hachishaku, we know from the developer's confession that there is another daughter who is left unnamed but is said to appear near Kokotsuzumi. But the only being near her is the monster we face in Chapter 3. I believe that this is implying that the monster we fight is actually Kokotsuzumi's daughter who got transformed into a monster just like Haruhime's daughter got transfored into the river monster. This explains why Kokotsuzumi is so adamant on forgetting eveything about the war. Thus, I believe that while the story talks about Kokotsuzumi and her life, the actual companion was her daughter, not Kpkptsuzumi herself.
The one for the knife is probably the only one that we never meet. Other than serving as Onma Tadakatsu's oniwaban and being in love of him, that's all we know about her. However, one can make an argumet that there is a loose hidden connection between her and the Onanist Yamanota. Both are filled with lust and desire, and also have a interest in cooking. It's possible that by proxy, she is meant to be a representation of the character.
When we take in these stories, we understand why the Sakura Petals are important and why we need collect them. They represent the oath that Onma and the companions shared during the war. Because we collect them, they are shown to Onma and remind him of the wish he shared with them and why he is willing to let us go in the end.
Why we get the Sakura Petals from the character is becuase they are or somehow relate to the companions, which is also why they show up in the end by giving Suzune weapons for the finale.
- Onanist gives us the Sakura dagger
- Gozane's Granddaughter gives us the Sakura Spear
- Kokotsuzumi's daughter, Hachishaku, gives us the Sakura Bow
- Okuru gives us the Sakura Chain
- Gaining the sword from Onma
If there is anything I missed or you have a better or right anwser, feel free to say.
Sorry for the mess of text.
