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Kowakujō
Black Ops 7 — Guide

KOWAKUJŌ

Black Ops 7
Guide by Evyn
Step 01
Wonder Weapon — NekoMancer
Collect all parts from around the map:
  • Bell (3 spawns) — Staging Area hanging off a wooden beam / Training Area hanging above the wallbuy on the right / Stables at the entrance of the buried house
  • Karakuri (3 spawns) — Storage Room near crates / Workshop next to a wicker basket / near the wooden boxes opposite PhD Flopper
  • Maneki-Neko (2+ spawns) — Kitchen on top of a barrel / Gatehouse on top of a barrel (more spawns TBD)
At the Tenshu Eaves, find the cat trapped in a hanging cage opposite Mule Kick. Knock it down using PhD Flopper — either wall jumping with the Stuntman augment or by flopping underneath. Pick up the cage and take the cat to any Lava Pool.
Get a kill on one of the marked spots to reveal paw prints: Flower Garden near the stairs, Stables, Kitchens, or Training Area. Follow the paw prints and keep getting kills to spawn the next set. Eventually the paw prints will form a circle — throw the Maneki Neko into the middle to spawn an Abomination.
Tip
The lava in the area must be flowing to spawn the Abomination. If your lava is solid, use lethals to break the rocks and get the lava flowing again.
Kill the Abomination — the cat will run away. Progress one round and the cat will respawn in one of the rooms with creaky floorboards: Training Area, Kitchens by the Mystery Box, or Kitchen by Double Tap.
Sneak up on the cat and interact with it to pick it up. Stepping on a creaky floorboard scares the cat, causing it to run out of the map — you will need to wait another round. Death Perception shows which floorboards creak but is not required.
Take the cat to the seed near PAP and interact with it to start a pulsing attack. Avoid the pulses and melee the seed until the cat transforms into the NekoMancer. Interact to equip it. Can be PaP'd up to 3 times (4 in Cursed T3).
After picking up the NekoMancer, there are 11 lanterns around the map to hit within a time limit using the weapon's melee or shoot attack — each lantern will glow purple when hit. After all 11 are lit, go upstairs in the War Room and interact with the ghost on the ground for a mid-game cutscene.
Evidence 1
Motive
Key Item — Fox Mask
Take the glider from the roof and lean right near the tree. Interact mid-air to collect the Fox Mask. Then take it to the Storage Room and hang it on the wall — a lockdown triggers. Play Simon Says by shooting zombies wearing masks in the order they light up on the wall.
Find the Fox Mask under the stairs in the Workshop inside the bookshelf (pipe). Shoot it — the mask will fly to the Collapsed Study above the support beam (Takeo's case — the Comb).
It will then fly near Elemental Pop in the Onsen Baths through the zombie spawn (collect the Comb evidence).
The mask will then fly into the seed. Interact with the evidence shelf in the Meditation Room and place all of the evidence to reveal the 1st painting.
Evidence 2
Accomplice
Key Item — Coin Purse
A coin spawns at a Mystery Box location — check both sides of the box. Throw a Maneki Neko at the location while the box is present, then spin the box. The Coin Purse will appear on the box. Pick it up and go to spawn, where it floats near the rampage inducer — interact to trigger a cutscene.
Grab a bucket (Stables near Death Perception / Tea Garden in the Ornament Room / Onsen Baths Top Floor) and take it to a pool of water (Onsen Baths or Tea Garden). Interact with the pool to fill the bucket — you have three charges of water. Getting hit, running, or jumping will spill the water.
In the Gardens, water all three plants by interacting with them. A Gardener Zombie will spawn alongside a Golden Flower. Shoot the Nekomancer on the flower to make the Gardener vulnerable, then kill him to drop the Shears.
Go to the Kitchen and knock down one of the red fruit. Leave the area and return — a zombie will be eating it. Approach slowly and he will follow you with the fruit in his mouth. Walk him to the Staging Area and kill him in front of the window barrier.
A Merchant Zombie will spawn. Kill him to drop the Sales Note and Mercantile's Abacus evidence.
In the Training Area, throw a decoy at each Wooden Window above the blown-up wall. The Noble Zombie will throw grenades down — pick them up and throw them back at the window to kill him. He drops a Note and the Noble's Hat.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 2nd painting.
Evidence 3
Poison
Under the bridge in the Flower Garden, pick up a plant. Collect the pouch from the rafters in the Training Area (shoot it down with a charged NekoMancer shot or any explosive).
Stand near a fissure for around 30 seconds with the Pouch equipped to collect Volcanic Ash — the ash fills automatically while you stand outside near an active fissure. Then plant the seeds and ash in the pot near the exfil machine in the Tenshu Entrance.
Defend the pot while the Flower Power tornado effect from a nearby cherry blossom tree is active (melee a tree three times to activate it).
In the Kitchens, melee the green vegetable off the wall and jump on it to collect plum seeds.
In the Storage Rooms, find the 3x3 scroll grid. Interact with it and a Maneki-Neko will spawn as a timer. Shooting or meleeing a cell pushes it in and toggles adjacent cells — use the solver below to find which cells to target based on your starting state. The Pestle and a Note will drop from the center once all scrolls are in.
Take the Pestle to the bowl on the stone slab in the center of the Kitchens. Fill the soul box by getting kills with toxic damage (Brain Rot or charged Nekomancer kills). A cutscene plays, then pick up the Pufferfish from the corner of the room.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 3rd painting.
Evidence 4
Location
After completing Evidence 3, the 3rd painting appears on the evidence wall along with a Ceramic Shard. Take this and the Shard from the War Room to the Tea Garden Kintsugi Station and craft the Sake Cup.
Progress a round — the Sake Cup will start glowing blue. Interact with it to play a short cutscene.
Take the Sake Cup to the War Room and place it in the back left corner. Survive the defense wave to obtain the Horse Statuette.
Take the Sake Cup to the Study Room and place it to the left of the Wunderfizz machine. Survive the defense wave to obtain the Calligraphy Brush.
Return the Sake Cup to the Tea Garden Kintsugi Station for the final defense wave. Grab the Tea Whisk once complete.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 4th painting.
Evidence 5
Suspect
While unlocking PAP you will need to kill an Oni. Killing him drops the Shogun's Hanko — place it on the shelf in the Meditation Room.
In the Stables, wait for the lava to harden. The Netsuke of Brothers Statue will be sitting in the center — use an explosive tactical on it to loosen it, then pick it up. It is very small so look carefully.
After completing Evidence 4, a clock will be revealed in a pile of rubble in the Storage Room (after the 4th image appears in the Evidence Room). Interact with it to display a combination of 4 numbers — note these down in exact order.
Search for blue glowing Chinese numerals on walls around the map — the locations change each round, but the four possible spawn locations are Spawn, Stables, Flower Garden, and Central Courtyard. Note which numeral appears at which location, as this determines where you place your flags later.
  • 一1
  • 二2
  • 三3
  • 四4
End the round to trigger a defense round. Zombies will be glowing red and carrying flags — kill them all. Once the round ends, all flags will be placed in the Staging Area.
Place up to 2 flags beneath each blue glowing number so that their values add up to the corresponding number from your clock. The order of placement must match the order your clock showed — for example, if your clock showed 6, 3, 5, 2, place flags summing to 6 beneath the first glowing number, 3 beneath the second, and so on.
Once all flags are correctly placed, return to the clock and interact with it to open it. Pick up the Crest Medallion inside.
Step 07
Solving the Murder Case
Return to the Meditation Room and place your Evidence Items in front of the paintings. Use the solver below to determine what goes where.
Once solved, a bright orange orb will float to the World Seed — you can now purify the sword. If you fail, skip a round and retry.
After the orb reaches the World Seed, interact with the incense in the Meditation Room to complete this step.
Step 08
Boss Fight
After purifying the sword you will be teleported to a Mini-Boss Arena. Kill the mini-boss to be teleported back to the World Seed Room where a cutscene with the Dragon will play.
A Fast Travel Flag spawns in the World Seed Room — use it to travel to the Boss Arena.
The Path of Sorrows ultra rarity Katana sword will be stuck in the floor inside the World Seed Room after completion.
Note
The Path of Sorrows will only appear if you solved the Murder Case correctly on the first attempt. If you failed and retried, the sword will not spawn.
Reference
Key Items
Fox Mask — Take the glider from the roof and lean right near the tree. Interact mid-air to collect it. Then take it to the Storage Room and hang it on the wall. A lockdown triggers — play Simon Says by shooting zombies wearing masks in the order they light up on the wall. Collect all three evidence pieces for the mask afterwards (see Evidence 1).
Ceramic Shard — On the floor to the left of the door in the War Room. Can be placed on the Kintsugi Station in the Tea Garden.
Pouch — In the rafters in the Training Area (shoot down with a charged WW shot or explosive).
Volcanic Ash — Collected by standing outside near a fissure for 30 seconds while holding the Pouch.
Pestle — Obtained from completing the 3x3 scroll puzzle in the Storage Rooms (see Evidence 3).
Coin Purse — A coin spawns at a Mystery Box location. Check both sides of the box for it. Throw a Maneki Neko at the location while the box is present, then spin the box — the Coin Purse appears on the box. Pick it up, then go to spawn where it will float next to the rampage inducer. Interact with it to trigger an evidence cutscene.
Side Easter Egg
Takeo Flashback
Requirements
Must be playing as Takeo. Can only be attempted once per game. Dying or falling off the path inside the egg ends it immediately. Recommend doing this as early as possible — round 1 is viable.
Go to the War Room and find the two katanas on the ground.
Throw a Psyche Grenade on the ground, affecting yourself, then look around for a ghostly Takeo holding a katana. Walk up to him and he will drop the katana.
Rewards: Score Streaks, Intel next to the PAP machine, and a higher rarity katana melee weapon.
Side Easter Egg — Repeatable
WaW Parkour
Near the Melee Macchiato machine, wait for a rock to spawn in the lava. Jump on it and ride it over to the broken house, then jump onto the house.
Walk to the northern edge — this will spawn an obstacle course similar to a free run. Complete it within the time limit.
Rewards: a Ray Gun and a calling card. This can be repeated each time a rock spawns (roughly every 15 minutes).
Side Easter Egg
Neko-Cafe
Note
Mice spawn immediately at the start of the game. A new cat spawns every 1–3 rounds. 8 cat spawn locations exist but only 5 will appear per game.
Collect 5 mice and scare 5 cats. Each mouse and cat location are close in proximity to each other within each area. Possible spawn locations:
  • Gatehouse — near/in the barrier across from the wallbuy
  • Flower Garden — near/in the barrier between the GobbleGum machine and Mystery Box
  • Kitchens — near/in the barrier next to the pots
  • Stables — near/in the rafters across from the wallbuy
  • Training Area — near/in the rafters by the crafting table
  • Tenshu Entrance — near/in the fence close to the exfil station
  • Onsen Baths — near/in the rafters near the wallbuy
  • Central Courtyard — near Juggernog
Successfully scaring a cat causes it to sit on top of the building inside the Tea Garden. The mice collect onto the shelf next to the bucket in the same building.
Side Easter Egg
Mecha-Klaus
Inside the lava pools, shoot the floating rocks to break them — they drop salvage and occasionally Klaus Parts (two arms, then two legs).
After collecting the second leg, a body spawns in the Flower Garden near Wisp Tea. Interact with it to spawn a Klaus Core, then kill it.
With his body on the ground, interact with it to enter a kaiju fight between a Zursa and an Abomination. Kill both enemies.
Rewards: the Mecha Mayhem Dark Ops calling card. You can interact with Klaus again afterwards to rebuy a Rhino Scorestreak.
Side Easter Egg
Gacha Machine
Activate the Flower Power tornado effect by meleeing a Sakura cherry blossom tree three times, then move into an area with an active Fissure while the overheal effect is active. The Gacha Machine will appear.
Melee the machine — orbs will spawn on the ground. Jump through all the orbs to permanently place the machine in that area.
Spin the machine for 500 Salvage to receive a weapon charm with special abilities. The Pufferfish charm drops random fruit on the ground that you can eat to overheal health.
Known spawn location: the Kitchen. Additional spawns may exist.
Side Easter Egg
Horse Race
Collect four carrots from around the map:
  1. Outer Ward — near Quick Revive
  2. Flower Garden — near the Exfil Machine
  3. Kitchens — near the Green Plum, under the cabbages
  4. Workshop — down the stairs from the crafting table, in a bucket
Make sure the full map is unlocked, then interact with the bucket in the Stables that has a paper horse flying above it (near the Mystery Box location).
Complete the course within the time limit to receive a Paper Horse Companion along with standard course rewards.
Side Easter Egg — Repeatable
Upgraded Trap
Craft a Combat Bow and head to the Tenshu Entrance Trap.
Look through the trap towards the tree and shoot the blue target with the bow. Continue shooting all targets through each phase — after the first target you will be put into Aether Shroud.
This can be repeated 4 times, earning various ammo mod rewards each run.
Side Easter Egg
Upgrade Maneki Neko
Note
Requires completing the first Upgraded Trap step first. Any player with a Maneki Neko in their inventory automatically receives the upgraded version when crafted — they do not need to re-interact with the table.
After completing the first trap upgrade, collect white powder near the tree at the Tenshu Entrance.
In the Kitchens, pick up Matches from a bookshelf of barrels.
Pick up the coal from the stove in the Kitchens.
Take all three items to the Maneki Neko crafting table and hold interact to craft the Upgraded Maneki Neko tactical.
Side Easter Egg
Free Power-Ups
Hidden around the map are 9 power-up icons — shoot each to collect it. Fire Sale and Perk only spawn after the others are found.
  • Bonus Points — Kitchens, above the wallbuy
  • Double Points — Collapsed Study, on a tree
  • Nuke — Training Area, in the lava against the wall
  • Full Power — Flower Garden, in one of the sunken houses
  • Max Armor — Workshop, next to a chest
  • Insta-Kill — Storage Rooms, next to the GobbleGum machine
  • Max Ammo — Training Area, near a lantern on the ground
  • Fire Sale — Onsen Baths, in the puddle. Only spawns after the first 7 are collected
  • Perk — Kitchens, near the pufferfish spawn. Only spawns after all other power-ups are collected
Music Easter Egg
Music
First headset — Kitchens, inside a barrel.
Second headset — Stables, behind some rubble.
Third headset — Onsen Baths, on a shelf near the puddle.
After interacting with all three, the song "Evencry" by Kevin Sherwood will begin playing.
Coming Soon
Relics
This guide is being written. Check back soon.
Intel
Audio Logs
Takeo's Resolve — Main quest progression. Spawns after the cutscene following the Lantern Step, in the War Room.
Takeo's Devotion — Main quest progression. Spawns after completing the Sake Cup Soul Box in the Kitchens.
Takeshi's Dread — Main quest progression. Spawns after placing the Coin Purse at Spawn.
Takeshi's Perception — Main quest progression. Spawns after repairing the Sake Cup in the Tea Garden.
Mitsuhime's Trepidation — Main quest progression. Spawns after placing the 4th evidence in the Storage Room near the clock.
Mitsuhime's Reverence — Main quest progression. Spawns after the Mask Simon Says — on the shelf to the left of the masks in the Storage Rooms.
Katanas Out — Side quest progression.
Two Brothers — Challenge: A bridge too far. On a post of the bridge in the Outer Ward, near the ammo box and trap.
Paydirt — Challenge: Between a Rock and a Hot Place. In the Flower Garden, behind the big rock between the exfil booth and the Wisp Tea machine.
Subverting Control — Challenge: Training Montage. In the Training Area, on a box in the corner.
Extra Crispy — Challenge: Pie in the Sky. In the Collapsed Study, behind the armor buy — interact with the pizza.
What About the Cat — Challenge: Ready to Scroll. In the Storage Rooms, on a table next to a lantern. Requires getting Extra Crispy first.
Intel
Documents
Psspsspss — Challenge: Barrel of Laughs. In the Kitchens near Double Tap — interact with a barrel and it will drop. The barrel is random each time.
Hair Raising — Challenge: Raising the Roof. In the Shogun's Sanctum / Tenshu Rooftops — melee the scrolls on the shelf.
Intel
Artifacts
Ninja Kite — Main quest progression. Glide for the first time.
Maneki-Neko — Main quest progression. Build the Maneki Neko tactical.
Nekomancer — Main quest progression. Build the Wonder Weapon.
Kitsune Mask — Main quest progression. Grab the Fox Mask Key Item.
Lantern Clock — Main quest progression. Interact with the Clock.
Path of Sorrows — Main quest progression. Spawns after the boss fight if you solved the murder mystery on the first attempt.