At the behest of the monk Ujimasa in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Yasuke and Naoe are tasked with taking down the Twisted Tree, a vicious family of nobles in Kyoto intent on dominating the old capital by any means necessary.
But while these eminent samurai are well-known members of the upper crust, many of them have slipped into hiding through one nefarious means or another.
To find the Twisted Tree, Yasuke and Naoe will have to not only piece together whatever clues they can find, but methodically work through the rest of the family to force the others to surface.
How to find the Twisted Tree
There are two main ways to track down the Twisted Tree:
- Piece together clues to track down each family member individually
- Or defeat the father, Takashi Inoshichi, first, then wait for the rest of the family to rally together to plan their revenge
Tracking down each member of the Twisted Tree individually is much easier, but takes longer. While setting off a royal rumble in the west of Kyoto clears everything up quickly, but is a much more difficult fight with multiple tough enemies to take on at once.
Really, if you want to take the Naoe centered approach, then track them down one at a time. If you prefer fighting with Yasuke, then by all means draw all of the Twisted Tree to you at once.
Below we’ll go into where to find each member of the Twisted Tree, and what to do with them once you do.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Twisted Tree locations
Takahashi Shiro –
For the first Twisted Tree, you’re given these two clues:
- He is in central Kyoto
- He is located in Nijo Palace
Just outside Nijo Palace in the middle of Kyoto, there’s a crying merchant with a lootable pile of broken merchandise next to them.
This gives you a letter with Shiro’s rough location. Then, if you go to Nijo palace, you find Shiro in the southwest corner next to the viewpoint.
Defeating him gives you The Untamable One katana and the armour piercing on consecutive kill engraving.
Takahashi Taro –
Next, speak to the merchant Ujimasa pointed you towards at Kiyomizudera. You find them just to the left of the Nijo Palace.
This gives you a lead on Taro at the Asukai Clan Domain, north of where you are in the northwest of the city, as well as some more information on another target, Jiro, who you need to confront the family guard to find. Go to the Asukai Clan Domain and you find Taro practicing in the middle of the courtyard.
Challenge him and he drops the Burden of Legacy katana and the critical damage with melee weapon engraving when defeated.
Takahashi Saburo –
For Saburo, you’ve given more clues:
- He is in western Kyoto
- He was seen arguing with Taro
- He will avenge his fathers death
Since you know Taro trains at the Asukai Clan Domain, you know you can find Saburo nearby there too.
You find Saburo cooling off after their argument just to the southwest of the Asukai Clan Domain’s white diamond marker.
He has a large enemy bodyguard, but drops the Saburo’s Deference katana and the tools on kill engraving too.
Takahashi Jiro –
To find Jiro in southern Kyoto, after speaking to the umbrella merchant you’re told to confront the family guard to the east of Honnoji temple.
Track the guard down to the above location and take the letter from the guard. From this, you learn that Jiro will try to avenge his fathers death, but no other directions other than that.
This means you have to kill Takashi Inoshichi first, then you will find Jiro at the same house, next to Honnoji Temple, literally at the entrance gate.
He gives you the Final Word of the Guardian teppo, as well as the armour damage on multiple enemies engraving.
Takashi Inoshichi –
Now for the father, who you can either kill first to reveal the brothers who surface to avenge his death, or towards the end so you’re not ambushed in the act.
Go to the Takashi family home just to the left of Honnoji Temple on your map.
There you find Inoshichi inside the main house, surrounded by staff, but not too difficult to defeat in isolation.
Killing him gets you the Kitsune’s Trickery amulet and the health for samurai mastery engraving.
As discussed, his death reveals any remaining brothers who are sworn to avenge his death. They will appear almost immediately at the gate of the same house where you find Inoshichi, next to Honnoji Temple.
However, there are two more members of the Takashi family who aren’t loyal to Inoshichi.
Takahashi Goro –
To track down Goro, you’re given three clues:
- He is in northern Kyoto
- He will be free if his father dies
- He was seen at Shokokuji temple
You learn Goro’s location after defeating Taro, but you can find Shokokuji temple on the northern edge of Kyoto. It’s the burned out pagoda on the tip of the city, up towards Kinkaku-Ji.
You find Goro just next to the viewpoint, crying.
Approach him non-violently, then hold L2 to speak to him and choose the spare option. You receive the Raijin’s Refusal teppo, as well as the damage after headshot engraving.
Takahashi Ichi-Hime –
Finally, you’re given the following leads on Ichi-Hime:
- She is in western Kyoto
- She will be free if her father dies
- She was seen at Umenomiya Taisha Shrine
You learn Ichi-Hime’s location after defeating Saburo, but her shrine is outside the city walls, to the west of Nijo Tenshu viewpoint.
She’s just in the courtyard, and again approaching her non-violently will let you spare her by holding L2 and choosing the spare option.
This gives you the Daydreamers Gift bow and the adrenaline on afflicted enemies engraving.
When all of the Twisted Tree are accounted for, return to Ujimasa and he gives you a key to open the inner gate of the castle, which will help during the progress of this section of main story missions. But really, the main reward here is the equipment and XP you received from dealing with your targets.
To track down more targets, you can also head out on the trail of the Kabukimono, Origami Butterflies and Iron Hand Guild.