Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Gourd Seeds and Prayer Beads locations - where to find all 40 Prayer Beads and 9 Gourd Seeds

Guide by James Billcliffe Guides Editor

Published on May 17, 2019

In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, vitality and healing are precious resources. Being a FromSoftware game, you've only got a set number of charges in your flask before it needs recharging, and once you're out of juice, you're goosed. However, to make some of your encounters - whisper it quietly - easier, there are key items you can find throughout Sekiro which tip the balance ever so slightly in your favour. Here are the locations of each and every one of the Gourd Seeds and all 40 Prayer Beads in Sekiro.

Sekiro’s Gourd Seeds are an incredibly important item. These tiny sources of healing increase the amount of times you can drink from your Healing Gourd before it needs replenishing. When enemies deal so much damage per hit, an extra drink from your Gourd can mean the difference between beating a boss and failure.

Prayer Beads on the other hand have a more direct impact on the strength of the One-armed Wolf in Sekiro. Collecting four Prayer Beads allows you to craft a Prayer Bracelet that grants you a permanent boost to your health bar and posture. This not only makes you more resilient to damage, but harder for enemies to break through your guard.

Sekiro Prayer Beads locations

Prayer Beads are more liberally doled out, and there are 40 to acquire in total. They mostly come from mini-bosses, and especially tough enemies, but there are a few hidden in hard to reach places as well.

If you're trying to get the achievement for maxing out your Vitality and Posture, you must complete the Purification ending to do so in a single playthrough. For instructions, see our page on Sekiro's different endings.
This is because two of the Prayer Beads are locked into an alternate version of the Hirata Estate which is on accessible on the Purification path.

Sekiro Prayer Beads Locations
A Prayer Bead is dropped by General Naomori Kawarada near the Outskirts Wall - Gate Path Idol
Dropped by the Chained Ogre Boss near the Outskirts Wall - Stairway Idol
Another Prayer Bead is dropped by General Tenzen Yamauchi just after the Chained Ogre
Dropped by Shinobi Hunter Eshin of Misen in the Hirata Estate vision. He's across the bridge after you've climbed the long staircase guarded by shield enemies.
Dropped by Juzou the Drunkard in the flaming Hirata Estate - Main Hall area.
There's a Prayer Bead behind the Trick Wall in the Hirata Estate Audience chamber. Rest at the Audience Chamber shrine, turn around, and you should see two samurai enemies walking down a hallway. Kill them, then hug the wall at the end of the hall they were walking down. This leads to a secret room with a chest.
At the top of the tower where you meet the long-nosed samurai, next to the Horse Boss Battlefield. Climb to the top with your grapple and open the chest in the attic.
Dropped by the Blazing Bull
Dropped by General Kuranosuke Matsumoto, the big samurai at the top of the large staircase in Ashina Castle.
Dropped by the Lone Shadow Longswordsman down the well in the Ashina Reservoir area. From the area's Idol, jump over the wall to your left, then grapple across the ravine and run through the long grass to your left. On your right you'll find a side-path with the well you woke up in at the start of the game. The boss is in here.
Dropped by the Seven Ashina Spears boss, Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi in the Ashina Reservoir area. He's at the foot of the tower where you first met the Young Lord at the start of the game.
You can buy a Prayer Bead from the Dungeon Memorial Mob next to the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Idol for 1,400
Behind the Trick Wall in the Upper Tower - Antechamber. From the Idol, go up the stairs on your right and kill the samurai at the top. Then in the next room with the old lady walking around, go to the side room on the right with two blue samurai sitting down. Kill them and hug the wall behind them with the tapestry flanked by two statues. Behind here is a secret chest.
Dropped by the Ashina Elite - Junsuke Saze boss next to the Ashina Dojo Idol
Dropped by the Armoured Warrior boss in Mt. Kongo Senpou Temple.
Dropped by the Long-arm Centipede Sen'Un in Mt. Kogo Senpou Temple. After the Temple Grounds shrine, you'll go through an area with Yellow-robed enemies, before heading over to the right on the roof of a large temple. Inside this temple, you'll find the boss.
Dropped by Snake Eyes Shirahagi in the Poison Pool in the Ashina Depths.
On top of the giant Buddha's head in the Poison Pool. After you've cleared the Fog Gate behind Snake Eyes Shirahagi, go through it and look for a grapple point on your left. Climb up and follow the path until you have to crouch under the rocky ceiling. Look to your left as soon as the ceiling opens up and jump up the path to your left. Jump from wall to wall at the end, then grapple to the Buddha's head on your right at the top.
Dropped by Tokujiro the Glutton in the Hidden Forest of the Ashina Depths.
O'Rin of the Water past the Water Mill shrine in Mibu Village drops a Prayer Bead.
In the attic of the house just past O'Rin of the Water, with a load of enemies outside the front door. To get inside, kill the enemies then crouch underneath the house to use the trick floor. Head outside to the right and you'll be able to grapple up to the attic where the Bead is.
Inside the glowing underwater chest in the main lake of Mibu Village. You can get this Prayer Bead after you've learnt how to dive from the Corrupted Monk spirit.
Picked up next to the ghostly samurai in the Sunken Valley. To find it, go to the Under-shrine Valley Idol, turn around and grapple across the ravine and go right, past the two gun enemies. Jump and shimmy across the ledges to follow the path to the right, then grab the Prayer Bead from in front of the gravestone in front of you.
Dropped by the Snake Eyes Shirafuji boss on the way to the Gun Fort in the Sunken Valley.
Dropped by the Long-arm Centipede Giraffe in the Gun Fort.
There's another Prayer Bead hidden in the tunnels of the Gun Fort. In the room where you fought the Centipede, go through the hole in the floor on the left and down the path next to you. Inside the path, turn left when you can, then when it opens out, grapple over to the right. Keep grappling right and you'll see an item glowing on the floor, this is a Prayer Bead.
Once you've killed both the Corrupted Monk Spirit and Guardian Ape, you can fight the Chained Ogre again at the bottom of Ashina Castle. From the Antechamber Idol, go up the stairs to your right , then jump down over the railings to the bottom.
Dropped by Lone Shadow Masanaga at the Snake Temple after you've killed the Corrupted Monk Spirit and Guardian Ape.
Dropped by Lone Shadow Vilehand in the Ashina Dojo after you've killed the Monk Spirit and Ape.
Two Prayer Beads are dropped by the Twin Guardian Apes in the Ashina Depths. You'll find them in the area after the poison pool once you've killed the Ape the first time around.
Underwater in the pool in front of the Temple Grounds Idol in Senpou Temple. From the shrine, run forward and jump onto the roof below. You'll see a waterfall running into a pond below, you'll find the Prayer Bead underwater at the far end.
If you do the Purification ending where you side with the Young Lord over the Great Shinobi Owl, you'll be able to go back to the Hirata Estate area and take on tougher versions of Bosses. A Prayer Bead is dropped by a new Drunkard found in the same place as you first fought him.
Another Bead is dropped by the Lone Shadow at the end of the Bamboo Thicket Slope in the reworked Hirata Estate.
Dropped by the Sakura Bull of the Palace around the back of Mibu Manor in the Fountainhead Palace area
Dropped by Okami Leader Shizu on the Great Sakura in the Fountainhead Palace
Underwater in the main lake in the Fountainhead Palace, from the Great Sukura shrine, jump into the water, swim towards the centre of the lake, and dive down. In front of you, there's the skeleton of a giant fish with a glowing chest next to it. Inside is a Prayer Bead.
Dropped by the Seven Ashina Spears that appears in the Ashina Reservoir after you've killed the Divine Dragon.
After you've killed the Divine Dragon, a special Ashina Elite appears in the Castle. To find him, go to the Upper Tower Dojo shrine and go down the stairs to the right. At the bottom, turn left and break the wall in front of you with your sword. Then go down the stairs on your right and you'll find the Elite at the far end of the room - he drops another Prayer Bead.
The last Prayer Bead is dropped by the Drunkard-style enemy: Shigekichi of the Red Guard. He's found where you fought General Tenzen Yamauchi earlier in the game. To get there, head out of the back of the Castle towards the Old Grave and go across the now lowered bridge to the other side.

Sekiro Gourd Seed Locations

There are 9 Gourd Seeds to track down throughout your adventure, and you'll start to rack them up quickly - but a few are easy to miss.

Sekiro Gourd Seeds Locations
You get the first Gourd Seed from killing General Naomori Kawarada near the Outskirts Wall – Gate Path Shrine.
The second Gourd Seed is obtained just after you’ve defeated the Chained Ogre. Grapple up to the broken wall behind where he was chained and turn left. You pick up the Gourd Seed as a floor item here.
Once you reach the Abandoned Dungeon and make your way through, you’ll emerge in the Mt Kongo area. Quite early on this path, you’ll get to a room filled with praying monks in front of a cross-legged mummy. In front of the mummy is an item – another Gourd Seed. Take care, the mummy barfs up killer crickets, and there’s a huge enemy hiding behind the statue next to him.
Once you get to the Ashina Castle, you can go up the large staircase through the front gate. Grapple up onto the high walls on the side of the stairs, and you’ll be able to scale the rooftops of the castle. Around the top left corner at the back of the main tower, you’ll be able to grapple in through an open window. Just inside there’s a chest that you can open which contains a Gourd Seed.
On the Battlefield where you fight the Horse-rider General, there’s a large staircase on one side of the area. Up the staircase is a tower, on the right side of the tower, you’ll find a merchant who sells a Gourd Seed for 1000 Sen.
In the Ashina Castle area, where there are the crow ninjas on the rooftops, you’ll find a thief hiding around a corner from some guards. Kill the crow ninjas and guards, and he’ll appear at the Dilapidated Temple selling items – one of which is a Gourd Seed.
Once you’ve met Lord Isshin, you’ll be sent down out of the Ashina Castle and into the Sunken Valley. As you first reach the area through the Snake Shrine, you’ll find the Under-Shrine Valley Idol. From this shrine, jump down the ledge and bear right when you see a Snake-Eyes rifle enemy. Grapple over, kill the enemy, then run through the tunnel behind them. On the other side, grapple up and across onto the two branches to the left, then jump and grab onto the ledge on the left. Up the ledge, walk through the tunnel and grapple up to the ledge above. Finally, jump and grab the ledge to the left and climb up – you’ll find the Gourd Seed as a floor item in front of you.
In the Ashina Depths, once you’ve cleared the Hidden Forest of mist, you’ll be able to reach Mibu Village. From the Mibu Village Shrine follow the river upstream until you reach the path patrolled by a large group of villagers. Deal with them, then keep following the path until you reach a fenced area with a few enemies and some items at the base of a large tree. You’ll find another Gourd Seed next to the tree.
When you get to the late-game area the Fountainhead Palace, you’ll find the Castle Grounds Sculptor’s Idol. From this Shrine, enter the building in front of you, then turn right. Continue forward, and you’ll see a treasure chest to your right. Inside is the final Gourd Seed – enjoy your heals!