ULTIMATE Kowakujo Easter Egg Guide (Black Ops 7)

The Kowakujo easter egg in Black Ops 7 Zombies has been solved, and it will have you solve a murder mystery involving Takeo's father! The quest can be quite long, with quite a few parts to collect, but we've provided an easy-to-digest step-by-step process so you don't miss a single item and clue to ensure you can reach the boss fight and win. You'll find the full Kowakujo easter egg steps guide in Black Ops 7 below!

Kowakujo Easter Egg Steps (Overview)

1. Activate Pack-a-Punch.
2. Get the Maneki-Neko Tactical.
3. Obtain the Nekomancer Wonder Weapon.
4. Light the 11 Lanterns.
5. Play Simon Says with the Fox Mask evidence.
6. Grow the Monkshood Flower evidence.
7. Grab the Coin Purse, Gardener, Merchant, and Noble evidence
8. Get the Pestle from the scrolls and get the Puffer Fish evidence.
9. Protect the Sake Cup and gain more evidence.
10. Solve the clock puzzle to get the Crest Medallion evidence.
11. Solve the murder mystery.
12. Fight the Onryo.
13. Defeat the Nyxara boss fight.

Step #1: Acquire the World Seed and Activate Pack-a-Punch

You can begin simply by opening Pack-a-Punch. This basically requires you to open up the map to find Wards, which are flags that you can interact with and stay in the area until they're captured. Then, follow up on the Central Courtyard to remove the Gate Glyphs.

Head up the stairs to Shogun's Sanctum to fight an Oni, where you can get the Shogun's Hanko to then interact with the World Seed and kill "marked" zombies (they have purple eyes) to open Pack-a-Punch.

Step #2: Build the Maneki-Neko Cat Doll

You'll need to build the Maneki-Neko cat doll, which will be a piece of Tactical Equipment used for the next step. To begin, you'll need to grab the Ferin, a bell item that can be found in these three locations:

• Southwest of Stamin-Up in the Staging Area, hanging from the doorway above.
• West in the Stables, by the Arsenal machine in the doorway of the collapsed building.
• Above the Warden 308 Wall-Buy in the Training Area.

Now, it's time to grab the Karakuri, a little puppet that can be found in the Storage Rooms:

• Upstairs in the Storage Rooms, opposite PhD Flopper, in an ash pile when facing south.
• Facing the east wall in the Storage Rooms, by a table and a lantern.
• In the Workshop, you can head west to find a basket.

Lastly, you can grab the Maneki-Neko, which also has three spawns:

• In the Gatehouse to the right of Speed Cola by the southwest wall.
• In the Kitchens, left of Double Tap on a barrel.
• In the Kitchens, in the west corner by the Ammo Crate.

With these three items now obtained, you can craft the Maneki-Neko cat doll in the Workshop by interacting with the bench by Vulture Aid. If you ever lose the Maneki-Neko, you can get one from this location for 500 Salvage.

Step #3: Obtain the Nekomancer Wonder Weapon

You will need PhD Flopper (which can be bought from the Storage Rooms). With PhD Flopper, head to the Tenshu Entrance, where you will find a cat in a cage in the southwest area. Dolphin Dive with PhD Flopper under the cage to drop it, where you can then pick up the cage and drop it into lava (the Training Area works fine).

You now need to kill a zombie in the four locations shown below, as one of these locations will reveal a cat's paw prints when the zombie is killed:

• Doorway from Central Courtyard to the Kitchens.
• Entrance from the Kitchens to the Flower Gardens.
• In the Training Area, by the doorway to the Stables.
• Doorway from the Staging Area to the Stables.

When you find the paw prints on the ground, follow in the direction they lead for a few meters and then kill another zombie. This will reveal another set of paw prints. Continue following their direction, and killing a zombie where they stop, until the paw prints form a circle pattern with no direction.

At this point, you need to wait for the lava to flow in the area you're in (use x3 grenades to force the lava to activate) and then throw the Maneki-Neko cat doll you made earlier into the center. This causes an Abomination to spawn, and you can kill it by shooting the three open heads.

Now, grab Death Perception from the Stables, and you can find a sleeping cat in the corners of these locations:

• Kitchens, to the right of Double Tap.
• Kitchens, to the right of the Mystery Box.
• Training Area.

Wherever the sleeping cat is, you need to look at the floor and crouch walk towards it and interact with it to pick it up while avoiding the highlighted floor boards. If you wake up the cat, you can try the next round.

Take the cat to the World Seed (Pack-a-Punch) and interact with it. Now, after every 5 red pulses of the World Seed, melee it, and repeat this until the cat drops to the floor, which you can now pick up as the Nekomancer Wonder Weapon!

Step #4: Use the Nekomancer to Light the 11 Lanterns

This step is timed, and you have around 10 seconds to shoot the next lantern on the path, or else you'll need to try in the next round. You can only shoot the stone lanterns with the Nekomancer, so just follow the path provided above until all 11 have been lit. You'll start from the Tenshu Entrance, and head through the Central Courtyard, to the Kitchens, and all the way to the Stables and Training Area.

If you've done so correctly, you can now head to the War Room (the stairs before Pack-a-Punch) to find a dead ghost on the floor, which begins a mini cutscene.

Step #5: Grab the Fox Mask and Play Simon Says

Head to the top of the castle in the Tenshu Rooftops by the open wall in the Pack-a-Punch room and activate the fish flags to use the Ninja Kite. Hold right to take the right path while gliding, and spam interact to grab the fox mask on the building shown above.

With the mask acquired, head into the upstairs Storage Rooms and place the mask on the wall shown. Three masks will light up, one at a time, and now zombies will spawn wearing those same masks. Kill the zombies in the same order of masks that lit up and interact with the masks to repeat the step with 4 masks, then another time for 5 masks.

Once the mask step has been completed, one of the masks will be glowing blue, and if you interact with it, it will leave. You can now shoot the mask in the Workshop (behind the stairs when facing north) to drop Takeshi's Pipe, which you need to pick up.

Follow the mask upstairs onto the roof and through the ceiling into the Collapsed Study, where you can shoot it on the wooden beam above to get Takeo's Case.

Finally, head to the Onsen Baths and shoot through the window to the left of Elemental Pop to get Mitsuhime's Comb. The mask will now go to the World Seed, and you can begin the next step.

You can now take all this evidence into the Meditation Room to place it on the walls.

Step #6: Grow the Monkshood Flower

Head into the Kitchens and face the east wall close to the box of vegetables. You can jump and melee a small box on a shelf to cause a plum to drop on the floor. Repeatedly jump on the plum until you can pick up the Plum Pit item.

With the Plum Pit, it's time to find the Monkshood Bud. This plant is located in the Flower Garden, in the small crevice between the gap by the bridge, as shown above.

You can now head to the Training Area in the same room as the Ammo Box. Use a charged shot of the Nekomancer at the ceiling shown above to drop the Empty Pouch. You now need to wait for one area on the map to be covered in ash, which occurs randomly. Stand around the area where you take damage over time for around 60 seconds to collect the Volcanic Ash.

In the Tenshu Entrance, in the corner to the left of the exfil phone booth, you can interact with the plant pot three times to place all the items you just obtained.

Now, locate a cherry blossom tree (Tenshu Entrance and Staging Area both have one) and melee it three times until it begins to glow. This will give you an HP boost when you linger, and with this boost, head back to the plant pot and run clockwise in a circle until a tornado spawns and makes the plant glow purple, which you can now pick up.

Like the fox mask step, make sure you place these pieces of evidence in the Meditation Room!

Step #7: Acquire the Coin Purse, Gardening Shears, Mercantile Abacus, and Noble's Hat

The Coin Purse

Find every Mystery Box spawn until you locate one with a strange tag on the side of it (shown above as reference). When you find the tag, you need the Mystery Box to be activated at that location, to either use a Fire Sale (Immolation Liquidation GobbleGum) or spin the box until it lands here.

Once the Mystery Box is at the location with the tag, throw down the Maneki-Neko you crafted at Vulture Aid. Then, immediately open the Mystery Box and interact with the tag, and you should get the Coin Purse item from the box.

When you have the Coin Purse, head to the Outer Ward (spawn) and interact with the spectral Coin Purse at the Rampage Inducer to start a cutscene.

The Gardener

Now, inside the Tea Garden, you can find a Bucket on one of the shelves by the vases. Take the Bucket and interact with the water pond just opposite the building you were in. You need to walk to the Flower Garden with the Bucket, but you can't get run or take damage, or you need to fill it back up!

There are three areas to interact with once you have the Bucket:

1. On a stone to the right of the broken bridge (closest to the Armor Wall-Buy)
2. Opposite the Ghostly Riflemen Trap in front of the left side of the bridge.
3. To the right of the Ammo Box on the path leading down the stone steps.

After watering all three spots, there will be glowing plants in the Flower Garden. You need to shoot them until they stop glowing, and then you can kill the Gardener zombie to pick up the Gardener's Notes.

The Merchant

You can now head into the Kitchens, where opposite the Arsenal, there's a shelf containing a box of peaches that you can melee to drop one to the floor. Run away from the area and return next round o spawn a zombie that has the peach in its mouth.

Lead the zombie to the Staging Area, and once you're both in front of the building, facing north, kill the zombie to spawn the Merchant and kill it for the Merchant's Notes that you can collect.

The Noble

Now, head to the Training Area and face the east building. There are three windows above that you can throw Decoys onto. There's a zombie inside who will begin throwing grenades at you, and you need to cook and throw the grenades back into the windows to kill him so you can get the Noble's Hat.

Take all these pieces of evidence back to the Meditation Room!

Step #8: Solve the Scrolls Puzzle to Get the Pestle for the Puffer Fish

Head to the Storage Rooms, where, on the south wall, you will find a box filled with scrolls that are sticking out of their slots. Your goal is to melee the scrolls until they are all pushed in. This puzzle is just trial and error, as shooting or punching the scroll will push out others, but just keep doing it, as there's a cat doll that keeps you safe for about a minute.

Doing so correctly will drop a scroll, and you can now collect the Death Records and Pestle. With the Pestle, head to the Kitchens and interact with the bowl on the stove top by the Mystery Box spawn.

You now need to kill zombies with Brain Rot until the pestle turns blue, where you can interact with it, and a cutscene plays. After the cutscene, the north corner of the room will have an open door where you can find the Pufferfish.

You can place these piles of evidence on the west wall in the Meditation Room!

Step #9: Build and Defend the Sake Cup

You now need to collect two ceramic shards around the map, and we'll tag the locations below (and in the images above):

1. Part #1 is on a bloodstain in the War Room, just before the stairs that lead to Pack-a-Punch.
2. Part #2 is on the third poster in the Meditation Room (the one with the fox mask holding the bowl).

With both shards, head into the Tea Garden and interact with the table to repair the Sake Cup. In the next round, you can interact with the Sake Cup for another cutscene. You can now take the Sake Cup to the War Room, where you can interact with the table with the map to defend the Sake Cup from zombies, and after that, you can collect the Horse Statuette.

Head up the roof and into the Collapsed Study, where you can place the Sake Cup in the south-east corner and defend it once again to collect the Calligraphy Brush.

Lastly, head to the Tea Garden in the building and place the Sake Bowl. After defending it, a Hellhound will steal the Sake Cup, and you need to find it and kill it for the Tea Whisk.

Once again, place these pieces of evidence in the Meditation Room. You should now have four posters on the wall!

Step #10: Solve the Clock & Flag Puzzle for the Crest Medallion

Now, head into the Stables and look to the lava by the collapsed building. There's a small shard here (shown above) that you can throw a grenade at. This will cause the part to drop, and you can now pick up the Netsuke of Brothers.

In the Storage Rooms below the stairs where PhD Flopper is, you can find a clock in the rubble. You need to interact with the clock and then melee it, which will make the clock hands show you four numbers in a row that you need to remember.

Flip the Round, and it will begin an Assault Wave. During the Assault Wave, there will be zombies highlighted with a red aura, and you need to make sure you kill them. Doing so will spawn flags in the Staging Area, which we'll explain below, as this step is very simple once you understand it.

Each flag has some symbols, and you need to count the number of symbols on the flag. For instance, one flag might have six symbols, which means that flag = 6. Your goal is to find the flags that correspond with your numbers on the clock, and then place them in order.

You can find blue symbols in the locations listed below, and these will be the order that your flags need to go in. For instance, if your clock's first number was "6," then you need to place the flag that has 6 symbols in the location that has the symbol with a "1", and the same for "2", then "3", and finally, "4":

• Stables
• Central Courtyard
• Flower Gardens
• Outer Ward

Sometimes you need a "6" but the only flags you have are a "4" and a "2" if that's the case, you can place both flags down together, as they add up to "6"!

When all your flags are in the correct spots, you can return to the clock in the Storage Rooms to interact with it. This will open the clock face and reveal the Crest Medallion that you can pick up.

You can now place your final piece of evidence in the Meditation Room, and it's time to solve the murder mystery!

Step #11: Solve the Murder Mystery

With all evidence placed down, and all 5 posters revealed, it's time to place the correct pieces of evidence on the correct posters.

The first poster will always have the Comb as the evidence.

The second poster requires you to go to different Ghostly Riflemen on the map, let them get 20 kills, then look around the trap area for a separate Ghostly Rifleman that can be interacted with to tell you about a suspect. If he didn't give a suspect, then check the Ghostly Riflemen at Outer Ward, Central Courtyard, or Flower Garden.

For the third poster, you need to interact with the notes on the wall in the Meditation Room to find the Time of Death and the Cause of Death. For instance, if the Court Doctor's Record reads "Signs of Paralysis" and the Known Toxins note reads "Monkshood Flower Symptoms: Paralysis," then you place the Monkshood Flower on the third poster.

If you don't have the "Known Toxins", it's in the east corner of the War Room on the bottom shelf.

If you're struggling with this step, you can click on this guide to see all possible combinations.

With the "Cause of Death," you need to head to the dial with animal symbols at the east wall of the Meditation room and make the dial point at the corresponding hour. For instance, if the Shogun died in the "Hour of the Tiger," make sure the dial is on the tiger. But, if the "Known Toxins" evidence reads "within 2 hours", make it 2 hours BEFORE the tiger!

For the fourth poster, you will see a small painting behind the man. Depending on the painting, depends on the evidence: If it's a bird, it's the Calligraphy Brush. If it's a mountain, it's the Horse Statuette. If it's the fish, it's the Tea Whisk.

You need to enter the Meditation Room and place the evidence onto the papers by the posters in this order:

1. The Comb always goes on the first poster.
2. The item belonging to the culprit that the Ghostly Rifleman said goes on the second poster.
3. The item that poisoned the Shogun goes on the third poster.
4. The item corresponding to the Sake Cup defense room goes on the fourth poster.
5. The Medallion always goes on the fifth poster.

Once you've placed all five pieces of evidence down and interacted with the dial, you can interact with the two incense on either side of the posters. This will spawn an orb in the middle of the room, and you can interact with it to bring it to the World Seed.

Step #12: Fight the Onryo

With the World Seed now cleansed, you need to interact with it, where you then need to fight the Onryo in the Central Courtyard. This is just an HVT version of the Oni, so just run around the area and shoot the Onryo. After this step, prepare for the boss fight! Make sure you have your weapons (ranged is recommended) and all perks, as it's time for the final fight!

If the Ornyo disappears, run around and just spam interact. It might take a few minutes, but the Onryo will appear, it just takes a few minutes.

Step #13: Defeat the Nyxara Dragon Boss Fight

Nyxara is always quite far away, so ranged weapons like the Novaline are recommended. You're going to want to watch out for the fireballs and tornadoes, and kill Onis to get flags so you can capture areas. When all areas are captured, you can safely damage the boss from a bubble shield, and repeat, just make sure to shoot Nyxara's glowing weak points.