Sekiro – The Crying Monk Kotaro Full Guide And Where To Find The White Flower

In this guide, we show you how to finish The Crying Monk Kotaro’s quest, and where to find the white flower.

While moving through the strangely beautiful Senpou Temple area of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you will come across a crying monk. Named Kotaro, he is lost and confused, and in need of your help. Kotaro will ask you to find a white flower for him. However, there are several ways you can wrap up Kotaro’s quest, and it will have an impact on the game’s ending.

The Pure White Flower, How To Find the White Pinwheel

While Kotaro asks you to find him a pure white flower, what he means is a pinwheel. To find it, we need to get to the Shugendo Idol. Move into the Senpou Temple area from where you meet Kotaro. Fight and kill any enemies that you meet, and you will come to a large building. When you leave that building, you will see a branch you can grapple to. Jump to it, then move through the passageway to find the Shugendo Idol. You will see a small wooden ledge leading upwards. Travel up the ledge, and continue up the cliff face. When you reach the top, you will find a bridge. Move to the left, and follow the path up the slope. You will see lots of small statues, and some pinwheels. Grab the Red and White Pinwheel from here, as this can be important depending on what you want to do with Kotaro.

From where you pick up the pinwheel, turn to the left and look over the cliff. You will notice a ledge below you, drop down to the bottom, then look to the right, and you can see another wooden ledge. Jump to it, the move along the cliff face until you come to the two walls you can jump between. Be careful, as some lizards will drop down on top of you. Kill them, then jump up to the top. Here you will find the Pure White Flower or White Pinwheel.

What To Do With The Pinwheels

White Pinwheel

Which Pinwheel you give to Kotaro depends on what you want to do with him. If you give him the White Pinwheel, as he requested, he becomes overjoyed and asks you to spirit him away. To do this, you need the Divine Abduction Prosthetic tool. If you don’t have it, be sure to read the linked guide. Equip the Divine Abduction tool after giving Kotaro the White Pinwheel, use it on him, and he will be spirited away to the Hall of Illusions.

You can unlock the Hall of Illusions, located in the Senpou Temple area, by taking on a strange quest line. First, you need to have beaten Genchiro is Ashina Castle. After you defeat him, talk to Kuro. After that, you need to find Isshin Ashina. This can only be done if you have already found Tengu of Ashina, back in the Ashina Castle Gate Fortress. If you didn’t find this NPC, go back to the Fortress and speak to him. He will give you a quest you must complete.

Once you have finished this quest, find Isshin and speak with him, the return once again to Lord Kuro. Now, travel to the Main Hall Idol in the Senpou Temple, where you will find a bell next to a monk. Interacting with it will bring you to the Hall of Illusions. Up next is a very interesting boss fight that I don’t want to spoil. Once this fight is over, that should open up the Inner Sanctum. Kotaro will appear in the Hall and give you two Taro Persimmons.

Red And White Pinwheel

If you decide, for some reason, you don’t like Kotaro, you can basically turn him into an indentured servant. You would only do this if you are a cruel, cruel person, but should you want to, this is how.

To do this, you will need to have met Anayama, a merchant outside the Outskirts Wall in Ashima Outskirts. You will have originally met him in Kitara Estate, looting a house. By talking to him when you meet him at the Outskirts Wall, he will tell you he needs information about what people want. In the Ashina Castle, you can eavesdrop on guards. Some of them will be talking about the fact that they need salt. Return to Anayma with this information, and he will tell you he can stock more items if he has a big, strong helper.

Kotaro fits the bill for big and strong, so you can convince him to take the Red and White Pinwheel, and then send him to Anayama. If you do this, the merchant will have new items for sale if you return to him. Some of these include rare upgrade materials, so it might be worth Kotaro suffering a bit in a dead end 9 to 5. That is really up to you.

Kotaro And The Abandoned Dungeon

If you really, really, dislike Kotaro, you can send him to the Abandoned Dungeon. Here he will inevitably suffer and die. You can only do this if you have already visited the Abandoned Dungeon, and met with an NPC there called Doujan. You can reach the Abandoned Dungeon from Ashina Castle, by crossing the moat and the large bridge. You will find an enemy with a bell weapon and some dogs. Behind them is the entrance to the Abandoned Dungeon. Doujan will be in the first chamber of the dungeon. He will tell you that he needs a tough man, and you can send Kotaro to him.

This will be an option after you give him the Red and White Pinwheel, and if you do it and revisit Doujan, you will get some Lumps of Fat Wax. If you do take this option and wish to allow Kotaro a chance to face you, you can come back after you get the diving skill later in the game.

It is important to remember that in From Software games it is very easy to miss parts of these quests, items that are needed, or you may even end up killing an important NPC. The games are not really designed for all the quests to be done in a single playthrough, so don’t feel bad if some options are just not available to you.