Assassin's Creed Shadows: Naoe's Revenge in Kansai

Oda Nobunaga moved his seat to Azuchi on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa, and the game opens with him there at the height of his power. Azuchi Castle was built between 1576 and 1579, and its tall keep was a new kind of Japanese castle, the model for the towers that followed. In Assassin's Creed Shadows it is one of the castles of the Omi region. The castle was destroyed in 1582, soon after the Honnō-ji Incident; today only its stone foundations remain on the hill.

Visitor guidance: The castle ruins sit on the hill above the town of Azuchi, on the shore of Lake Biwa.

Assassin's Creed Shadows sends Naoe back to 1581, when Oda Nobunaga's army finally crushed the Iga ikki, the republic-style confederation of ninja families that had governed the province. Yasuke marched with the invaders and killed the Iga leader Momochi Sandayu. In the burning village Naoe's father gives her his Hidden Blade and sends her for a box hidden in a nearby kofun. The Iga Ueno Castle that stands in the city today is later, but the province remains the heart of the Iga ninja.

Location precision: The game's Iga is a whole province; the pin marks Iga Ueno Castle, the castle town at its centre.

Visitor guidance: Iga Ueno Castle stands in the city of Iga, Mie Prefecture.

Sakai was one of the busiest ports in Japan, an autonomous city of merchants with a famous taste for the tea ceremony; Sen no Rikyū was a Sakai merchant. The game sends Naoe here to pick up the trail of the Shinbakufu, and she kills two of the masked killers. Nanshū-ji, a Zen temple, stands in the old town.

Location precision: The game rebuilds Sakai as a port town; the pin marks Nanshū-ji, a Zen temple in its old merchant quarter.

Visitor guidance: Nanshū-ji is in the Sakai ward of the city; Sakai is a short train ride south of central Osaka.

The game's first act ends at Honnō-ji in Kyoto. Convinced by Akechi Mitsuhide that Oda Nobunaga leads the Shinbakufu, Naoe breaks into the temple and confronts him; Nobunaga tells her she has been lied to. Then Mitsuhide's army arrives, and Nobunaga, trapped, chooses seppuku rather than be taken. Yasuke, his samurai, serves as his second while Naoe escapes. The real Nobunaga died here on 21 June 1582, with his attendant Mori Ranmaru. The temple was later rebuilt on a new site, where it stands today.

Location precision: Honnō-ji was rebuilt elsewhere after 1582; the pin marks today's temple, not the exact site of the incident.

Visitor guidance: Honnō-ji stands in central Kyoto, a short walk from the city hall.

Hanzō tells Naoe to stop chasing the box and sends her to a kofun in Settsu, in what is now Osaka. Inside she finds an Assassin hideout and a journal. The province the game calls Settsu is the old name for the country around Osaka and Kobe, and its tombs are real. The Mozu Kofun Group in Sakai holds Daisenryo Kofun, the largest kofun in Japan, part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Location precision: The game names only a kofun in Settsu; the pin marks the Mozu Kofun Group, the great tomb cluster by Osaka.

Visitor guidance: The Mozu kofun lie in southern Sakai; Daisenryo Kofun is an imperial tomb, seen from the park around it.

After Nobunaga's death, Naoe and Yasuke join Hashiba Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Yamazaki. They storm Shōryūji Castle, where Akechi Mitsuhide has taken refuge, and wound him mortally. Dying, Mitsuhide names the Shinbakufu's true leader: the former shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki. The real battle was fought in 1582 at Yamazaki, between Kyoto and Osaka, and it ended Mitsuhide's short rule. Shōryūji Castle in Nagaokakyō is now a park.

Visitor guidance: Shōryūji Castle is a public park in Nagaokakyō, between Kyoto and Osaka.

Naoe follows a report of her mother Tsuyu into Yamato, the old province that is now Nara Prefecture. Naoe finds the Assassins' secret store and puts her box back, keeping her promise. Yamato's chief shrine, Ōmiwa, is one of the oldest in Japan; it has no image of its god, only the sacred mountain it stands on.

Location precision: The game names the province, not a building; the pin marks Ōmiwa Shrine, Yamato's chief shrine.

Visitor guidance: Ōmiwa Shrine stands in Sakurai, a short walk from the town's station.

The Templar Kimura Kei is recruiting in Kii, and the game follows the thread south into the mountains of Wakayama, the old province of Kii, where the Portuguese slaver Duarte de Melo and the Templar Kimura Kei are waiting. Yasuke tracks down and kills de Melo and declares war on the Templars. Mount Kōya sits in Kii: a temple settlement south of Osaka and the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism.

Location precision: The game places the Templars in Kii without a site; the pin marks Mount Kōya, the temple settlement at its heart.

Visitor guidance: Mount Kōya is reached by cable car; the temple town has lodgings for pilgrims.