Prayer Bead #1: Outskirts Wall - Gate Path
Dropped by General Naomori Kawarada miniboss. After reaching the idol statue (fast travel point) called "Outskirts Wall - Gate Path" you'll find this miniboss in the next courtyard. You can easily differentiate him from other enemies because he is a named enemy and his health is displayed in the top left corner. Defeat him and he'll drop the first Prayer Bead. To make this easier, start with a stealth takedown (jump across roofs on the left and sneak up from behind). This takes away one of his lives. Then just block and attack to break his Posture a second time.

Prayer Bead #2: Outskirts Wall - Stairway
Dropped by the Chained Ogre miniboss. It's a mandatory boss and cannot be missed, comes right after the Stairway idol. When it attacks, dodge forward (to get behind its back), land 1-2 hits and repeat.

Prayer Bead #3: Outskirts Wall - Stairway
Dropped by the General Tenzen Yamauchi miniboss. He comes right after the Chained Ogre, in a courtyard with many riflemen. Take out all smaller enemies first, then backtrack so the boss loses sight of you. Then return for a stealth takedown and finish him off. With all the smaller enemies gone it's just you against him.

Prayer Bead #4: Ashina Outskirts - Ashina Castle Gate
Collected in the open world. After defeating the main boss Gyoubu Oniwa (guy on horse), go across the battleground where the fight took place and up the stairs. This leads you to a building where a friendly samurai wants to talk to you. Ignore him for now. In the room where this guy stands, grapple up the wooden beams. When you reach the top beams you need to double-jump at them to reach the attic. In the attic is a golden glowing chest, inside it is this Prayer Bead. The best-hidden one so far.

Prayer Bead #5: Ashina Outskirts - Ashina Castle Gate
Dropped by the Blazing Bull miniboss. It's an unmissable boss. After defeating Gyoubu Oniwa (main boss on horse) you will reach the Blazing Bull on the way to the Ashina Castle.

Prayer Bead #6: Estate Path
Dropped by the Shinobi Hunter Enshin of Misen miniboss. To unlock Hirata Estate region you must talk to an old Woman in a destroyed house between "Outskirts Wall - Gate Path" & "Outskirts Wall - Stairway". She gives you a bell that you can then use at the altar where the Sculptor sits (Dilapidated Temple). After the Estate Path idol, follow the path until you come to a bridge with two shield-carrying enemies. Cross the bridge into a garden area. There you find this boss, he's a guy in a white robe and wields a spear. First you should take out the smaller enemies, then run away and come back to do a stealth takedown on the boss when he's near the bushes.

Prayer Bead #7: Hirata Estate - Main Hall
Dropped by Juzou the Drunkard miniboss. From where we fought the last boss Shinobi Hunter, backtrack a little to the bridge we came from. Then jump in the water and swim upriver until you can grapple a tree branch on the left. Then you come to an area where you can wall-jump up a well. This brings you to the Main Hall area, where lots of buildings are burning. After going through a pond you find this boss. Talk to the Samurai that's standing in the pond before the boss, he'll fight together with you to making things easier.

Prayer Bead #8: Hirata Audience Chamber
Collected in the building behind the Juzou boss (Hirata Audience Chamber idol). After entering the building, on the left side where the two guards are patrolling, you can lean against a wall with a banner on it. This opens a hidden wall passage. Behind it is a room with a big chest that contains this collectible.

Missables Warning: Later in the story (after defeating Corrupted Monk & Guardian Ape bosses), some of the minibosses in Ashina Castle disappear and get replaced by other bosses. The Ashina Reservoir area also gets partially locked off later. Be sure to kill all bosses here in the first visit for their prayer beads. Alternatively, you can still get them in New Game+.

Prayer Bead #9: Ashina Castle
Dropped by General Kuranosuke Matsumoto miniboss. From the first idol in Ashina castle, head straight upstairs to find 4 riflemen and this boss. Kill the riflemen first, then backtrack to lose sight of the boss. Come back to do a stealth takedown on him (climb across the roofs on the left to get behind him).

Prayer Bead #10: Ashina Reservoir
Dropped by miniboss Seven Achina Spears - Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi. After entering the Ashina castle, take the path to your left, open a gate and drop down. Then you find the Reservoir idol. From the idol jump across the two tree branches to the left and you'll land in an enemy camp between a rifleman and a drummer. Take out the drummer, then take the same sneaking path you took in the prologue and climb up the cliffside. This will lead you back to the temple where you first saw the Divine Heir in the prologue. From here you can stealth-takedown this boss. Then finish him off in combat by breaking his guard as quickly as possible (you can use the Firecrackers tool to stun him).

Prayer Bead #11: Ashina Reservoir
Dropped by Lone Shadow Longswordman miniboss. From the Ashina Reservoir Idol, grapple to the two tree branches on the left and land between a rifleman and drummer. Behind the drummer walk to the cliff and look to the right. Use your grapple to get to the other side of the cliff and you'll come to an area with a friendly samurai standing above a hole in the ground. Jump down that hole to find this boss.

Prayer Bead #12: Abandoned Dungeon Entrance
Bought from a merchant for 1400 money. He's sitting in a tent next to the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance idol. To get there, backtrack to the entrance of Ashina Castle. Where the Ashina Castle idol is, jump off the left side of the bridge and use the grapple point. There you can eavesdrop on two enemies on another wooden bridge. Cross the bridge and follow the path straight ahead to reach the dungeon.

Prayer Bead #13: Upper Tower - Antechamber
Collected behind a secret wall. From the Antechamber idol, go into the next room where you meet a new type of enemy - Samurai in blue robes wielding katanas with both hands. Two of these are patrolling the area and two are sitting in a room on the right. Go where the two are sitting, in that room is a banner on a wall between two samurai armor statues. You can lean against this wall and it will spin around to reveal a hidden room. There you find a chest with the Prayer Bead inside.

Prayer Bead #14: Upper Tower - Ashina Dojo
Dropped by miniboss Ashina Elite - Jinsuke Saze. Backtrack to the first idol in Ashina castle (the idol itself being called "Ashina Castle"), then take the path on the right and jump up the roofs. Follow the smoke signals on the roofs to enter the tall tower in the middle of the area (the tallest building on the map, easy to see). Once inside the tower, there are some samurai with blue robes. In a room on the right (top floor) there are 2-3 of them and you can grapple through a hole in the ceiling. From there you can follow the path upstairs to reach the Ashina Dojo at the top of the tower.

Prayer Bead #15: Senpou Temple - Shugendo
Dropped by miniboss Armored Warrior. He comes after the 2nd idol in Senpou temple region and cannot be missed. He's guarding a bridge and you must throw him off it by breaking his posture to defeat him.

Prayer Bead #16: Senpou Temple - Temple Grounds
Dropped by miniboss Long-arm Gentipede Sen'un. This fight takes place after the 3rd idol in Senpou temple region, called Temple Grounds. Follow the path with the hostile wolves and monks throwing bombs at you and climb up the temple roofs. Then drop down the right side of the temple roofs to a lower temple. Through its rooftop you can enter a dark chamber where the boss fight happens.

Prayer Bead #17: Senpou Temple - Temple Grounds (unreachable on first visit)
Collected in the open world. From the Temple Grounds idol, jump down to the pond where two Treasure Carp are swimming. After defeating the Corrupted Monk main boss in Ashina Depths region you will unlock the diving ability. Once you have that unlocked you can press R2 / RT to dive down and finds this Prayer Bead on the floor of the pond. This is not possible on the first visit, only after you defeated the Corrupted Monk main boss. Keep this one in mind and return for it later.

Prayer Bead #18: Ashina Depths idol
Dropped by miniboss Snake Eyes Shirahagi. He's in the poison pool area right after the Ashina Depths idol. You come to this region through the Ashina Castle. From the Ashina Reservoir idol, jump across the tree branches to the left to land between a rifleman and a drummer in an enemy fort (where two big hammer guys are walking). Behind the drummer, walk up the cliff and grapple to the other side. There you find an old well with miniboss "Lone Shadow Longswordman" inside. Kill him and you can swim through the well to reach a dark cave. At the end of the cave you find a praying woman, jump down the pitch-black abyss here and as you fall grapple on to the cliffs, then follow the cliffside until you reach Ashina Depths.

Prayer Bead #19: Poison Pool
Collected in the open world. In the tunnel behind Snake Eyes Shirahagi miniboss you can grapple up the left side (before going through a big circular room). This lets you reach the head of a tall statue in the poison pool, on top of the statue head is this prayer bead.

Prayer Bead #20: Hidden Forest
Dropped by miniboss Tokujiro the Glutton. He's on the main path of this area, on your way to the temple where someone is playing flute. When you enter the foggy area with ghost enemies, you can grapple on to some tree branch on the left side and there you find the Tokujiro miniboss.

Prayer Bead #21: Watermill
Dropped by O'rin of the Water miniboss. After the Watermill idol you will encounter a woman playing an instrument. After you walk past her she will turn hostile and attack. Kill her for this Prayer Bead.

Prayer Bead #22: Watermill
Collected in the open world. On the path from the Watermill idol to the Corrupted Monk boss you'll come by a building with a mob of enemies gathered in front of it (one of them is a large enemy with a bell weapon), and you can eavesdrop on the door of the building. You can crouch under this building on the right side and from there open a floor panel to enter. In the attic at a small shrine you find this Prayer Bead.

Prayer Bead #23: Mibu Village
Collected in the open world. On the right side of Mibu Village (where lots of small enemies are patrolling the village), there's a lake. Jump in that lake and dive down with R2. At the bottom you find a glowing chest that contains this Prayer Bead. You learn the diving skill after defeating the Corrupted Monk at the very end of Ashina Depths, so you'll have to backtrack to this chest after defeating the boss.

Note: After you got the Diving Ability from beating the Corrupted Monk, don't forget to backtrack to Prayer Bead #17 that's underwater in Senpou Temple.

Prayer Bead #24: Under-Shrine Valley
Collected in the open world. From the first idol in Sunken Valley, called "Under-Shrine Valley", turn around to walk up the hill slightly. Jump across the abyss by grappling on to a tree stump. There are two riflemen here. Kill them, then double-jump up the wall next to them. Hug the wall around the ledge. On the other side, drop down to find the prayer bead in the snow. Just like any other, it looks like a normal item pickup (golden orb).

Prayer Bead #25: Sunken Valley Idol
Dropped by miniboss Snake Eyes Shirafuji. At the 2nd Idol in Sunken Valley region (the idol fast travel point itself also being called "Sunken Valley"), you need to drop down the cliff by the idol and hang on to the trees as you're falling down. There you encounter this miniboss.

Prayer Bead #26: Sunken Valley - Gun Fort
Dropped by miniboss Long-arm Gentipede Giraffe. This comes in the next room after the Gun Fort idol.

Prayer Bead #27: Sunken Valley - Gun Fort
Collected in the open world. After defeating the Long-arm Gentipede Giraffe, drop down the hole in the same room where the boss fight happened. Then crouch through an underground section and head out the left side of the tunnel. From there, hang on to the grapple point above you on the left. Now from here you can reach more grapple points on the right. Follow the dark cave all the way to the right until you hit a dead-end with a bunch of midget-enemies and poison geckos. The Prayer Bead is golden-orb item pickup like any other, right where the enemies are.

After defeating both the "Corrupted Monk" in Ashina Depths and the "Guardian Ape" in Sunken Valley some bosses will disappear and new ones spawn. The idols in Ashina Castle also get locked, you can get back there through the Abandoned Dungeon.

Prayer Bead #28, #29: Ashina Depths - Poison Pool
Dropped by Undying Guardian Ape double-boss. In the big hall between the Poison Pool and Hidden Forest idols (Ashina Depths) you can now find the headless Guardian Ape again. After taking its first health bar, a second smaller Guardian Ape spawns. Luckily, they are much slower, less aggressive, and have less health than the original Guardian Ape. Defeat them both and execute the ape to get 2 Prayer Beads at the same time.

Prayer Bead #30: Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Antechamber
Dropped by the Chained Ogre miniboss in Ashina Castle. From the "Upper Tower - Antechamber" idol, jump down the inside of the tower. At the bottom you find a new Chained Ogre boss. It drops a Prayer Bead.

Prayer Bead #31: Ashina Castle - Great Serpent Shrine
Dropped by Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer miniboss. You can get there from the Old Grave idol. Where the Great Serpent Shrine idol was is now a miniboss that drops this Prayer bead. This boss becomes unavailable after the Fountainhead Palace.

Prayer Bead #32: Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Dojo
Dropped by Lone Shadow Vilehand miniboss. On your way back to Kuro's Room he's found in the same room where you fought the miniboss "Ashina Elite - Jinsuke Saze". He's unmissable on the way to Kuro's Room for the story ending.

The following two items plus the ones from Fountainhead Palace are highly missable! They're tied to what game ending you choose. In order to find the two Prayer Beads in Hirata Estate you must go for the Purification Ending. Complete all steps for this ending until you get to a new version of Hirata Estate with new endgame bosses. Doing these steps will also put you on the path to the next missable area "Fountainhead Palace". Make sure you do this before defeating the Divine Dragon in Fountainhead Palace or else it will lock you out of the first steps for Purification Ending.

Prayer Bead #33: Purification Ending - Hirata Estate - Bamboo Thicket Slope (highly missable)
Dropped by Lone Shadow, Masanaga the Spear-Bearer miniboss. He spawns where you got the key from Owl in the first visit to Hirata Estate, in the burning building after Bamboo Thicket Slope idol. He can only be triggered in the Purification Ending. See How to Get All Endings.

Prayer Bead #34: Purification Ending - Hirata Estate - Main Hall (highly missable)
Dropped by Juzou the Drunkard miniboss. If you went for the Purification Ending, you can fight Juzou the Drunkard in the same place again where you fought him during the 1st visit to Hirata Estate. He then drops you a Prayer Bead. He can only be triggered in the Purification Ending. See How to Get All Endings.

The Fountainhead Palace is a missable area! If you got the two Prayer Beads in Hirata Estate you already did everything correctly and the story will bring you here automatically.
You must stay Loyal to Kuro. After defeating the Corrupted Monk in Ashina Depths and the Guardian Ape in Sunken Valley, backtrack to Kuro's Room in Ashina Castle (must go there through Abandoned Dungeon). When talking to Owl on the rooftop of Ashina Castle, pick the 2nd dialogue option "Break the Iron Code, Stay Loyal to Kuro". If you pick the 1st dialogue it will end the game right there and you'd never reach Fountainhead Palace. You must then talk to Kuro in his room several times to exhaust all dialogues. Fast travel to the Wedding Cave Door idol in Ashina Depths and enter the tent in the cave there. It will transport you to the Fountainhead Palace. On your way to the Purification Ending you'll come here automatically.

Prayer Bead #35: Mibu Manor
Dropped by Sakura Bull miniboss. After going through the courtyard where the squid-like enemies are trying to curse you, exit the building complex and turn around and grapple up the rooftops. Behind those buildings you find a purple colored bull.

Prayer Bead #36: Great Sakura
Dropped by Okami Leader Shizu miniboss. He's a lightning-throwing small guy found on top of a tree, just after the Great Sakura idol. He's actually unmissable, you must defeat him for story purposes so he stops throwing lighting in the lake, then you can safely swim through the lake to advance the game.

Prayer Bead #37: Great Sakura
Collected in the open world. After defeating the lightning-throwing Okami Leader Shizu miniboss you can safely jump in the big lake. There you can find an underwater chest on the right side of the lake, close to Mibu Manor. It contains a Prayer Bead.

After you defeated the main boss in Fountainhead Palace called "Divine Dragon" you will automatically be teleported back to Ashina Castle. Now the Castle is burning and new bosses spawn.

Prayer Bead #38: Ashina Castle - Ashina Reservoir
Dropped by Seven Spears Ashina - Shume Masaji Oniwa miniboss. After you defeated the Divine Dragon boss in Fountainhead Palace, the Ashina Reservoir area will have gone up in flames. Right in front of the Ashina Reservoir idol this new boss will spawn. If the area is not up in flames yet you must beat the Divine Dragon main boss in Fountainhead Palace first.

Prayer Bead #39: Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Dojo
Dropped by Ujinari Mizou miniboss. Only spawns after you defeated Divine Dragon boss from Fountainhead Palace. From the Dojo idol, walk downstairs and turn around, behind the stairs is a paper wall that you can cut through. Behind it is a secret passage leading to this boss. If he's not there you need to finish the ending first.

Prayer Bead #40: Ashina Castle - Old Grave
Dropped by Shigekichi of the Red Guard miniboss. Only spawns after you defeated Divine Dragon boss from Fountainhead Palace. From the Old Grave idol, walk downstairs and a bridge that was previously not there will have appeared over to the other side. Walk across the bridge and you'll find this boss in a courtyard.