Assassin's Creed Shadows: Key Locations & Interactive Tracking Guide

Every Kura Key across Japan and Awaji Island is included on our complete Assassin's Creed Shadows interactive maps.

What a Kura Key Actually Opens

A kura is a storehouse — the sealed sheds and warehouse buildings scattered through castles, forts, camps, and post towns. Inside sit the bulk material crates that fund your Hideout: wood, minerals, crops, and the higher-tier resources you can't buy from a Port Trader.

You don't carry those crates out yourself. Tag them with a Scout and they're smuggled back to the Hideout at the next seasonal change — the same system that empties Enemy Camps. Scouts restock at any Kakurega for 200 Mon, so arriving at a castle with an empty Scout pool wastes the trip.

Worth knowing: many Kura Keys open every storehouse in their location, not just one. Toneyama, Shoryuji Castle, Yamazaki Castle, Inariyama Garrison, Hijiyama Fort, Mibuno Fort, and Daikan Mansion all work this way. One key, full sweep.

Two Ways Every Kura Key Is Hidden

Keys sit in one of two places, and knowing which saves a lot of circling.

On the environment. Tables inside houses, boxes in storage sheds, crates in courtyards, window sills on tower upper floors, or simply on the ground in a kitchen. The Eguchi Crossing key is on a small box inside the shed it opens. The Osaka Town key sits on a table in a Fishermen's District house. The Hideyoshi Camp and Inariyama Camp keys are both on tower railings.

On a guard. Patrolling soldiers, guards standing directly in front of the storehouse, or elite enemies. The Mibuno Fort key drops from an elite samurai inside the building. The Osaka Castle key is carried by a fan-carrying samurai in the northeastern sector. The Daikan Mansion key patrols the eastern side of the courtyard.

When a key is on a body, pickpocketing works as well as killing — and on castle grounds crawling with Samurai Daisho, staying quiet is usually the better play.

Use Observe to Find Any Key

Kura Keys are not reliably marked on your HUD. Hold L2 or LT to Observe, and nearby key items resolve as white dots through walls and terrain — the single fastest way to work out whether the key you need is sitting on a shelf or walking around wearing armour.

Scan before you start clearing. It's common to kill everything in a courtyard only to find the key was on a table the whole time.

Some Locations Hide Two Kura Keys

Several of the larger castles hold a second key, and either one opens the same storehouses. Amagasaki Castle has one on a guard near the storehouse and another on a box in the chest room.

Nijo Palace has one on crates in the northwestern courtyard and a second on the attic floor. Koriyama Castle splits its pair between the Retainers' Quarters on the north side and a small building past the moat on the southwestern edge.

Saika Castle and Shoryuji both follow the same pattern. If you've found one and the sheds are open, you don't need the other.

The Hardest Kura Key in the Game

Yamazaki Castle hides its key better than anywhere else. Head to the southernmost part of the castle and find the red bridge guarded by a Samurai Daisho. To the right of that bridge is a crawlspace — go through it, look right, and there's a peasant's body carrying the key.

Nothing signposts this. Without knowing the crawlspace exists, the key is effectively invisible.

Quest Keys Are a Separate Category

Two named keys in the table aren't Kura Keys at all.

• Ichiro's Key appears during the Thrown to the Dogs quest in Japan, found under the floor of a house — the entrance is round the back.

• Tsuyu's Key belongs to the Claws of Awaji expansion's A Long Lost Key quest. The Bo master tells you it's buried west of Yura near the Okunoion Sasayama Shrine, reached through the Mountainside Ruins. Head to the shrine viewpoint north of the ruins and dig.

Kura Keys Are Not Exchange Keys

Different systems entirely. Exchange Keys are the free Animus Hub currency picked up in bundles of 30 from natural landmarks and spent on cosmetics in the Exchange Store. Kura Keys are physical objects that open specific doors and hold no value once used.

They share a name and nothing else.