Throughout their journey, Amaterasu and Chibiterasu obtain various Celestial Brush techniques from the Celestial Brush gods. There are 13 main techniques in Ōkami and 11 main techniques in Ōkamiden.
Several Celestial Brush techniques requires a source-target brushstroke, which involves drawing paths connecting the landscape to a demon or Amaterasu and Chibiterasu themselves. When the Celestial Brush is over a valid beginning or ending points, Holy smoke of different colors will be emitted.
Additionally, the Celestial Brush can be used to smear ink over a demon's face, causing it to flail its arms in a blind attack. This ability is imperative in farming, as the blind attacks of demons leave them vulnerable to Sub-Reflector Counterattack. Also, when blinded, a demon will not burrow underground or take flight, if it is capable to.
Many of the main techniques can be upgraded to secret Celestial Brush techniques by offering Yen to divine springs or by completing optional sidequests. None of the upgrades are needed to complete the game, but they can be useful as area-effect attacks in combat and some of them are necessary for acquiring Stray Beads.
Celestial Brush techniques[]
Sunrise[]
- Drawn: A circle in the sky.
- Effect: This creates or prolongs daytime by placing the sun in the sky. Sunrise can be used freely, although the technique may be ineffective under certain circumstances. Cursed areas will remain naturally dark, even if Sunrise is used to bring the sun into the area; also, Sunrise cannot be used to prolong the sunset deadline for the rush from Sei'an City to Watcher's Cape. However, in Ōkamiden, this technique can no longer be used freely and can only be used when Chibiterasu is prompted to.
Rejuvenation[]
- Drawn: Fill in or line the outline of damaged or lost areas of the landscape.
- Effect: This restores damaged or broken objects to their original condition.
Power Slash[]
- Drawn: One straight line through a demon or object.
- Effect: A versatile technique, Power Slash is useful both in and out of battle. Strategic manipulation of the Celestial Brush screen's viewing angle can allow a Power Slash to attack multiple targets.
Greensprout[]
The collective name for three distinct plant-based techniques, acquired from the three different Celestial Brush gods known as the Hanagami.
Bloom[]
- Drawn: A circle around a plant.
- Effect: This can restore cursed plants or make buds open into flowers; it can also be used as a weapon against a weakened Bud Ogre, Bone Clam or Demon Nut to open up their protective shells.
- Sub-techniques:
- Ink-dots placed on the ground can sprout into trees to stop or trap a demon. This does not work on some surfaces such as sand, bare stone, or ice.
- Scribbles on the ground will bloom into wildflowers, but these will quickly fade away unless restoring a patch of cursed ground which has been emitting ominous purple fumes.
Water Lily[]
- Drawn: A circle in the water.
- Effect: This creates a lily pad on the water which Amaterasu can stand on to catch her breath while swimming. The lily pad can be placed in open water for Amaterasu to jump up onto, or it can be created directly underneath her to buoy her up.
Vine[]
- Drawn: A path from or to a Konohana Blossom with light green Holy smoke. Can also be used between hooks or Chibiterasu and his partner.
- Effect: This creates a vine between an open Konohana Blossom and a target, or between to targets. If the target is Amaterasu or Chibiterasu, the vine pulls them up to the center of the flower, although upside-down blossoms will instantly drop them back out; if the path was drawn through a solid object, the vine may snap and drop them to the ground when they hit the obstacle. If the target is a hooked projection, the vine will pull the hook toward the flower, although multiple vines and hooks may be required for a noticeable effect.
Cherry Bomb[]
- Drawn: A circle with a straight line going from within to outside the circle, similar to an upside-down or sideways Q.
- Effect: This creates a single round bomb with a burning fuse. The fuse normally takes several seconds to burn down and detonate the bomb, but it can be quenched by water; alternately, if the main body of the bomb comes into contact with a target, it will explode instantly. Before exploding, the bomb can be rolled back and forth, but another Cherry Bomb cannot be created until the first one explodes, unless Cherry Bomb 2 or 3 is obtained. In digging minigames, a Cherry Bomb can be placed inside solid blocks, but it may also fall away from a desired target if placed incorrectly.
Waterspout[]
- Drawn: A path from a body of water with blue Holy smoke.
- Effect: This can quench fires or drench demons from an existing source of water, such as a pool or river. It can also convert a bubbling spring to an elevator-like geyser by drawing a vertical line upward from the bubbles.
Crescent[]
- Drawn: A curved arc in the sky.
- Effect: This creates or prolongs nighttime by placing the moon in the sky. This is very useful for farming, as there are more Demon Scrolls at night and they follow Amaterasu for a longer distance.
Galestorm[]
- Drawn: A swirling loop or spiral.
- Effect: This creates a gust of wind; the loop sends the wind sideways (in the direction of the brushstroke used to draw the loop) and the spiral sends the wind forward. This is a versatile technique with many uses. It can extinguish fires, knock down flying demonss, or move objects around. Water Lily pads can be "sailed" over the water this way. If a set of banners is hanging down, the wind can make them fly up to create crossable horizontal surfaces.
Inferno[]
- Drawn: A path with orange Holy smoke from a source of fire.
- Effect: This ignites a target from an existing source of fire, such as a torch or the equipped Solar Flare.
Veil of Mist[]
- Drawn: Two horizontal lines.
- Effect: This slows down time to a near-stop for four seconds, allowing Amaterasu to act more quickly against fast-moving enemies.
Catwalk[]
- Drawn: A path with magenta Holy smoke from a statue of Kabegami.
- Effect: This creates glowing pawprints from a statue of Kabegami onto a vertical surface, allowing Amaterasu to climb along that surface until the pawprints fade away. A few locations already have permanent glowing pawprints which do not require any brushwork.
Thunderstorm[]
- Drawn: A path with light yellow Holy smoke from a source of electricity.
- Effect: This electrocutes a target by using an existing source of electricity, such as an overhead lightning storm, a portable lightning key, or the equipped Thunder Edge.
Blizzard[]
- Drawn: A path with dark blue Holy smoke.
- Effect: This freezes a target by using an existing ice source or from equipped Tundra Beads. It also can create a path of hovering icicle platforms at chasms filled with ice crystals . In both cases, the ice will automatically shatter after a short time, or it can be slashed or melted away.
Guidance[]
- Drawn: A path from Chibiterasu's partner to a target with bright red Holy smoke (the partner must be put down from Chibiterasu's back in order for this to work).
- Effect: This creates a golden path which the partner will follow. If the path ends at a Treasure chest, then the partner will open it and carry the content, which will be obtained when the partner reunites with Chibiterasu. Certain partners can cross different landscapes: Nanami can swim across and dive deep into bodies of water, Kagu can cross Spirit Floors, Kurow can levitate across chasms and Manpuku can move through floors riddled with icicles.
Magnetism[]
- Drawn: A U (or an upside-down U) connecting two objects marked with the U marks.
- Effect: This allows Chibiterasu to pull together or push apart magnetic objects. Drawing a U will pull the objects together, while the upside-down U will push the objects apart. This can also be used in combat against a Black Imp when it separates itself into pieces or when it is stunned.
Miscellaneous brushstrokes[]
Circle on NPCs[]
- Drawn: A circle on people.
- Effect: Under normal circumstances, this brushstroke will create a surge of affection towards Amaterasu, causing them to pet her. During digging minigames, her digging partner will be reinvigorated, causing them to run instead of walk. With members of the Oina tribe, they will change between their human and wolf forms instead of altering their behavior.
Dots on Enemies[]
- Drawn: A single press with no strokes.
- Effect: For every dot you placed on an enemy, they will take a percentage of damage. As if they were being shot with an invisible bullet.
Shield Tree[]
- Drawn: A single line drawn from the ground vertically.
- Effect: A tree will spawn from this line. It can act as an emergency shield if your timing isn't good for blocking.
Trivia[]
- Through a certain pattern of button pressing, users can activate Brush techniques on bonus menus.