Yoshpet (「ヨシペタイ」?; Yoshipetai) is the dark eastern forest of Kamui, where stray wanderers are said to be eternally lost in the woods. The forest's entrance is at Kamui, and deeper inside, the forest leads to a clearing where the Poncle village of Ponc'tan lies. Past Ponc'tan, Inner Yoshpet leads to the end of the forest.
Description
Yoshpet is a dark forest that has been rumored about lost travelers after entering the forest. The woods itself has a very confusing landscape, with series of hills of snow, paths of frozen ice where one slip would make one become a prey of a Cursed Tree, narrow ice trails over lakes of poisonous water, ice blocks, rolling snowballs and falling icicles of absolute zero, etc., and when coupled with the thick canopy of the trees above the entire forest, which blocks out the sunlight almost entirely, renders Yoshpet as a dark and treacherous landscape. If one is to be lost in the woods, then there is no way to escape the cursed forest.
Story
Background
Some time prior to the events of Ōkami, Lika, a young Oina girl who possesses great spiritual powers, were lured into Yoshpet during a sleepwalk. She said that during her dreams, she saw two owls inviting her to play in the forest. Some witnesses also says that during the trance, Lika headed for the Spirit Gate.
Ōkami
Even though the entire of Kamui were accessible after Amaterasu revives the area's Guardian Sapling, the entrance to Yoshpet remains firmly sealed. After talking with an Oina shaman, she gave Amaterasu the Sewaprolo, which enables the sun goddess to bypass the Oina seal. Before departing for the forest, Amaterasu had a conversation with Kai, and she agreed to guide Amaterasu through Yoshpet. Later, just briefly after entering the dark woods, Amaterasu and Issun encounters Waka again, waiting for them. He doesn't give any prophecy, but instead states that he is "looking for an iron vessel stuck in ice". After Waka departs, Amaterasu meets Kai, also waiting for her. She prays to the sacred beings of the Oina to grant her and Amaterasu the ability to cross the forest, and make a run to the other side. After following Kai through the confusing woods, they finally reaches the village of the Poncles, Ponc'tan.
Sidequest
- Optional race against Kai: After defeating Lechku and Nechku, revisiting Yoshpet will have Kai at the forest entrance, asking Amaterasu for a race through the forest. Should Amaterasu win, the Oina girl will give her Stray Bead #90. This is one of the hardest challenges in the game as Kai has several advantages over Amaterasu including being faster than her on ice: memorising the shortcuts is essential, as is memorising where icicles fall. It is a good idea to equip Solar Flare as it can be used to destroy fallen icicles and prevent time loss from being frozen.
Obtained items
Stray Beads
- #88: Near the end of the second section of the forest.
- #89: At the end of the dead end in the end of the third section.
- #90: Obtained after defeating Kai in the aforementioned optional race.
Trivia
- Per Issun's words, Yoshpet is a name in the ancient Oina language that means "consuming forest".
- Like most such things, failing to reach the goal in time does not count as a death for purposes of end-game rankings. It is actually a good idea to fail once or twice in order to methodically bloom all of the Cursed Trees, as otherwise the race with Kai for the Stray Bead will be even harder than usual.
- Yoshpet bears similarities to the Lost Forest from the Legend of Zelda series, as the woods are incredibly dangerous to humans, cannot be navigated without a guide, and are just outside of a village.