Sekiro: 7 Weirdest Enemies (And What They Represent)

The bulls of Sekiro are pretty standard in their depiction as raging livestock, apart from the decorations that sit on their horns.

The Blazing Bull in particular, with its flaming headpiece, instantly conjures up images of the Brazen Bull. This was a torture device shaped like a hollowed out bronze bull that a person would be shoved inside and a fire lit beneath, eventually cooking the victim alive. Whilst this was a product of ancient Greece, the connotations of a flaming animal intent on death are impossible to ignore.

As for the Sakura Bull, the Cherry Blossoms that decorate its horns are a classic symbol of the fleeting nature of life in Japan, due to the trees extremely short flowering cycle. And obviously, the face peeled back to the bone also reinforces this reading.

Bull-fighting in Japan has been around for centuries, though it's a world away from its Spanish counterpart. In Tōgyū, spectators watch the entertainment sport of two bulls locked in a head to head pushing match instead of a human enraging the beast. The representation of Tōgyū feels apt with there being two bulls in the game, each at either end of the spectrum for their elemental powers: one of destructive inferno, and one of the life cycle, both constantly at war.