These are known through the game as Divine Instruments. They can be optained through defeating bosses and buying them from merchants. Some even grant elemental powers whenever Amaterasu needs it. Two Divine Instruments can be equipped at a time, one as a main weapon and another as a sub. Each weapon acts differently depending on what it's set to.
When you start a new game all weapons will be brought forward to the new file except the final tier weapons.

The Reflector
The ancient mirror treasure was used, not as a mirror in the modern sense, but as a ceremonial object. We tried out a lot of...

Although Capcom's brilliant Zelda tribute Okami started life on the PlayStation 2, it proved a more natural fit on the Wii. The paintbrush mechanic that allowed you to daub great swathes of colour over a drained landscape was ideally suited to the Wii Remote. It's no great surprise then to see that thinking carried through to its natural conclusion - a version for the DS, whose stylus is perhaps an even better pretend-paintbrush.

Amaterasu is gone, but in her place is Chibiterasu, a younger, altogether cuter canine crusader. On her back is Kuninushi, the more vocal of the pair and Chibiterasu's...

The Eight Canine Warriors are based on the epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (南總里見八犬傳; the last kanji is sometimes written in the simplified form 伝) by Kyokutei Bakin, which was serially published in 106 volumes from 1814-1842. Nansō is an archaic name for Awa Province; Hakkenden means "Legend of the Eight Dogs".

At the beginning of this novel, Satomi Yoshizane becomes the lord of Awa province by overthrowing its previous ruler. He also executes the previous ruler's wife, who curses his family; her spirit later possesses a foundling puppy, whom Yoshizane adopts and names Yatsufusa...

The inspiration for Issun, Amaterasu's wisecracking sidekick, as well as the Lucky Mallet.

After years of marriage, a childless couple begged the gods for a child, even if they were as small as a fingertip. And thus, the gods took their words literally, and Issun Bōshi was born.

When he turned fifteen years old, Issun traveled to the capital of Kyoto, bringing with him a rice bowl, a pair of chopsticks, and a needle inside a bamboo sheath. He went down the river using the bowl as a boat, and the chopsticks as oars. When he arrived to the city, the boy was employed under the service of a noble...