If you’ve spent any time wandering the mist-shrouded mountains and forested valleys of Ghost of Yotei, you’ve probably stumbled across at least one small, framed sumi-e painting tucked in a hidden shrine or abandoned cabin. Far from just decorative background items, these art pieces hold secret lore about the region’s forgotten history and unlock exclusive rewards when you track down the full set. This guide breaks down all sumi e paintings ghost of yotei has hidden across its map, plus tips to make your hunt far less frustrating.
What Makes Sumi-e Paintings in Ghost of Yotei Worth Collecting?
Most players don’t realize just how many benefits come with tracking down these small art pieces, beyond the simple joy of crossing a collectible off your list. The dev team worked directly with professional traditional Japanese sumi-e artists to create every individual painting, so each one is a legitimate work of art in its own right, not just a random game asset. First, each painting comes with a 200 XP bonus when you interact with it, which adds up to 3,000 total XP for the full set — enough to unlock two full skill tree points early in your playthrough. Second, the full collection unlocks the rare Sumi-e Ink Robe skin, a fan-favorite cosmetic that makes your character blend in perfectly with dark forest and mountain environments during stealth missions. Finally, each painting’s description unlocks a small piece of regional lore that reveals the backstory of the mountain’s ghost and why the region fell to corruption, filling in gaps left by the main story campaign.
If you start to feel burnt out after searching multiple remote locations for missing paintings, it’s always a good idea to take a short break to reset your focus. Lots of players keep low-stakes casual games on hand for these short gaps, to keep their mind occupied without pulling them too far away from their play session. Fans of card games often load up INDRummy for quick, 5-minute rounds that let them unwind before jumping back into their hunt for the next painting.
All Sumi-e Paintings in Ghost of Yotei: Region by Region Locations
There are 15 total sumi-e paintings scattered across the game’s three main regions, and we’ve organized them in the most efficient order to avoid unnecessary backtracking. Make sure you have the climbing gear and exploration sense upgrades unlocked before you start, as you’ll need both to reach every painting on the list:
- Northern Mountain Slopes (7 paintings): Most of these are tucked in abandoned mountain shrines, hidden behind frozen waterfalls, or inside small huts used by former herders. You’ll need the climbing gear upgrade to reach three of the highest locations in this region, so make sure you complete the blacksmith’s side quest first before hunting here.
- Central Forest Valleys (6 paintings): These are mostly hidden inside hollow tree trunks, under loose floorboards in abandoned farmhouses, or tucked behind stone altars in small roadside shrines. Keep an eye out for small glowing blue fireflies, as they almost always lead to a hidden collectible in this region.
- Southern Coastal Villages (2 paintings): The last two paintings are held by friendly NPCs, so you don’t have to hunt for them in hidden spots. You’ll get the first after completing the fisherman’s lost shipment side quest, and the second after helping the village elder retrieve his stolen family heirloom from a bandit camp.
We recommend hunting for the paintings in this order, starting from the northernmost point of the map and working your way south. This lets you avoid backtracking across large swathes of the map, and you’ll pick up useful gear and complete small side quests along the way that make the rest of your playthrough easier. If you’re playing on hard mode, you’ll also find small healing items and ammo stashed near most painting locations, which makes the hunt even more worth your while if you’re running low on supplies. If you still can’t find a specific painting, try using your exploration sense ability to highlight hidden interactable items within a 50 meter radius, as this will pick up even paintings tucked behind walls or under floorboards.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting for Sumi-e Paintings
Even with a location list, many players make simple mistakes that cause them to miss paintings for hours, or even lock them out of collecting the full set entirely. One of the most common mistakes is starting your hunt before you unlock the exploration sense upgrade, which makes it almost impossible to find paintings hidden behind obstacles or under floors. Without this upgrade, you’ll have to check every single nook and cranny manually, which adds hours of unnecessary work to your hunt.
Another common mistake is skipping the side quests in the southern coastal villages, since many players assume all collectibles are found in hidden spots instead of being given as quest rewards. If you skip these two quests, you’ll never be able to unlock the full collection, even if you find every other hidden painting on the map. Finally, make sure you don’t sell or discard any paintings you pick up, even if you think you already have a copy. The game only counts paintings you have in your inventory when you turn the full set in to the art master, so losing even one means you’ll have to go back and find it again.
What to Do After You Collect All Sumi-e Paintings
Once you have all 15 sumi-e paintings in your inventory, head to the art master’s hut in the central forest region, just east of the largest fast travel point. When you hand over the full set, he’ll give you the Sumi-e Ink Robe skin first, then unlock a special side quest that lets you explore the spirit realm of the Yotei ghost to learn the full, unredacted story of the region’s fall. This side quest takes roughly 45 minutes to complete, and unlocks an additional endgame weapon skin for your katana that deals extra damage to corrupted spirit enemies.
You’ll also unlock a special display case in your home base that shows all the paintings you collected, so you can go back and re-read their lore entries any time you want. Many players choose to take screenshots of their full collection to share with the Ghost of Yotei community, as the art style of the paintings is widely considered one of the most beautiful design elements of the entire game. If you’re proud of your collection, don’t hesitate to post it in community groups to help other players who are still working on their own hunt.
Tracking down every collectible in an open world game can feel like a daunting task, but the sumi-e painting set is one of the most rewarding small side activities Ghost of Yotei has to offer. Between the useful gameplay rewards, the fascinating hidden lore, and the stunning art pieces themselves, it’s well worth setting aside a couple of hours to track down all sumi e paintings ghost of yotei has hidden across its map. Even if you’re not usually a completionist, you’ll be glad you took the time to hunt these down once you see the full story and unlock the exclusive rewards that come with the full collection.