my fellow yokai enthusiast! i had mostly an incredible experience from start to finish. the gameplay was pretty fun, even though the controls felt a little stiff, especially the combat; when attacking, the locking felt way too much.
the only part that i got frustrated with was the suzaku fight, because sometimes when attacking him during his vulnerability time, he would instantly make an attack in melee range (i felt it was because damage canceled his return action or something), which had no window to dodge at all. the other bosses were great, though.
the way you handled ability gate bypasses was neat. when going up towards seiryu, i did not find the stone pillar that goes directly up; i've gone through by wall jumping the wall and the torii gates.
playing through the game both with upgrades and no upgrades was fun in its own way. the first time i beat the game without all upgrades, because i felt the wall jump did most of the things i needed in order to proceed. but it was by design, which felt good.
in the end, congratulations for your entry!!