Shin Jidaigeki Action Rasetsu no Ken/ Ronin Blade/ Soul of the Samurai

Yeah, it has 3 different names depending on which region it was released in.

This game is definitely a precursor of Onimusha. It has sidestepping, counter hits, blocking, magic attacks, a female ninja companion, fixed camera and some sort of monsters as enemies (I have the Japanese version and no idea what the story is).

This game might be worth an article Roy, similar to the Rising Zan one.

For a series that was so popular in its day, there is frightfully little information to be found on Onimusha. But I'll keep this title in mind for future reference; good find. It looks eerily similar. With this and Rising Zan I'm really starting to thing that if a project fails at Capcom they'll just...grab a game they saw which had potential and remake it but better...