I've played a bit with Bakemonos myself, somewhat differently...I agree that this nation can't use any Bless strategy effectlively, but I find them very powerful in "late early" and midgame.
As pretender I'd get something with high Astral and Nature (Gr Dragon, Lady of Fortune...), to complement the wonderful Sorcerers, boost Ubas'Nature skill and have access to Nature and Astral rituals. Or else a big Death lich or something like that.
As scales I take Prod2 to have "Dai-Bakemonos factories" rather early in the game -where they can bash anything that may your opponents field at that time. Order2 is a must also, and Growth1 can be cool (for long games). Misf1 and drain2 are ok (with drain2 you'll have to use Ubas for research, but there's also a case for taking Magic1 and use cheap shamans...).
After expansion with Bandits and archers, recruiting will switch to Dai Bakemono, they rock ! Bandits will still be useful later as stealth troops.
The Dai-B archers *are really great* : for 4 res more than a sword-wielding one those guys scripted with "Hold & Attack" send 3 good-prec longbows volleys to advancing enemies - with Fire arrows it's deadly !- then they finish the work with no-dashis
They have somewhat lower stats (-1 morale, strength, MR and def) that the swordsman so I usually mix both types in groups.
The small Bakemono archers can be recruited en masse, again Flaming arrows makes them deadly. Having no capitol-only troops is really great in midgame, as you can recruit your best troops anywhere.
O Bakemonos are pretty useful for earmy expansion, as they cost no resource and can bash small indies. Later they need LoS to survive, I usually spread some O-Bakemonos along my Dai-Bakemono armies.
Note that the Bakemono General is so good it can make a small thug...The Mujina assassin is very weak and useless though IMHO.
Kappas are pretty limited : they can not face more than light inf on the ground, but gives you access to water.
Magic : I really like the sorcerors...1 out of 4 will have E2F2W2D2 and be a perfect early site searcher, going along with a N2 uba. They will also make great forgers.
The other makes excellent support mages : the sorcs with E3 (soon E4 with boots) will shine with LoS and BW, then Earthquake , those with F3 will use Flaming Arrows and cast various fireworks, D3 sorcs will skellspam and later summon death and national creatures (Ghost General is great, think of an Ethereal Bane !
).
The others sorcs still have Rust Mist and Acid stuff, Magma bolts and some more... And all can summon sizeable Oni armies at a relatively good price.
Death magic plus growth scale will result in few "old age" sorc losses (plus their 23 hp make them survive diseases longer), and for those you really don't want to lose you have Twiceborn.
I've not yet played real MP endgames with this nation so will be less sure, but I suppose that specializing in Death would give the best results. A Earth/Forge/Artifacts strategy seems also usable.
What is really cool with MA Shinuyama is also its versatility, as you can adapt to numerous threats due to your wide array of magic.
