*AUTHOR'S NOTE*
2022 29th of July
This guide was originally written post-release of the game, and was not intended to be a full technical examination of the fight. This guide was written to help new players (like me) get over the hurdle of this boss, and was written at a time when few/no other guides existed on this fight. Please keep these things in mind before telling me in the comments how many frames I should be waiting to execute a three-step attack that guarantees to stagger the boss. I would be shocked to find out that there are no other superior guides out there with technical information and strategies.

Going forward I have no plans to edit the guide towards reflecting a more detailed or technical way to win the fight.
Consider this guide a time capsule, if you will, of a time about one or two weeks after the game's launch, when the forums were full of bitter comments entailing how unfair of a filter this boss is compared to the early game Dark Souls bosses.
-VVizard
*END AUTHOR'S NOTE*



You can return to a shrine in this fight, but it is difficult to pull off consistently.

The best way to usually succeed in this is to start by luring her to a corner by one of the support beams, where you want her to get started with an attack animation. Before she finishes the attack, quickly sprint away parallel to the four support beams, putting as many between you and her as you can. By this point you should have your talisman of strategic retreat ready. Sit behind but not close to the support beam and initiate your escape yoga.
Ideally you will have just enough time to get away, but only if she gets hung up on the way to you either by throwing or stopping to walk in preparation for her next attack. If you aren't quick enough, there's a good chance she'll hit you just before you finish your breathing exercises. If you aren't positioned correctly, there's a good chance she'll interrupt you with a kunai or four.
If you get hit, simply lure her to the perpendicular corner and try the process again.

It may be wise to spend a lot of money on sen pouches and bags at the trader by the stairway shrine in the outskirts, as well as using whatever skill points you've accumulated before beginning your dance with the noble Lady.

This fight is incredibly difficult, especially with less than four gourds. If you are only in possession of three gourds then it is highly advised that you continue through the outskirts until you have defeated the demonic horseman (who is easier to beat than you may think), where you will acquire an item which raises your base attack stat. In addition, heading up the stairs opposite the shrine will lead you to a merchant who will sell you a fourth gourd seed. You may also highly benefit from increasing the gourd potency through the skill tree, though it is not necessary to achieve victory.

The general strategy of this fight is simple but frustrating: keep a respectful distance, block heavily, and chip off health until she is weak enough for a net loss of posture.
She blocks nearly every attack, but will have a hard time blocking just after finishing an attack. This means you will be spending the majority of the fight punishing her for missing you, but with only a single hit. After you land your attack it is safe to attempt a second (and rarely a third), but she will usually block it so it's safest to distance yourself and go right back on the defensive.
She only has two unblockable attacks, both of which are telegraphed quite heavily. The first is her jump stab, which is easy to avoid by sprinting away from it or jumping away just before she lands. The second is a very quick low sweeping attack. She can use it on its own, which makes it difficult to avoid at times, but most often will use it as a follow up to another melee attack. This sweeping attack is very easy to avoid by simply jumping, though jumping away will give you a better position to follow up and defend.
She has three attack combos, all of which can be blocked in entirety without draining your posture (when you are above half HP). Two of these combos are not terribly difficult to perfect parry for that posture reduction, but will require practice to learn the timing.

• The first combo begins with kunai throwing, and usually follows up with her jumping and tossing a whole heap of kunai a few times, only to finish by jumping away and tossing a three-way split of kunai. All of these are able to be blocked fairly easily, though you may have your posture broken by the second or third set of throws. The last throw is easy to dodge by holding block and walking towards her and to the left/right--you'll go right between the split or block trying.
  
• The second combo is a short three-attack one that begins with a slash and ends with a moderatly slow telegraphed stomp. The first hit is very easy to perfect parry; the second is best to regular block; the stomp is best to dash back and then punish her, but can be blocked if necessary.
  
• The third combo is an irritating mess of attacks that begins with a quick double slash, followed by a flurry of slashes, then she jumps back onto a wire and projects herself towards you with a strong slash. The first hit is not too bad to perfect parry, but you will be better off regular blocking the second slash of the double slash as well as the flurry. When she gets up on the wire you will have time to ready yourself for a perfect parry, but blocking is just as acceptable. If you want to you can waste a shuriken on knocking her off the wire, but this is ill advised until she is low enough in HP to guarantee that the high posture damage sticks around long enough to be useful.

Her remaining attacks are a high-jump stomp that is perfect for punishing (but easy to mistake for the unblockable jump stab), and slashing counters to your attacks. All can be blocked, but the counters are best avoided by not attacking more than once or twice per punishment.
Once she is at about 1/4 or 1/6 HP she will be unable to regenerate her posture at the usual ludicrous speed. This means the emboldened wolf can start to attack slightly more frequently in order to build up posture damage, though it is advised to still prioritize defense. The best ways to drain her posture quickly are to perfect parry the easy attacks, punish and weary her a bit, and infrequently knock her from her wires with a shuriken. She can block these when she is perched vertically on the wire, is vulnerable mid-air or during the aforementioned flurry combo's last attack.

*Note: if you are having trouble with phase one it is advisable to escape before using more than half of your gourds. Trust me, you will want at least half of your gourds for phase two.
It is alright to use them to assist in your brave escape, but it is best to save your last gourd for after you use one (and only one) resurrection.

Hopefully you saved at least half your gourds (and a single resurrection) for this phase, because taking damage will be much more difficult to avoid, and posture loss can make or break the fight, particularly when she uses the flurry combo or the unblockable sweep.

Phase two is literally just phase one with homing missiles and a few extra attacks, therefore the majority of the phase one strategy still applies.
The important difference is that you will want to dodge the homing missiles (often only two or four are fired at the same time, though she has a mass missile attack that will be covered shortly), though blocking works if you can tolerate losing some HP. The easiest method of handling this annoying difference is keeping a little extra distance, sprinting away from and dodging the first two missiles, then closing the distance while dodging the final two missiles. This process will slow the fight down a bit, especially if you have not just about mastered phase one's strategy, but is preferable to having your HP and posture whittled down by blocking instead.
Her extra attacks generally revolve around the most noticeable change from phase one: the minions. These guys are just a time sink, and are best avoided, but can be killed individually pretty easily if you really want to risk the damage. They do not require confetti to damage, and can be dispersed with a snap pea, but dispersing them is not a wise move since the snap peas are difficult to acquire for some time.
The best method of dealing with the minions is to run around the periphery of the crowd avoiding damage from either them or our Lady. After a short time she will turn them into an equal amount of homing missiles which will rise into the air and then target you en mass. Remember the support beams? They can be used to avoid a lot of these missiles, but chances are a few will swing wide enough to hit you if you do hide. This means the optimal way to avoid them is to, like before, sprint around the edges of the area (you can avoid them even better by starting to turn your sprint inwards as the missiles approach, just like with Aldrich's magic missiles in Dark Souls 3).
While the minions are active, our Lady will perch on wires to observe the fray for a bit, and infrequently will throw kunai or jump down and attack you briefly before returning to her perch. She is best ignored until the minions and resulting missiles have left the building, upon which she will resume the fight in the usual manner. If all goes well, you will only have to deal with the minion summons once or twice, but if it goes typically then you may see them as many as four times before you succumb to the sweet release of unsatisfying death.
Like in phase one, you may decide to push your advantage when she starts to get low in HP. However, unlike in phase one, you would be better off waiting until she is at much lower HP (1/8, 1/10, probably even less than either of those) to go on the offensive. This is because of the homing missiles' tendency to keep your health low and your posture slouched, which makes handling her counters more dangerous overall.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/998017978607016535/68E3F184F61A0E52DE2C97EA3758CD15515D68E4/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
Once you break her, you will be rewarded with the most satisfying release of endorphins you've felt since killing the drunkard earlier, as well as not one, but two finishers in a row. Now that it's over: control your breathing, watch the cutscene, then apologize to your neighbors and roommates for shouting "YOU OLD ♥♥♥♥♥" so loud and frequently.

An express summary for the thoroughly practiced or absolutely frustrated

• Invest in money bags or go bankrupt
  
• Block a lot
  
• Attack once at a time
  
• Jump away from the unblockables
  
• Save the shurikens for the second phase
  
• Save half of your gourds for the second phase
  
• Save a resurrection for the second phase
  
• It's okay to run away (especially if you have low/no gourds or resurrections, and especially on phase one)
  
• Phase two is phase one with homing missiles
  
• Avoid the minions
  
• Dodge and run from the missiles
  
• Screenshot the finishing move
  
• Apologize to your neighbors and roommates after you win