If you explore a bit you'll find a site of grace that's directly in front of one of the gates. I also switched to frost damage and it made the fight almost trivial.
I didn't mean in terms of difficulty, but in terms of being "dignified" as a horror image, which was what GP was quoting from Miyazaki. Also I don't mean it as a way to point out some sort of hypocrisy, but that sometimes concessions were made. Horrible, horrible concessions.