L5R Third Century

210: Disappearance of the Kami Hida

In the year 210, the aged Kami of the Crab took up his tetsubo, announced he intended to seek out his lost son, and departed into the Shadowlands. He was never seen again.

223: War with the Rocs

Crossing a vast mountain range, the Ki-Rin are attacked by men riding gigantic birds, large enough to carry a man and his steed off. The two forces battle for days amid the snow-capped mountains before students of Iuchi call down the mountain-side to crush their enemies. The gambit is successful, but destroys the pass through which the Ki-Rin entered, permanently blocking the path leading back to the Ujik-hai and Rokugan.

In response, Shinjo splits the Hantei's mirror into four pieces then divides the Ki-Rin into four groups to search for a passage home. Each group leaves in a different direction, and the mirrors allow them to communicate with one another intermittently.

234: Formation of the Shinmaki Shinseist sect

At the twentieth Great Convocation, a monk called Basso appears, claiming to have in his possession a lost compilation of Shinsei’s wisdom, written immediately before the Little Prophet disappeared into the Shadowlands. Many believe its philosophies are an outgrowth of Togashi’s interpretations of Shinsei’s wisdom, rather than Shiba’s. Basso urges the wisdom of this “Diamond Sutra” over other collections of Shinsei’s writing. Basso’s urgings were considered outrageous by some, including the legendary monk Kobo, who left the meeting and was never seen again. At the Convocation’s end, enough monks had embraces Basso’s ideas that a new sect, Shinmaki Shinseism, came into being. The exact teachings of this sect remain a mystery to all save those within it, as the differences between the Diamond Sutra and the original Tao are subtle to be sure. Even so, subtle differences in a document as important as the Tao are enough to cause a wide rift between the Shinmake and other Shinseists.

243: Invention of Koku

Yasuki Tanaka invents the koku. The system of exchanging items of worth for goods or services existed long before Tanaka, but his design is the koku recognized today. The koku's design features the kanji of the Fortunes on one side and the Kami on the other. Though they are simple and recognizable, Tanaka's coins manage to confound most attempts at forgery. When the Emperor inquires as to the nature of the strange little copper coin (which was, at that point, exclusively used by the Crane) Tanaka gladly provides the Emperor with his minting plates as a gift.

247: Death of Hantei Genji

Like his father, Genji is said to have ascended into the Celestial Heavens upon his death. The latter part of Hantei Genji's rule secures Shinseism and the philosophy of Shintao in the Empire, although it does not become widely popular until later in the history of the Empire. Hantei Ningi succeeds him.

251: Togashi Kaze is executed

The ise zumi Togashi Kaze, progenitor of kaze-do, is called before Hantei Ningi to demonstrate his arts. As he refused all other samurai before him, Togashi kaze refuses even the Emperor, and he orders his Emerald Champion to cut him down. He refuses, and commits seppuku. The Hantei then tells his general, a Matsu, that he will become Champion if he slays the monk. The Matsu does not hesitate, and the monk dies, but kaze-do survives.

254: Formation of the Shintao sect

At the twenty-second Great Convocation, it is decided to resolve the growing disputes between the monks by dividing the Brotherhood into multiple sects. Of these, the Shintao sect is the largest.

283: Death of Isawa Akuma

Isawa Akuma loses control, and his soul, to the extremely powerful Oni that he summoned and bound to his name. Oni no Akuma utterly destroys the province in which it gained freedom, and carves an unstoppable path of destruction before finally reaching the Shadowlands.

Only the Maw ever gained greater infamy since, and only for the army it led.