Isawa Osugi

Legend of the Five Rings card from Pearl Edition, Anvil of Despair, Jade Edition

Card Type

Personality

Force

1

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

0

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

4

Clan

Phoenix

Keywords

Unique, Phoenix Clan, Prodigy, Shugenja

Card Text

Osugi will not have more than one Spell.
Osugi will not gain Shadowlands.
When paying to Equip a Spell to Osugi, you may reduce its Gold Cost to 0 until it enters play.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Isawa Osugi 1F/4C 0HR 8G 4PH Phoenix Clan Prodigy. Shugenja. Unique. Any effect that would give Isawa Osugi the Shadowlands trait is canceled and has all effects negated. Isawa Osugi cannot have more than one Spell attached at any time. Spells have their Gold cost reduced to 0 when being attached to Isawa Osugi." [MRP, Pearl Edition] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105
• Will negate the gold as well as the Shadowlands trait if the Sacred Temples of the Phoenix stronghold is bowed to produce 7G to pay for her or for a spell for her. [Card text, DW, 12/11/96] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105
• Her reduction of the spell's gold cost to zero lasts until the end of the turn. [DW, personal correspondence, 1/10/98] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 34
• Erratum: Changed: is now Unique. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 16
• Accumulated Rulings Accumulated Rulings, April 22, 1998, p. 20

Rules Q&A

• Q: If you're using the sacred temples stronghold, can you bow it to produce 7 gold to bring an Isawa Oshugi into play? It says to gives the shuggenja the shadowlands trait, but it lists it after the gold production, so to my understandment of the rules it would produce 7, allow to bring Osugi and the rest of the effects are canceled by Osugi's card text, so she does not get the shadowlands trait and you gain honor as normal from buying her for full....
  A: Osugi negates all effects of anything that would give her the Shadowlands trait. That includes the gold produced by the Sacred Temples. (Osugi's trait was specifically put on her to prevent the Temples from producing 7g for her, by the way.) Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 March 2003", 12 Mar 2003
• Q: RE: This
  To avoid confusion, I would like to point out that while the above ruling is correct, the reason given for it is not.
  Zen's assertion that "Negation never undoes already resolved effects" was a rule in Lotus Edition, but is no longer true in Samurai Edition (see here).
  The actual reason the above ruling is correct is the following:
  http://rules.l5r.com/Effects#Negating_effects: "If “all effects” of an action or trait are negated partway through the action or trait’s resolution, instantaneous effects that have already resolved are not undone, but ongoing effects that have already resolved are negated."
  A: Yes, should have clarified "instantaneous effects." Sorry. Zen Faulkes, "Dark Oracle of Earth xp and Isawa Osugi", 5 Feb 2008
• Q: If I use the Dark Oracle ability on a face down card, and turns Osugi face up, will she turn back face down?
  A: No. Negation never undoes already resolved effects. Zen Faulkes, "Dark Oracle of Earth xp and Isawa Osugi", 4 Feb 2008
• Q: [Imperial] what happens if I try to buy Isawa Osugi with the Shadowlands giving ability of Sacred Temple of the Phoenix?
  A: In Imperial, you cannot do it. The effect of producing more gold is overridden by her trait. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 2 Sep 2026
• Q: [Jade] if you use The Sacred Temple of the Phoenix to produce 7 gold to bring Isawa Osugi into play for full, does net your 4 honor? (Like using the SH plus another holding for the last gold I mean, like that and a small farm)
  A: No. I believe in contemporary Jade Rules, you could not even buy Osugi with the 7 Gold at all because her trait would also cancel the Gold production, which was considered an "effect" at that time. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 23 May 2026