Kaiu Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from The War of Spirits

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

+0

Keywords

Crab Clan, Naga, Ratling, Scorpion Clan, Shadowlands Horde

Card Text

During battles, your non-Unique Fortifications' traits affect each of your Provinces, and you may use such Fortifications' abilities, as if they were attached to the current battlefield's Province.
Your Fortifications in and out of play with a printed Gold Cost of 1 or more have a minimum Gold Cost of 1.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• If two copies of the same fortification are attached to different Provinces, their trait effects are cumulative. [JA, 6 November 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 141
• Cards that look for the number of fortifications to a Province (e.g., Fortified Ground) will only count those actually attached. [VRD, 13 November 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 141
• Abilities of Unique fortifications can only be used at their own province. [Card text, JA, 6 April 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 141

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hi, if you are playing with Kaiu Sensei and Connecting Walls, what is the total bonus to each of your 4 provinces during battle?
  A: Jeff Alexander answered this one last week in the email, "rules for 26 March 2004."
  In short, +4/+6/+6/+4. Double that for two of them. Martin Lund, "Rules for 7 April 2004", 8 Apr 2004
• Q: Hi, if you are playing with Kaiu Sensei and Connecting Walls, what is the total bonus to each of your 4 provinces during battle?
  My guess is +4/+6/+6/+4 for one Connecting Walls. Correct?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 26 March 2004", 29 Mar 2004
• Q: My personal favorite is Unscalable Walls. Whoever worded this one is a genius. "This Province gains +4 Strength while Unscalable Walls are attached." This nixes Kaiu Sensei partially. 2 provinces each with 1 Unscalable Walls will get +8 each (+4 from each trait), but the others without Unscalable Walls attached get squat. Very creative fix to a big Kaiu Sensei rant! Kudos are much deserved to whoever thought that one up!
  A: I assure you this was utterly unintended. The "while Unscalable Walls are attached" bit is a clarification that it's not a one-time, one-turn bonus that's only enjoyed on the turn the Walls are brought into play. Jessica and I tried to be thorough in Gold when it came to spelling out non-default durations so we wouldn't have to rely so much on common sense. Kaiu Sensei was not felt to be overpoweringly strong, and even if it were, there are plenty of other non-unique Fortifications just as powerful as Unscalable Walls when used in combination with it. It would make no sense to change just the Walls. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 28-30 June", 5 Jul 2001
• Q: Kaiu Sensei states that "During battle, the traits of all of your non-Unique Fortifications are in effect for each of your Provinces and you may use the Fortifications' abilities as if the Fortifications were at the battle's Provence". It's not clear if the Unique Fortifications' abilities may be used in every province.
  A: They can't. The second sentence is still referring to the "all of your non-Unique Fortifications" phrase in the first. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 29 March 2001", 5 Apr 2001
• Q: This message was originally submitted by darkangel@GCI.NET to the L5RINFO list at ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM. <L5RINFO@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
  If my opponent attacks province 4 which has no fortifications attached, and I have 3 fortifications on province 1, can I play Fortified Ground in province 4 and send 3 units home? Does Kaiu Sensei consider the 3 forts in my other province in play at every province?
  A: It lets you use actions, and benefit from traits, which are on the Fortifications as though they were there, but that's it. They don't count as being on the current Province for anything else. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 26 March 2001", 30 Mar 2001
• Q: Alright..I was thinking, since the Kaiu sensei allows all your fortifications to act as if they were in every province, then destroying one province will destroy ALL fortifications they have, correct? Or am I just not thinking clearly on this one?
  A: You are not correct. Their abilities can be used during battles at all Provinces, and their traits are in effect, as though the Fortifications were everywhere, but they are not actually present. They cannot be destroyed with things like Firebreathers and they are not destroyed if the Province is. (Barracks is an exception to this due entirely to its own text.) Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 8 February 2001", 14 Feb 2001
• Q: Given the ruling that the Warrens is not a Ratling Stronghold, but a Nezumi Stronghold, and the fact that Kaiu Sensei lists the Ratling clan as being able to use it; can the Warrens use Kaiu Sensei?
  A: Of course. The Nezumi ruling came about only to address the problem of what trait cards like Oath of Fealty give to Ratlings, since the rulebook says the "Ratling Clan" has no members.
  "Ratling" works just like "Shadowlands" on Sensei cards. The Strongholds associated with these factions are readily identifiable, despite the words not matching a rulebook- listed alignment trait. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 5 February 2000", 8 Feb 2001
• Q: Suppose I have Kaiu Sensei in play, and a Barracks with Followers attached.
  * first, is the Barracks considered a unit without a Personality?
  A: Yes, by card text. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 16 January 2001", 19 Jan 2001
• Q: * if it can receive Force bonuses that normally last until the end of the turn, are these bonuses still active in another battle? (in other words, under Kaiu Sensei, is it considered to be the same Personality in different battles?)
  A: The Personality can't receive bonuses, but the Followers and the unit can, and they'd last their normal duration. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 16 January 2001", 19 Jan 2001
• Q: I realize that this question has probably already been asked, but I probably missed the answer.
  If using Kaiu Sensei, and you have a Barracks in play, do the followers in the barracks contribute force to defending all of your provinces?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 17 January 2001", 19 Jan 2001
• Q: When using Kaiu Sensei:
  1. Has it been ruled conclusively that Followers at a Barracks are considered to be at all Provinces?
  A: Yes. Barracks says "During battles at this province, the Barracks and its Followers act as a defending unit if the Barracks has any Followers attached." That's a trait, so it's active during battles at all your Provinces as though it were at that Province. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 13 January 2001", 16 Jan 2001
• Q: I have 3 provinces, each with a Moat. And I play with a Kaiu Sensei. Is each attacking personality and each attacking Follower at -3 Force?
  A: Yup. Kaiu Sensei is very cool. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for December 21st", 21 Dec 2000
• Q: So with 3 Barbicans under Kaiu Sensei you could Double, Double, Stars Scatter and double again.
  The answer you were looking for is a card effect only applies once from a particular copy of that card.
  So once a particular Barbican doubles the original ranged attack no matter what other effects may occur to it that Barbican's doubling effect cannot apply again.
  A: The counterargument to that is that, once Stars Scatter has been played, the new RA's are not the same RA as the original one. They are all completely new Ranged Attacks, and should get all existing bonuses again. For balance's sake, though, I think that the whole thing, Stars Scatter and all, should just be counted once when assessing bonuses. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for December 11th", 11 Dec 2000
• Q: I have seen it mentioned on this list several times that a player with Kaiu Sensei in play could blow a Bridged Pass at one province to stop an attack on another.
  Remember that Kaiu Sensei only confers the *Traits* of fortifications during battle to other provinces. The ability to end a battle via Bridged Pass is an ability, and not a trait. Therefore to use Bridged Pass to end a battle, even with Kaiu Sensei, the Bridged Pass must be at the province being attacked. The same goes for Pitch and Fire.
  A: Kaiu Sensei also lets you use abilities on your Fortifications as if they were in the battle being resolved. Using Bridged Pass to end a battle where it isn't is perfectly kosher if you're a Kaiu Sensei man. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 15th", 15 Nov 2000
• Q: It's been quite a while, any word on viewtopic.php?f=59&t=108862
  A: Answered at the linked thread. Jon Palmer, "Pending question (Open - Temple of Blood under Kaiu Sensei)", 19 Jul 2014
• Q: I am crossing my fingers for a "no they don't combo" answer, because Temple's reaction, being repeatable, becomes a little too strong if usable at each province... but anyway:
  Temple of Blood's Reaction is:
  Reaction: Before engaging in a battle at this Province's battlefield, name a Strategy. While this Holding remains in play, until this battle ends, the named Strategy may not be played.
  Whilst Kaiu Sensei reads:
  During battles, your non-Unique Fortifications' traits affect each of your Provinces, and you may use such Fortifications' abilities, as if they were attached to the current battlefield's Province.
  And yet from the comprehensive (EE) rules:
  "Engaging is the time point at which the battle, and the Combat Segment, both begin. Specifically, things that are triggered “before engaging” do not occur in or during the battle, and things that are triggered “after engaging” do occur in and during the battle. "
  This paragraph has neither been reprinted (I think) nor revoked in the IvE rules, so I'm not sure if it still applies, but it DOES seem logical...
  So is the Reaction from Temple of Blood considered "during battle", and thus usable at every province for a Kaiu Sensei player?
  A: No, and the reason is exactly what you cited. The battle has not yet begun when reactions taken before engaging happen. Jon Palmer, "Temple of Blood and Kaiu Sensei", 11 Jul 2014
• Q: [OBH] So Barracks and Kaiu Sensei... some questions:
  - As it doesn't perform the attaching action, I assume Luxurious Silk's ability (now that it can no longer be used for recruit or attach actions) allows you to pay for those followers?
  - During battle at provinces where Barracks is not attached, am I correct in understanding that this creates a sort of quantum unit, which can perform actions and be targeted by actions (provided they don't require a personality); adds its force to the defending army, but isn't destroyed for losing as the cards are not actually at the battlefield?
  A: 1. In an environment where Luxurious Silk cannot pay for Recruit or Equip, no, its Reaction cannot pay for Followers going onto the Barracks. Barracks's trait simply modifies what you can do with the Equip action.
  2. The Barracks is considered to be a defending unit at every Province's battlefield under Kaiu Sensei's effects and will therefore be destroyed like one at any losing battle, even if not physically present at that Province. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 24 Dec 2025