Secrets on the Wind

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Ivory Edition, Onyx Edition, Shattered Empire, A Perfect Cut, Promotional–Ivory

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

3

Keywords

Air

Card Text

After you Equip this Spell, give it a number of tokens equal to this Shugenja's Chi.
Air Limited: Bow this Shugenja, and destroy a token on this Spell unless he is Scorpion Clan, to dishonor a target Personality.

Focus Value

3

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Ivory Edition), A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Shattered Empire, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Secrets on the Wind 3G 3FV When this Spell enters play, it gains a number of tokens equal to this Shugenja's Chi. Elemental Limited: Bow this Shugenja and destroy a token on this spell to dishonor a Personality. A Scorpion Clan Shugenja need not destroy a token to take this action." [MRP, A Perfect Cut, 4 September 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 65
• Erratum: Added: Scorpion Shugenja need not destroy a token when casting this spell. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 8

Rules Q&A

• Q: This has probably been answered before, but....
  Is casting Secrets on the Wind a political action?
  A: For cards printed in Gold Edition and later, an action is Political if AND ONLY IF it has the "Political" keyword. [GE p. 4] Secrets on the Wind is in Gold Edition without that keyword. [card text] It is not Political. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 April 2003", 26 Apr 2003
• Q: Situation: I cast The Wolf's Proposal on Mirumuto Rosanjin. I then cast Secrets on the Wind on him. Then I play Honorable Seppuku. How much honor do I gain?
  A: His Personal Honor is 5. You'd gain 5. [GE p. 32] Jeff Alexander, "post for 9 December 2002", 10 Dec 2002
• Q: Will Solar Eclipse re-honor personalities dishonored by Secrets on the Wind? Is the dishonored state of the personality a "current spell effect"?
  A: No and no. Dishonoring the Personality, like killing one, is an instantaneous change, not an ongoing effect. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 October 2002", 29 Oct 2002
• Q: Rules question:
  As a Unicorn player, can you use a Shinjo Technique to redirect the effects of Secrets on the Wind to one of the personalities of the player who casted it?
  So in essence - can I use Shinjo Tech to redirect spell effects?
  A: No. Only Action cards. [card text] Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 September 2002", 25 Sep 2002
• Q: When you cast Secrets on the Wind: When this Spell enters play, it gains a number of tokens equal to this Shugenja's Chi. Elemental Limited: Bow this Shugenja and destroy a token on this Spell to dishonor a Personality. A Scorpion Clan Shugenja need not destroy a token to take this action.
  If the spell is canceled do I still have to destroy a token?
  A: Your answer is on the card. "Bow this Shugenja and destroy a token on this Spell to .... " Everything before the "to" is a cost. Costs are not refunded when an action is canceled. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11-12 September 2002", 13 Sep 2002
• Q: Here's a scenario for ya...
  First, the involved cards:
  Secrets on the Wind:
  Bow this shugenja and destroy a token to dishonor target personality...etc etc etc.
  Witch Hunt:
  Reaction: Play this card when a Kiho or Spell is cast. One of your Shugenja issues an unrefusable challenge to the caster. If your Shugenja wins, cancel the Kiho or Spell. (either way, destroy the loser.)
  Okay, I have an honorable Kuni Utagu in play, and my stinky scorpion opponent has a shugenja with Secrets on the Wind attached, which he promptly uses to dishonor Utagu, thinking to shame him a moment later... I throw down a Witch Hunt and we commence to scrap. We both focus a couple times, and it ends up with Utagu being just a bit short, in essence, he loses, and is destroyed. Now here is where it gets a bit sticky.
  which of the following is true?
  1. Utagu dies honorably, and Secrets on the Wind fizzles this turn. 2. Utagu dies dishonorably, and I get stuck for his 2 Personal honor. 3. Utagu dies honorably, but is still targeted by the spell, and is turned into dishonorable dead, post mortem.
  3 is highly unlikely in my book, but I can see it being interpreted that way. My leaning is towards 1, and here is why. I think that the timing of everything prevents the spell from being successfully cast this turn. The sequence of events is this (as I see it) 1. Scorp targets Kuni Utagu, bows his shugenja to dishonor him with secrets on the wind. 2. Spell's resolution is interrupted by Witch Hunt, which is a reaction. ( This is not directly spelled out, but is very strongly implied by the card) 3. Duel commences as per duel rules. 4. Duel resolves, Utagu dies, and is sent to the discard pile. 5. Secrets resolves, but the original target is no longer in play, thus not affected by the spell, and it fizzles.
  So, what happens?
  A: I think you've made the right call. Utagu became an illegal target for the Secrets action before it resolved, so, by the rulebook, it does not affect him. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 June 2002", 27 Jun 2002
• Q: Ok, here is my question, if a Scorpion player is running secrets on the wind and I have setsuban festival pop which causes all tokens to go away, can he still use the spell even though it has no charges left since there are no tokens on the spell?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 May 2002", 3 May 2002
• Q: Someone official (Ryan Dancey? Maybe it was Dave.) once said "The cards aren't trying to fool you."
  A: I think his name started with a "Z". (Here's another hint: pronounce that "zed".) Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 May 2002", 3 May 2002
• Q: This came up recently and I was wondering if the ruling we made was correct.
  Against a scorpion player, the event Setsuban Festival came up. This destroyed all tokens, including the ones on Secrets on the Wind.
  Since the player was Scorpion, it was ruled he could continue using it since destroying a token was not a cost for him. Was this ruling correct?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 March 2002", 19 Mar 2002
• Q: Let's say you have a shugenja with the spell Secrets on the Wind attached. The shugenja has a Spirit Guide also attached. You bow the shugenja to dishonor a personality. You then bow the Spirit Guide to straighten the shugenja. Can you then bow the shugenja again during the same turn, to cast Secrets on the Wind again?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 31 January 2002", 1 Feb 2002
• Q: I was wondering, if one of my personalities is dishonored by the spell Secrets on the Wind and Solar Eclipse or Final Words pops up, would my dishonored personalities once again become honorable because the two events ends all existing spell effects.
  A: Nope. Permanent changes to the game environment (destruction of a personality, honor gain/loss) are not undone by Final Words or Solar Eclipse. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for February 2nd", 3 Feb 2001
• Q: Example (pretty close to actual gameplay): I have used Secrets on the Wind on Akodo Quehao. I pull out Kolat Assassin, targeting him. Quehao is being destroyed while dishonored, and is due to cause his controller 3 points of honor loss.
  QUESTION 1: Can his controller announce that Quehao will commit seppuku in response to the Assassin, reducing the honor loss to 1?
  A: Nope. His death is not a valid trigger for seppuku. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for", 12 Jan 2001
• Q: Stronghold: The Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion Tireless Open: Name a Fate card, or name a Dynasty card in play. Negate the effects of the next action from a card with that title.
  Iweko Seiken Force 3 / Chi 4 HR7/GC11/PH4 Heir • Imperial • Paragon • Samurai • Unique Seiken will not be dishonored or gain a Clan Alignment. Interrupt: After you Recruit Seiken, Recruit a non-Unique Samurai with lower Gold Cost, ignoring costs. Political Open, Bow: Take the Imperial Favor.
  Question: If my opponent used his Stronghold for targeting on my Iweko Seiken, After that. Can dishonor to Iweko Seiken with Secrets on the Wind?
  thanks for your answer!
  A: No. The Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion only negates the effect of an action - it does not suppress a trait, such as Seiken's "will not be dishonored". Jon Palmer, "The shadowed Estate of the Scorpion v/s Iweko Seiken", 27 Jan 2014
• Q: [Imperial]
  Is the Oracle text of this card the same as to how it works in Imperial? @Brook Cunningham
  Like how we understand it is that the Samurai can negate a Secrets on The Wind targetting him, but at the same time, the Samurai can't refuse (and lose 7) to an Iaijutsu Challenge. Cos he's living by the Code (of Bushido)
  A: The Oracle text is the Ivory/20F MRP. In contemporary Imperial, it works much differently.
  Imperial-era CoB could not negate Secrets on the Wind, because the Samurai wasn't taking the action or making a choice within it, but it could indeed force an acceptance of an Iaijutsu Challenge. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 19 Apr 2026
• Q: [Jade] with the old rules and samurai being able to do seppuku as a reaction to honor loss, how would this one play out? Personality with PH of 3 is targeted to be dishonored by secrets on the wind. Next shame is played in said personality. If you do seppuku in response, player loses 1 honor and personality goes to honorable dead? Or is it 1 from the shame, a further three from personal honor of 3? Pretty sure it’s the first one, but would love confirmation, thanks!
  A: Seppuku is always rehonor, then destroy, so no PH-based loss. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 18 Apr 2026
• Q: Alrighty another rules question ShE Secrets on the Wind Spell If it is attached to a Scorpion Shugenja. Does the shugenja bow, or does the "unless they are scorpion clan" referring to the bowing as well?
  A: Just the token destroying is exempted. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 24 Feb 2026