After a Mandate Turn has been executed, if the next step on the Political Track shows the Kami symbol, then the Political Phase is briefly interrupted to resolve a Kami Turn, in which the Clans that have sent some of their Shinto warriors to worship at the Shrines may reap powerful benefits.
During a Kami Turn, players resolve the effects of each of the 4 Shrine tiles in order, starting from the leftmost Shrine and proceeding to the right. In each Shrine, players compare the total Force each Clan has there. Only the Clan with the most Force gets the benefit granted by that Shrine's Kami. As always, if there's a tie, the tied player with the highest Honor is considered to have the most Force in the Shrine. If a Shrine has no Shinto on it, it's simply skipped during this Kami Turn.
Each of the different Kami offers a different ability to the player with the most Force on its Shrine. These abilities are executed immediately, before resolving the next Shrine.
Goddess of the sun, Amaterasu allows her top worshipper to move their Clan marker straight to the top slot on the Honor Track.
It doesn't matter how low their Honor was, they climb directly to the topmost position, shifting all others down in the process.
Important: Note that this may change the Honor tiebreaker when resolving the following Shrines in this Kami Turn.
God of the wind, Fujin allows his top worshipper to perform up to 2 Moves with their figures on the Map. The player may either Move 2 of their figures to adjacent Provinces, or Move 1 of their figures twice in a row. Just like in a Marshal Mandate, the figure may either cross a Border or use a Shipping Route between Provinces.
God of thunder, Raijin allows his top worshipper to Summon 1 Bushi, taking it from their Reserve and placing it in any Province on the Map, even if they don't have a Stronghold there.
God of the sea, Ryujin allows his top worshipper to acquire a Season card from those available next to the board, paying its full Coin cost just like in a Train Mandate.
God of war, Hachiman grants his top worshipper 2 Ronin tokens, taken from the common pile.
God of the storms, Susanoo grants his top worshipper a number of Victory Points equal to the number of Strongholds they currently have on the Map.
God of the moon, Tsukuyomi grants his top worshipper 2 Coins, taken from the common pile.
Example: In the Kami Turn, the Shrines are resolved from left to right: Susanoo - DRAGONFLY and KOI are tied with 1 Force each. Since KOI has higher Honor, they get 2 VP (as they currently have 2 Strongholds). Amaterasu - DRAGONFLY is the only one with Force there, so they move to the top of the Honor Track. Hachiman - DRAGONFLY and LOTUS are tied with 1 Force each. However, DRAGONFLY is now at the top of the Honor Track, so they get 2 Ronin tokens. Raijin - TURTLE has 1 more Force than KOI there, so they get to Summon a Bushi in any Province.
Once all 4 Shrines have been resolved, the Political Phase continues with the next player performing their Mandate Turn. If this was the third Kami Turn of the Season, however, the Political Phase reaches its end and the War Phase begins.
Continue Reading
