Rising Sun

Setup and seasons: The 3–5-player base game seats clans and arranges Honor by starting rank. Each begins with a Daimyo, Bushi and Stronghold in its home province. Use 4 shrines and core season cards plus one base set. In spring, summer and autumn, draw player count plus 2 war provinces, display cards, collect clan income and return hostages for 1 bank coin each. Winter only returns hostages and scores.

Alliances and negotiation: During the Tea Ceremony, two consenting players may ally for the season until Betray breaks it; no new alliance forms midseason. Allies share selected mandate bonuses and do not battle when they alone occupy a province, but participate separately when enemies are present. Deals are nonbinding. Coins and Ronin may be freely given only during Tea Ceremony and politics, never during war.

Mandates and Kami: Each season follows 3 mandates, Kami, 2 mandates, Kami, 2 mandates, Kami, then war. The current player privately examines the top 4 tiles, chooses one and returns the other 3 to the top without shuffling. Usually resolve clockwise starting to their left, with the selector last; Train instead starts with its selector. Resolve shrines left to right, awarding each benefit to greatest force, breaking ties by Honor.

Four shared mandates: Recruit summons one figure per Stronghold, plus one extra for the selector and ally; Shinto may enter shrines only when summoned. Marshal moves each figure once to an adjacent or shipping-connected province, with an optional 3-coin Stronghold for the selector and ally. Train buys one season card each, discounted by 1 to a minimum of zero for selector and ally. Harvest gives everyone 1 coin, with province rewards where selector and ally individually have greatest force. Clan and card powers can modify these basics.

Betray: Only the selector acts. An existing alliance immediately breaks and costs one Honor step; an unallied selector loses none. Replace up to two map figures, one each from two different opponents, using same-type figures from your reserve; monsters count as one type. Daimyo and shrine Shinto are ineligible. Replacement is neither a kill nor a summon and cannot send Shinto to worship.

War and bidding: Resolve only numbered war provinces in order. With no force discard the token; with one clan or only two allies, greatest force takes it. At least two nonallied clans with force trigger battle involving everyone with force there. Participants simultaneously bid secretly across four advantages and may leave coins uncommitted. Highest bid wins each, current Honor breaks ties, and all-zero bids skip an advantage. Its winner may decline the effect.

Battle sequence: Seppuku may kill all your local figures for 1 point and one Honor step each. Hostage may capture one non-Daimyo figure, including an ally's, until next season and steal 1 point if its owner has any. The Ronin winner adds all reserve Ronin to force without spending them. Compare force to decide victory; kill losing figures except the winner's ally's. Then Poets awards its winner points equal to all figures killed during this battle.

Reparations and participation: Losers discard all coins committed to the four advantages. The battle winner distributes all their committed coins equally among losers, choosing recipients of remainders; uncommitted coins remain. Participants remain involved even if Seppuku, capture or an effect removes all their figures, and may still bid, use advantages and win. If all participants finish with zero force, highest Honor wins.

Cleanup and Honor: Discard all reserve coins and Ronin, return shrine Shinto and reshuffle mandates. Map figures and Strongholds remain. Each Honor gain or loss swaps one step with the adjacent clan, stopping at the top or bottom. Resolve force, shrine and advantage ties using the ranking as it changes during successive steps.

Endgame: In winter, add Winter Upgrade points, each war token's season value of 1/2/3 for spring/summer/autumn, and distinct-province bonuses: 10 for 3–4 types, 20 for 5–6, or 30 for 7–8. Highest total wins. Normally Honor breaks a score tie; the rulebook separately grants shared victory to two still-allied players tied for first.