Blessed Mirrors

The Blessed Mirrors were a pair of magical mirrors crafted by Shiba and Isawa themselves. One of them was given by Hantei to his sister Shinjo in the year 45, just before the Ki-Rin's Exodus. The matching mirror remained in the hands of the Emperor, and passed to his son Hantei Genji. It allowed Lady Shinjo to commune with whoever held its match while the moon was full.

Ki-Rin's Exodus
In 45 the Ki-Rin's Exodus began. Shinjo left Rokugan and was accompanied by the Ide, Iuchi and Otaku families. She was given a blessed mirror,one of a pair, to keep in contact with Hantei. A second mirror remained at Hantei's hands. Shiba and Isawa had been placed a powerful magic on them time ago, before they died. If both holders gazed in the mirrors at the same time, when Amaterasu was highest in the sky, they could see each other and spoke between them.

Lack of Communication
In Rokugan, the blessed mirror had not conferred the words of Shinjo in decades. In 198 Hantei Genji gave the mirror to the Seppun Daimyo as a gift for his coronation, who swore to guard it with his life.

Ki-Rin's Mirror divided in Four
After the Battle with the Rocs in 223 the pass back to Rokugan, the Ujik-hai steppes, or the Burning Sands, had been blocked. Shinjo decided to divide their number to find another passage. She used her katana to divide the mirror into four pieces, aided by the magic of Iuchi. It broke the communication with Rokugan, but allowed the messages between the divided groups. A piece were given to each family and the fourth was kept by Shinjo. When in the year 243 the mirror went dark and the Ki-Rin's Star banished from the sky, most in Rokugan had assumed the worst.

Broken Mirror
Each of the three remaining mirrors appeared to be intact, the edge of each outlined with the same frame of silver. Each differed only in the mon represented in the center of the top edge. The mons on the three remaining mirrors were of the Shinjo, Iuchi, and Otaku family. The Ide family mirror disappeared with a portion of the family during their search for passage back to Rokugan.