L5r: Legend of the Five Rings Wiki
Advertisement

Yomi, also known as the Realm of Sacred Ancestors, was a Spirit Realm dwelled by those deceased mortals whose dharma had been completed and their soul was shuffled off the Celestial Wheel. [1] These souls, known as Shiryō, [2] crossed the Bridge of Lights to travel from Ningen-dō to Yomi. [3] The sodan-senzo, powerful shugenja of the Kitsu family, acted as spirit mediums for their honored dead. [4]

Landscape[]

Yomi was subject to Tengoku's jurisdiction and was considered part of that realm. It encompassed countless celestial manors and estates, each suiting the whims of those who dwelled within it. [5]

Inhabitants[]

Only samurai were sufficiently advanced in the Celestial Order to have the potential to reach Yomi after death. Sentient animals were more likely to end up in Senkyō again, but they might reincarnate as a higher form if they lived nobly, perhaps even eventually ascending to the rank of samurai and being blessed with a place in Yomi. [5]

Jigoku[]

Yomi's impregnable borders kept Jigoku's evils in check, but Fu Leng's fell into the underworld ruptured those borders. As Fu Leng, saturated in Jigoku's evil, increased his power and influence, Jigoku encroached further on Yomi, even capturing several unlucky sorei, who suffered there to this day. [6]

Into the Heavens[]

Day of Thunder[]

Then came the Day of Thunder. Because the Kami so loved the humanas known as the Thunders, they petitioned Tengoku that the fallen Thunders might ultimately live alongside them in Heaven instead of risking corruption in Yomi. The stewards of the Heavens went further, transporting the entirety of Yomi and all its sorei into the sky, where Jigoku's defilements could not reach them. Yomi was safe, but the underworld was lost to Jigoku, save for Meido. [6] Ningen-dō became a buffer zone between Jigoku and Yomi. [7]

Inhabitants and Landscape[]

Since the Day of Thunder, Yomi had been a fine precinct of the Heavens, a sort of province of Tengoku. Sorei walked its halls, manors, and offices, where they fulfilled their duties as tutelary caretakers, such as watching over the families they had in their more recent lives. Occasionally, sorei might oversee regions or organizations. Yomi's edifices were largely sulfur yellow, a reminder of the subterranean Yellow Springs that originally gave Yomi its name. [8]

Notable Locations[]

References

  1. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 10
  2. Celestial Realms, p. 9
  3. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 152
  4. The Great Clans (Learn to Play Rulebook)
  5. 5.0 5.1 Celestial Realms, p. 16
  6. 6.0 6.1 Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 134
  7. Celestial Realms, p. 7
  8. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 136


Isawa This magic or religion related article is a stub. That means that it has been started, but is incomplete. You can help by expanding this article.
Advertisement