Heresy of the Five Rings

The Heresy of the Five Rings was an event which spanned the years 519 to 535. It claimed there was an imbalance in the Empire, and proclaimed that if each Great Clan was directly connected to one of the Elements, there was one clan too many, so the Empire was unbalanced. Imperial Histories 2, pp. 83-84
== Origins ==
This religious belief was a side-effect of the First Rise of Iuchiban. The imperial edict ordering cremation of the dead was controversial, and it was seen as somehow cutting the connection with their ancestors. Some suggested the Empire was suffering some manner of spiritual imbalance. Imperial Histories 2, p. 84
=== Five Rings, Five Clans ===
In the year 519 the famous monk Gorinno during a meeting at Nikesake claimed the Crab Clan to be a Clan of Earth, the Crane and Scorpion a Clan of Air, the Dragon a Clan of Fire, the Lion a Clan of Water, and the Phoenix a Clan of Void. One of the two Clans of air had to merge in one single clan in order the restore Celestial Balance, as the Ki-Rin Clan, a Clan of Water, had already left the Empire to avoid this unbalance before. His idea was widely dismissed as heretical nonsense. Imperial Histories 2, p. 83-85
== Heresy of the Five Rings ==
A series of peasant revolts followed, and soon the Brotherhood of Shinsei itself was plagued by acts of violence between its various sects. In the year 523 the Lion Clan patroned the construction of the Monastery of the Five Rings, thus effectively founding the Order of the Five Rings. Isawa Amiku embraced the teachings Gorinno proposed and with the Kuni Daimyo Kuni Watabe followed the religious movement which would be known as the Heresy of the Five Rings. Imperial Histories 2, pp. 84-86
== Dawnfall ==
In 535 a delegation from the Brotherhood of Shinsei named Gorinno's teachings a False Path. Confronted, the Imperial Advisor lose his on in front of the Imperial Court, threatening his followers would destroy his enemies' temples. The Emperor turned his back and Gorinno was banished from Otosan Uchi. The Order of the Five Rings was sanctioned as heretical and disbanded. The narrow margin by which the Emperor was diverted from ordering the merging of the Scorpion and Crane Clans, was erased from the historical records. Imperial Histories 2, p. 89
Category:Magic and Religion