I almost always run low-fantasy. Shugenja are rare, and most monks are just monks. The tier of adventure can be from mundane with magistrates carrying out local business, to epic empire-shattering crusades. Either way the fantasy is almost always low. That doesn't mean there won't be supernatural beings, but how they are overcome grounds them a bit in reality.

My own games tended to be fairly down to earth - every samurai estate has a shrine, shugenja are about 5% of the samurai, Bushi about 50%...

Everyone has seen the supernatural to some degree, but not all can rely upon it.

No flying leaps of 20m without visible magical effects...

Shugenja can feel the kami working on many abilities. By Rank 4, characters are starting to look like street level supers - all below the level of Spidey, Deadpool, or Daredevil, but well above "normal people"...

The Kami are everywhere, and influence everything.

I've used the Lying Darkness several times as a campaign enemy...

My read of the 5E rules looks to be a little higher level fantasy due to the various spend options on the opportunity tables by skill group. Lots of the "Shugenja Only" stuff from 2e/3e now is everyone... but I can see a more lax GM taking it to full on anime-silliness.

21 hours ago, nameless ronin said:

If you can look for someone other than your sensei to teach you a skill, you can look for someone else to teach you a spell, kata or other skill as well, no?

They risked being cast out if they did. So you could (especially Rōnin Okudate (sp?))... but it was rare to find one willing as it was dishonorable and a violation of the school codes. Then again, school techniques were not Kata, and Kata were not taught as the major curricular elements of schools, so it was not an issue for Kata.

Add the portrayal of other clans as essentially hostile powers allied against the shadowlands... aiding the fellows of another clan by teaching them was bordering on betrayal of your own clan and school...