Do we know anything about Sanpuku Seido? I don't remember seeing in mentioned in new L5R lore, but maybe it was a place of significance from old lore? I'm curious why it is a place where status counts more than skill. It sounds like there's probably an interesting story there, but I don't know anything about it.

Sanpuku Seido roughly interprets "Cliffside Shrine." Or in other words, it's the primary setting of the Phoenix novella (I believe somewhere in the novella/bonus material they confirm this as well). Since the Kaito family is new to L5R, I doubt their ancestral home has any references in old5r.

Oh, I never caught that. Thanks. Seems like a bit of mismatched ability, since it wasn't really status that won the day (though I guess Tsukune probably would win most conflicts at Sanpuku Seido :P), but I guess it fit what they needed at the time.

Well, status played a huge role in winning, though. The Yobanjin ancestors were appeased by Tsukune using her role as clan champion to formally recognize them as honored Phoenix ancestors. Only the lead spirit refused to be appeased, and in theory he'd be pretty high glory himself with his reputation.

Of note that the art on the card is after the events on the novel unraveled.

You can see that the bridge connecting the shrine and the monastery is the new stone bridge that Tsukune commissioned, not the old wooden hanging one.