The game is named after The Book of Five Rings
, a book on strategy and martial arts written by 17th-century ronin Miyamoto Musashi. Referred to some as the Japanese answer to The Art of War.
- Ascended Fanon: Whenever fans point out a Continuity Snarl, the Story Team will, most of the time, go with the first plausible explanation that the fans provide.
- Fountain of Expies: In general, the major characters from the first editions, especially the Thunders, get suspiciously close substitutes in many later sets. There's a lot of Bayushi Kachikos slinking around in the Scorpion Clan.
- Also a literal game mechanic with the "Soul of" text, the character with said text being considered the same as the named character for purposes of deckbuilding.
- Screwed by the Lawyers: During the game's tenure at Wizards, the International Olympic Committee sent legal notice to Wizards that the logo for the game (five interlocking gold rings in a pentagon shape) was a violation of their treaty-protected copyright of their logo (five interlocking rings of different colors in a "W" shape) on the grounds that the treaty claims any design with five interlocking rings, regardless of orientation or color. Wizards changed the card backs (which prominently featured the logo) to a new design that instead incorporated five independent gold discs. This had the unintended effect of essentially banning any cards produced before the change (for the simple fact that they'd be easy to spot in a hand) unless the player invested in opaque-backed card sleeves.
