Rising Sun

About this board game

Rising Sun is a strategy board game for 3–5 players, with sessions lasting about 120 minutes, set in legendary feudal Japan. Each player leads a unique clan seeking to reclaim the lands of Nippon and earn the most Victory Points.

Across the Seasons, players use diplomacy, negotiation, and cunning to advance their cause. Alliances are formed during the Tea Ceremony, but no deal is binding, so cooperation can quickly give way to betrayal. Honor shapes the struggle: high Honor provides advantages, low Honor can attract darker forces, and the highest-Honor player wins every tie.

Each clan has its own ability, Seasonal Income, Starting Honor Rank, and Home Province. Players can customize their clans, worship the gods, position figures around Japan, harvest provinces, and pursue the Virtues accumulated by their clan. Victory Points may also come from winning battles.

The game unfolds through three active Seasons—Spring, Summer, and Autumn—before Winter brings the conflict to a close. Every Season follows five phases:

1. Seasonal Setup: prepare the Season deck.
2. Tea Ceremony: negotiate alliances.
3. Political Phase: select Political Mandates and position forces.
4. War Phase: resolve battles over the provinces.
5. Seasonal Cleanup: prepare for what comes next.

In Rising Sun, political choices and battlefield decisions are closely connected. When winter arrives, players calculate their bonuses, and only one clan can emerge victorious under the power of the great Kami.