A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 4 March 2013
Greetings
When does hotei's contentment actually trigger? When you actually gain honor or when you announce the proclaim action? Lets say i proclaim a personality with 3PH, and my opponent uses his rhetoric, does he gain 3 or 4 honor?
Hotei's Contentment Before you gain Honor from the Proclaim action, if the Personality's base PH is 3 or lower: Increase the Honor gain by 1. Open: Discard this card and target a Personality: He may not assign to, and will not move into, an attacking army.
Rhetoric Reaction: Before a player gains or loses Honor from an action's effects, bow your performing Courtier: Choose another player. If the Courtier's Chi is higher than or equal to the Honor gain or loss, the chosen player instead of the original player takes the gain or loss.
Thanks
A player, 5 March 2013
It triggers before you gain the honor (card text).
If your opponent uses Rhetoric reacting to your Proclaim with Hotei's Contentment in play, there will be a timing conflict. Rhetoric would be under priority D (Reactions to the trigger), while Hotei's Contentment would fall under priority C because it's a triggered trait, not a Reaction. So the opponent would steal the extra gain from the fat man Hotei's Contentment (and would therefore need a peforming courtier wih an extra Chi point).