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, 23 April 2008
Has there ever been a ruling to state whether or not the old Phoenix Masters are considered "Elemental Master" ? Basically, do they trigger the "Power of the Masters" event?
For example: Isawa Hochiu (Experienced) Phoenix Clan * Shugenja * Experienced * Unique * Master of Fire
Power of the Masters Until the end of the game, while you control exactly five Elemental Masters with five different element keywords between them, each of your Elemental Master Personalities has the ability "Open: Bow a target Personality."
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 23 April 2008
Has there ever been a ruling to state whether or not the old Phoenix Masters are considered "Elemental Master" ? Basically, do they trigger the "Power of the Masters" event?
For example: Isawa Hochiu (Experienced) Phoenix Clan * Shugenja * Experienced * Unique * Master of Fire
Power of the Masters Until the end of the game, while you control exactly five Elemental Masters with five different element keywords between them, each of your Elemental Master Personalities has the ability "Open: Bow a target Personality."
Ah, there you are. (Sorry folks, inside joke.)
The answer: Unfortunately (and I say this as a Phoenix player), no. None of the pre-Samurai-legal Masters are technically Elemental Masters, so they would not register for Power of the Masters' or, say, Shiba Yoma Exp3's effects.
I know it doesn't make sense from a story perspective, but you must note the lack of the keyword "Elemental" on any of the Phoenix Masters printed prior to Khan's Defiance. In Samurai, keywords are all static and indivisible, so an Elemental Master needs to have "Elemental Master". In Legacy, for cards printed prior to Khan's Defiance, keywords are looser (Citation), but the actual word would still need to be present.
In Legacy (because "Elemental" isn't used in Samurai except when coupled with "Master"), there is no rule that having an element keyword is equivalent to being "Elemental", nor does having one imply being "Elemental".
Rest assured, and I'm sorry for it currently being a work in progress, the Legacy Glossary will include the term "Elemental" to underscore these distinctions (which can currently be found in the Lotus Rulebook, pg. 70).