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, 10 March 2011
Mirumoto Zenko Dragon Clan Samurai Zenko may attach two Weapons. Reduce the Focus values of all cards Focused against Zenko in duels by the number of Weapons he had (to a minimum of 0).
Kensai (definition from the online rulebook) A Kensai is a person who has achieved mastery of weapon use. Personalities with the Kensai keyword may attach two Weapons.
The short version: Would Mirumoto Zenko be considered a Kensai personality based on his trait?
The long version would be that Zenko was printed before the Kensai keyword was conceived of. Now that the Kensai keyword was defined, and is now used to replace the trait "may attach two Weapons" on newer cards, does this mean that this keyword would also get applied to older personalities with the trait in them?
My feeling is that the answer would be no, as I cannot find an example in L5R where a keyword definition was retroactively applied to older printings with traits that defined a keyword. However, I am kinda hoping that I am in error. Thanks for your time.
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 10 March 2011
The short version: Would Mirumoto Zenko be considered a Kensai personality based on his trait?
Short answer: No.
The long version would be that Zenko was printed before the Kensai keyword was conceived of. Now that the Kensai keyword was defined, and is now used to replace the trait "may attach two Weapons" on newer cards, does this mean that this keyword would also get applied to older personalities with the trait in them?
My feeling is that the answer would be no, as I cannot find an example in L5R where a keyword definition was retroactively applied to older printings with traits that defined a keyword. However, I am kinda hoping that I am in error. Thanks for your time.
Long answer: You're not in error. While I would some day like to make a database that updates all cards to current templates and wordings, I would do my best to keep them as close to their printed version as possible. Also as such, cards with "Will only join X Clan" would still have that trait, and not gain "Loyal". So, sorry.
But I'm always glad to hear of those players who still dabble in Legacy. You may find the upcoming War of Honor product helpful to your continued enjoyment of older cards, as its goal is to balance multiplayer, and multiplayer seems to be a much more friendly way of playing with Legacy cards versus one-on-one.