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, 18 September 2012
In a previous Hantei Sensei ruling viewtopic.php?f=59&t=78464&p=1033985 Alex mentioned that:
"Hantei Sensei creates an ongoing effect: The target player cannot announce actions that put the card into play or that use any ability on the card (or do anything else with it except use it for its focus value)."
Which makes sense to me, matching the original card intent. However the Oracle text says:
"Limited: Once per game, target another player: You, then the other player, each name a non-Ring Fate card. Until the game ends, that player may not play any copy of the card you named, and you may not play any copy of the card that player named."
My question is, how does that interact with Fate cards that have already been put into play (Rings, Senseis, Followers, Spells, etc.)? The EE rules glossary definition of "play" does not help.
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 18 September 2012
In a previous Hantei Sensei ruling viewtopic.php?f=59&t=78464&p=1033985 Alex mentioned that:
"Hantei Sensei creates an ongoing effect: The target player cannot announce actions that put the card into play or that use any ability on the card (or do anything else with it except use it for its focus value)."
Which makes sense to me, matching the original card intent. However the Oracle text says:
"Limited: Once per game, target another player: You, then the other player, each name a non-Ring Fate card. Until the game ends, that player may not play any copy of the card you named, and you may not play any copy of the card that player named."
My question is, how does that interact with Fate cards that have already been put into play (Rings, Senseis, Followers, Spells, etc.)? The EE rules glossary definition of "play" does not help.
Hantei Sensei's current Oracle wording, coupled with the EE definition of "play", is completely accurate.
Hantei Sensei does not affect the abilties of any cards already in play. This was not its original intent, either. A contemporary ruling clarified the matter, that "use" should be read as "play". As of the latest site upgrade however, the ancient Rules Archive is 404 gone, so you'll have to trust me on that.
While Alex's answer to the question posed in your link is correct, his accompanying statement of "The target player cannot... use any ability on the card" is incorrect, except in the case of Strategies in hand.