4) Isolation & Inter-Realm Policy

Isolation & Inter-Realm Policy: The Sealed Shores and the Veiled Paths

Yamato practices a kind of isolation that suits a continent ringed by deep ports and deeper spirits. After the wars, Tokugawa promulgated the Edicts of Veiled Shores. They do not deny the sea; they domesticate it. The Ryūjin police the Yūshōkai like customs officials of the tide: only flagged convoys with shrine-sanctioned writs may pass from Nagisato’s outer piers to inner harbors. Foreign sails (rare in any case) are diverted to outer atolls where sea-temples and Shogunate brokers conduct contact without contagion. No settlement by outsiders; no missionary rites; no import of devices that disturb the Wheel.
On land, isolation is spiritual as much as political. The Shrine Circuit—a chain of sanctuaries from Reikonzan to Hoshikusa—hosts ritual checkpoints. Travelers present offerings and stamped passes; priests assess omens; Kitsune wardens sniff out glamours and forged seals. Summoners register their contracts; star-ore from the Fallen Star Wasteland is tagged, weighed, and often impounded. The Treaty of Harmony forbids occupying shrine grounds or stationing troops within sight of sacred trees; the Shogunate forbids mustering large forces on roads without notice.
For yōkai polities, the policy is reciprocal. Yokai Haven governs its veil: entry by invitation, trade through licensed portals, disputes heard first by clan councils, then—if needed—by a mixed panel in Sakuragawa. Kitsune no Mori allows pilgrim routes and Hanyō enclaves but bars timber companies and ironfounders; Yukigakure admits only mourners, monks, and magistrates on grief business; Reikonzan offers training to select petitioners, not armies. The effect is sakoku without stagnation: exchange continues under ritual supervision, curiosity is channeled into embassies and festivals, and rumor has to pass through the sieve of officials who are very good at telling stories and detecting lies. To most citizens, the outside world is a tapestry of legends, and that is exactly how the Shogunate prefers it.