Kanagawa FAQ
47 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Game Elements and Setup
Gameplay
- Do brushes have to be moved to paint a landscape, or can they stay where they are?
- Can a Move symbol move a brush to any empty space in your studio, or only to an adjacent one?
- Can a wild landscape be used more than once in a turn, or to paint several landscapes?
- Can a brush paint twice in one turn if you move it between two paintings?
- Can you paint more than three landscapes in one turn?
- Can you place a brush gained from a Lesson card, then use it to paint another Lesson card in the same turn?
- Does adding a new brush to your studio use up one of your movement arrows?
- Once a brush is placed in your studio, can it ever be removed from the board?
- How does a hand icon let you keep a Lesson card between rounds, and can you keep the same card for several rounds?
- Must you play a Lesson card you kept in hand?
- Can you discard a Lesson card you do not want, such as one with negative points?
- Can you discard or clear unclaimed Lesson cards before new cards are added at the start of a round?
- Are the ability icons on studio cards mandatory to use?
- If you take a face-down card and keep it in hand, must you show it to the other players?
- Can you pass again to wait for a third card at school?
- In a two-player game, if the first player passes, must the second player take a card?
- When is the last player still at school forced to take cards instead of passing?
- When is a player forced to take the remaining Lesson cards?
- Can all players keep passing at school so that every row fills up to four cards?
- In what order are the effects of different players' Lesson columns resolved within a round?
- Can you change which landscape a wild landscape counts as from round to round?
- Can you move a brush at the end of your turn just to prepare for a lesson you may draw later, even if the move does not help this turn?
- When does the Grand Master pawn pass to the player holding the Assistant pawn, and what if nobody holds the Assistant?
- If two players both gain the Assistant pawn in the same round, who ends up with it?
- What is the Assistant pawn for, if the Grand Master pawn already marks the first player?
End of the Game and Scoring
- Does the starting tile count toward the 11 Lesson cards that trigger the end of the game?
- When one player paints the 11th card, do the other players get to finish the round?
- Who scores the 2 Grand Master points at the end of the game?
- If there are fewer Lesson cards than players at the end, can a player with hidden cards still put them into practice?
- If the deck runs out and there are fewer Lesson cards than players, does everyone still take a card in the last round?
- In longest-sequence scoring, does a storm icon count as any season?
- How do crossed-out Harmony symbols score at the end of the game?
Explanation of Diploma Tiles
- Do wild landscape spots count toward the identical-landscape diplomas?
- Do the identical-landscape diplomas count landscapes on my Print cards or only in my Studio?
- Does the starting tile count toward studio diplomas, such as the landscape and move-symbol diplomas?
- If you pass on a diploma, can you take it later once you have the required pieces again?
- Does the now-or-never rule for diplomas also apply to studio diplomas?
- Can you take more than one diploma after a single turn?
- When one action completes both the 4-Tree and 5-Tree diplomas, can you take the 4-Tree one?
- Do the pink brush diplomas count brush tokens or the brush icons in your studio?
- Do brushes gained from a diploma count toward the brush-count diplomas?
- Can you claim a diploma you qualify for because of a reward from another diploma you just claimed?
- Do tree diplomas count tree images in your Print, and can one play jump past the threshold?
- If two players qualify for the same diploma at the end of one turn, who gets it?
- Do blank character cards with no character picture count toward the character diplomas?