Rokugan has a vast coastline, and there is a tremendous amount of activity on the sea during the majority of the year. Trade vessels and fishing vessels make their way across the shallow waters along the coast during spring, summer, and fall, and the hardier ships belonging to the Mantis Clan make the long voyage to and from the Islands of Silk and Spice even during the depths of winter.
Far more complex than a simple crafting skill, engineering is a rare gift among the people of Rokugan, even the samurai who rule over it. It involves an understanding of how things are constructed and, as a result, how they can best be deconstructed. The siege engineers of the Kaiu family are the unquestioned masters of this, but there are others among other clans who have such gifts as well.
If artisans are tasked with producing items that are considered abstract and beautiful by the people of the Empire, then craftsmen have the duty to create things of practical value. Blacksmiths, armorsmiths, cartwrights, carpenters, and shipwrights are all craftsmen. Fishermen and farmers are as well, although they do not produce an item but rather the food that is the lifeblood of the Empire. While crafting is not an honorable and noble a profession as being an artist, it is still highly valued and looked upon without stigma.
Occupations that involve money are distasteful to the samurai caste. They are not inherently dishonorable, of course, for it is absolutely necessary for a samurai to oversee such activities to ensure that his Clan and family are adequately provided for, but it is definitely considered something of a social stigma to deal in commerce. The actual day to day trading and conducting of business is typically left to merchant vassals, but it is not unheard of for samurai to have training in such matters. These individuals are typically referred to as "merchant patrons."
Teppoudo is the skill of maintaining and firing a Rokugani (non-gaijin) firearm. Taught alongside the traditional arts of Kenjutsu and Kyujutsu, the art of Teppoudo places a great emphasis on mindfulness, calm deliberate intentions, and careful breathing. It is just as much a practice of zenlike focus as it is a test of rote and memory. The samurai does not merely pull the trigger- he pushes the bullet.
The path of the shugenja begins with the innate ability to speak to the kami, but it continues with a life of rigorous study and devotion to research. Although non-shugenja can take up this craft, the essential understanding of how the invocation of the kami works makes it primarily the domain of shugenja. This research also allows scholarly shugenja to create new prayers that others can use, and allows them to entreat certain types of kami to perform tasks for them.
War is the purpose of all samurai, and war often results in those who are wounded but not slain. A wounded samurai is a burden on his lord, unable to perform his duties and yet still requiring resources. Those who practice medicine have the sacred task of ensuring that a samurai recovers from his wounds and can rise again to serve once more.
Many among the samurai caste are called to pursue the role of the scholar in order to better serve their lord, or for their own purposes. Although this is most common among shugenja, it is not unusual for a courtier or a bushi to study some subject or another that catches their interest. History and heraldry are among the most common and useful, but literally any subject can be taken up.
Games are an important diversion for the normally somber samurai caste of Rokugan. Although some clans generally prefer direct physical activities such as wrestling or other competitive pursuits, virtually everyone in the Empire plays a game of one form or another on a regular basis.
Some individuals possess the ability to glimpse the strands of fate and destiny that make up the universe, and can gain some glimmer of insight into the future as a result. This sometimes involve studying the stars and their placement via astrology, but most often comes from the use of kawaru, small stones, sticks, and cones with variety of hexagram symbols engraved upon them. Kawaru are typically thrown into a bowl or other receptacle and then examined to determine the patterns.