Seiyuu(voice actress): Mina Tomanaga
Age: 9
Height: 128 cm
Weight: 23 kg
Date of birth: August 1868
Zodiac sign: Leo
Place of birth: Tokyo
Blood Type: B
Family: None living. His father was a samurai on the side of the Tokugawa Shoganate who died during the Bakumatsu. His mother died of tuberculosis soon thereafter leaving Yahiko an orphan. He was raised by yakuza (gangsters) until he was brought to the Kamiya Dojo by Kenshin when he was nine.
Weapon: Shinai (bamboo sword); Sakabatou (when he is 15 years old)
Fighting Technique: Kamiya Kashin Ryu
Skills: Miyoumimane-Ryu Tsuisen (mimicked from watching Kenshin fight)
First Appearance: Episode 2 (anime); Tankoubon 1 (manga)
Traits: Brash and arrogant, but with a deep sense of honor and responsibility far beyond his years,. He is loyal to his friends and never backs down from a challenge even when he would appear to be overmatched.
Characteristics: A short boy, with large brown eyes and spikey black hair, small for his age, over a short span of time both training with Kaoru and observing Kenshin, Yahiko shows that he will grow up to be a swordsman of great skill.
"Rather than having an actualy model, Yahiko is more based on my own feelings when I was in junior high. When I was in junior high I actually joined the kendo club. At the same time I started casually playing kendo, I was involved in drawing manga. I was tired out everyday from swinging the shinai. But, I was terrible. Even though I was 183 cm tall, I was pathetically bad. My whole ninth grade year I only got to be one of the regulars on the team once. When someone dropped out they voted someone else to come in ahead of me. On top of that, I finished the league meet without a single victory. That's the reason why Myoujin Yahiko isn't a hero like Kenshin or Sanosuke, but a real-life person who shares those feelings of frustration and "wants to be strong." (If you read the 45 page short story "Vagabond" in the third book, you'll understand.) Lately he's been used as a comic character, but I think it's better to draw him as a boy my readers can feel will be a fine swordsman five or ten years from now.
Like Kaoru, there was no real design. It was time for the big-eyed, messy-haired boy you always get in boys' comics."
Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin manga
volume 1 part 2
from Maigo-chan's translation