Originally a slave named Shinta, he was taken in at a young age by the master of Hitenmitsurugi Ryu who taught him nearly everything he knew and changed his name to Kenshin. With a revolution inevitable, Kenshin grew restless and left his master's side to lend his sword to Katsura. During the Meiji Revolution, Kenshin killed many men and earned the nickname 'Battousai the Manslayer'. However, one day towards the end of the revolution, Kenshin dissapeared and wasn't heard from for ten more years...
We first meet Kenshin as he is being accused by Kaoru Kamiya to be the Manslayer Battousai. Apparently, someone else has taken up his name and is, once again, killing in it. Kenshin spends the better part of 24 hours at the Kamiya Dojo that day and leaves in the middle of the night. Later, he took down Gohei (the false Battousai) and is invited to stay on at the Dojo. Throughout the series he befriends characters such as Megumi Takani, Yahiko Miojin, and Sonosuke Sagara and finds enemies such as Shishio and Aoshi Shinomori to be a worthy challenge.
Kenshin has more enemies than friends, it often seems. Though a good number of them are incidental and filler villians. The most famous villians he faces, however, are part of the reasons Kenshin is one of our favorites...
