Himura Kenshin:Originally his name was Himura Shinta. He was given the name Kenshin by his sensei and rescuer who gave him the name saying that Shinta was no name for a warrior. He trained under his sensei in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style... a tremendous sword-fighting technique that was considered unbeatable. When Kenshin was a young man, he left in his pursuit to protect people. He joined the Inshin and became the legendary Hitokiri Battousai: The greatest assassin who is feared by all of Japan. But at the end of the war, Kenshin disappeared. He swore off killing and became a Rurouni: a wandering warrior with no sensei. He now protects people without killing and will do anything to prevent himself from taking a life, even thought of an enemy. His sword is in fact a reverse-bladed sword to prevent any fatal wounds being inflicted upon his enemies. The blade in that sword, however, can be reversed back to a normal blade with its killing edge. This portion of the story is somewhat of a metaphoric correlation for Kenshin's struggle to keep the dreaded manslayer from re-emerging. Kamiya Kaoru: The successor to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Kendo style, Kaoru runs the Kamiya dojo in Kyoto. Before Kenshin wandered into her life, she lived alone in the dojo, although she is regularly visited by Dr. Genkai and his two little grand-daughters. Her weapon of choice is the shinai (bamboo sword). She has a kind-heart but is quick to temper. She doesn't do anything Kenshin tells her to do, but expects him to do everything she tells him to do. (Isn't that the way things are supposed to work? hehehehe.) Kenshin depends on her as much as she does on him as she - in a sense - gives him the strength to fight without reverting to the dreaded manslayer. Kaoru is also a terrible cook and Kenshin is the only one who seems to enjoy her cooking. (awwww) Of course, she's beaned him HOW many times with the shinai? *grins* Kaoru fills a sort of empty spot in Kenshin's life after the death of his wife during the revolution. Myojin Yahiko: Yahiko is an orphan who is forced into the service of a local Yakuza group after his mother's death. Both of his parents were samurai (that is - his mother came from a samurai clan). His father was killed during the war, although I haven't seen any specifics on the death of Yahiko's mother. He is a spunky kid who gives his teacher, Kaoru, grief by calling her "ugly"... But when it comes down to learning and actually picking up on the Kamiya ideals - Kenshin obviously chose right in "forcing" Kaoru to teach him. Yahiko wishes that Kenshin would teach him *his* style, but Kenshin says there will be no one to carry on the deadly Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu style after him. Sagara Sanosuke: The fight merchant known as Zanza, Sanosuke is constantly looking for a good fight. He is called "Zanza" because of his weapon of choice: a zanbatou or zanza, an extremely huge sword used to knock down horses and their riders. No one can truly master the weapon because of its enormous size... Sanosuke, for all his strength, is only able to take swings with it - it is not a versatile weapon. He challenges Kenshin after being hired by the two goons who tried to force Kaoru to sell her family's dojo. The symbol on the back of his clothes is Aku. It means "evil" or "bad" and is in memory of his master who was killed during the war when the Meiji regime betrayed them. He, for that reason, hates all imperialists until meeting Kenshin. This character is a bit of a goof-off... he's known to get out of paying for meals at restaurants and has a knack for getting himself lost in the city. Seijuurou Hiko: The master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Hiko saved Shinta from the marauders who wiped out the slave traders who had taken the orphan after his parents were also murdered. It was he who gave Kenshin his current name. Very little is known about Hiko as he is very mysterious and lives in the mountains as a sculptor. He refers to Kenshin as his "stupid pupil" for leaving to become the Hitokiri Battousai fifteen years before. He only agrees to teach Kenshin the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu succession technique after learning that Kenshin gave up being a manslayer to become a rurouni to atone for the horrible things he had done in the war.