Name: Himura Kenshin (Originally Shinta)

Nicknames:  Hitokiri Battousai, Himura Battousai

Date of Birth:  20th June

Age:  28

Height:  158 cm

Weight:  48 kg

Blood Type:  AB

School: Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu

Weapon: Sakabatou (broken by Soujirou), Sakabatou Shinuchi

Technique: Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu

Appearance: He's a short guy with red hair that is gathered in a ponytail with a big X-scar on his left cheek.

Personality:  Kenshin is a very gentle and polite person with a strong sense of right and wrong.  His common saying is 'oro' (which is impossible to translate into English).  However, when Kenshin becomes angry or under extreme circumstances the 'Hitokiri' inside him appears. This dark side of Kenshin is a cool, cold blooded swordsman whose power and blinding speed when drawing his sword from the scabbard had earned him the name 'Hitokiri Battousai'.

Background:  Kenshin's real name is Shinta. After his parents died from cholera epidemic he was sold to slavers.  While on a journey a year later, they were attacked by bandits. Luckily, Kenshin was rescued by Hiko Seijuurou, his present day master.  He changed Shinta's name to Kenshin when he decided to teach him Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.  When Kenshin was 13 years old, they had a huge fight which made Kenshin want to leave and he set out on his own.  A few years later during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin fought on the Ishin Shishi side as a bodyguard/assassin.  He killed so many people that he got the name Hitokiri Battousai. Battousai disappeared after he single handedly saved the Meiji government. When the war ended Kenshin vowed never to kill again. Once the most deadliest and feared Battousai is now a rurouni, travelling around Japan to aid people so he could atone for all the lives he had taken during the Bakumatsu.  In the 11th year of the Meiji era, Kenshin meets Kaoru, in another world our story begins...

The Makings of the Character - Himura Kenshin  

The original model was supposed to be the Hitokiri Kawakami Gensai, but now they're completely different . . . (oh well.) Kawakami Gensai, one of the four great Hitokiris of the Bakumatsu, could be mistaken for a girl at first glance, but his nature was the complete opposite of his appearance: he was a cold, calculating man said to be the most terrible of the four. He was famous for cutting down Kuma Shouzan in broad daylight with his unique, lightning-fast Furanui style of kenjutsu. Whether he was responsible for other assassinations is still a mystery. After the new era was brought in, his ideas about isolationism conflicted with that of the government's, and he was tried on false charges and executed in the fourth year of the Meiji era (1871). But after looking into it, I think the Hitokiri's inflexibility was not meaningless, but his honour for the comrades he fought and killed with and the enemies he killed. This thought led to the Kenshin character. From others in the Shinsengumi, I also took the selflessness of Okita Soushi of the Shinsengumi, and the mystery of Saitou Hajime. Other than this, I didn't have any particular design for the character. The hero of my debut story was a tall handsome man with black hair and armour, so I tried to draw the exact opposite and ended up with a girl (laughs). In desperation, I added a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. However, that scar actually became a key point in the transformation of Battousai to Kenshin (or so it seems).