Himura Kenji

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Himura Kenji(緋村 剣路), a fictional character of the anime and manga series Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X, is the son of Himura Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru.

[edit] Manga

Kenji appears in the final volume of Rurouni Kenshin, when Myōjin Yahiko returns to the dojo and Kenshin presents Yahiko with the sakabatou. Kenji is only a small child, but according to Yahiko, despite looking like a smaller version of his father, Kenji is quite troublesome. He is fond of climbing up to high places, but cries when he is unable to get down. He also likes his mother more than his father; Kenji especially likes to pull Kenshin's hair. Kenji makes one more appearance in the series in the Kenshin Kaden's short story, Haru ni Sakura, where Kenshin and his friends are reunited in a spring picnic.

Nobuhiro Watsuki's profile of Kenji in the Secret Lives of Characters states that Watsuki would like to write another story about how Kenji learns to imitate Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu moves just by hearing about them. While Kenshin remarks to his young son in the chapter Kenji will one day inherit the sakabatou after Yahiko, Watsuki reveals in this spinoff story, Kenji would have to fight Myōjin Shinya, the son of Yahiko and Sanjō Tsubame, for the right to inherit sakabatou after Yahiko himself. It also states that Kenji would grow up to be "more twisted than Saito and more egomaniacal than Shishio", leaving alarmed fans wonder if Kenji turns out for good or evil in the end. Watsuki finishes the profile by saying that although he would like to write such a story, it is unlikely that he will ever do so.

[edit] Rurouni Kenshin: Seisouhen

The Rurouni Kenshin: Seisouhen timeline does not exist in the manga. The eventual relationship between Kenshin and Kenji in the manga is left up to the fans to guess.

In "Seisouhen", Kenji is now in his adolescence, bearing an uncanny resemblance to his father (save the blue eyes, which are his mother's, and the absence of the X-shaped scar). By this time, Kenji has grown up harboring a harsh bitterness towards his father, Kenshin, whom he believes abandoned him and his mother. As a result, Kenji has developed an over-protective nature for his mother; brought upon by the sorrow she feels at the absence of her beloved.

Kenji leaves home to go to Kyoto in order to ask Hiko Seijūrō XIII to teach him the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū. Kenji initially mistakes the true strength of his father. He wants to learn "his father's swordsmanship" in order to create his own legend. He grew to believe killing might not be an inhumane act and that it was acceptable.

Myojin Yahiko, the new master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu (after Kaoru), told him otherwise. After a duel with Yahiko, Kenji feels the brunt weight of Kenshin's sakabatou and realizes that the true strength and legend of his father was not in his ability to slay people, but his devotion and self-sacrifice to those around him. In the end, he was given the sakabatō as a late Genpuku present, hoping that Kenji understands this lesson and honors it as it is the way both Kenshin and Kaoru lived and hoped Kenji would live by.

Kenji settles down with Raikōji Chizuru, who originates from Watsuki's original short stories; this girl appears strong willed and energetic and bears a striking physical and characteristical resemblance to his mother, Kaoru.

Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)
Characters
Himura Kenshin | Kamiya Kaoru | Sagara Sanosuke | Myōjin Yahiko | Takani Megumi | Shinomori Aoshi| Makimachi Misao| Minor characters
Terms and Historical references
Samurai | Shinsengumi | Battousai | Meiji period | Saitō Hajime | Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu | Ishin Shishi | Three great nobles