Have you recently watched the anime series Samurai X or Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story? and now, after witnessing some heartwarming and beautiful plotlines, are you wondering if Samurai X is based on a true story? Well, you are at the perfect place to get your answer.
Rurouni Kenshin or also known as Samurai X in many Western countries is one of the legendary anime series of the 90s. It is that kind of series which attracted not only the teens of that era but also millions of adults.
Himura Kenshin was a running samurai who wandered Japan, helping people one after the other. However, the character is really famous not in the retro period but also in the modern anime period, where we have characters like Gojo Saturu, Gabimaru, and more.
However, very few people know that Himura Kenshin is one of the characters who was inspired by a real samurai; yes, you heard it right, the anime was indeed inspired by a real-life samurai, and we are gonna talk about it in detail below.
How Samurai X is Connected To the Edo Period?
If you don’t know, Japan, from the early seventeenth century until the mid-nineteenth century, was ruled by a different Commander In chiefs of the Army, called the “Shogun.” If you have been following anime and manga for a considerable amount of time, you might have already heard about them for sure.
Although Shoguns are not the main leader of the country because they work under the leader or the emperor of the country, they are still very powerful and considered to be the head of the nation. Shoguns were the ones who held the actual political power in the field.
During the Edo time period, all the boundaries of the country were closed, and there was not a single relationship of Japan with any other country. This thing not only isolated the people of Japan from the other countries but also the culture was trapped inside.
However, when the Western powers were emerging and came to Japan in 1850, and forces the Shoguns to open their boundaries. Of course, the Shoguns tried their best to defend themselves as this was against their rules, creating chaos among the people of the country, and that also turned out to be the reason behind the Meiji Restoration in Japan.
Meiji Restoration is nothing but the civil war of Japan. At this time, on one side of the war, there were the Shoguns of the country, with their highly skilled and powerful samurai and their families, and on the other side, there was the population of the imperialist, with their main aim to restore the practical ruling in the country.
This imperialist population is also called the Ishin Shishi, and those were the ones who won at the end of this civil war and turned out to be the creators of the Meiji government, and this was the time when there was the birth of our guy Kenshin Rurouni.
Who Was Himura Kenshin In Real Life?
Although there was not a guy with a redhead and cross mark on his face, just like the protagonist of the show in the real world, however, the mangaka of the series, Nobuhiro Watsuki, made sure that Himura Kenshin should depict a real-life figure of this period.
This was the guy named Kawakami Gensai. If you have watched the anime series, you might already be familiar with the fact the one thing that Himura Kenshin hated the most is the uneven treaties with Japan, and that goes with Gensai as well because he was also dissatisfied with that.
Genasi worked as a Hitokiri, or you may also call the manslayer under the Shishi, during the Bakumatsu Period. Not only that but just like our guy in the anime, Gensai has some incredibly fast sword skills.
Rurouni Kenshin (1996) pic.twitter.com/pzwEfbjVKO
— Retro Anime (@retro_twt) June 30, 2023
Even though there are a lot of similarities between Himura Kenshin and Kawakami Gensai, there are tons of dissimilarities as well. The series is historically accurate in many ways, but there are some fictional elements as well.
If you loved the Rurouni Kenshin and looking for a similar anime title, you should check out our anime recommendation section.
Also Read: Is Malcolm X Based On A True Story? The Inspiration Behind The 1992 Film
