This came up on the SASS Mailing List… And we figured out that, unlike the popular belief, Kenshin is not technically a samurai!!

If you're saying "ORO???" in a confused tone right now, please read on! ^_-x

From first glance, Kenshin was a samurai… 'Samurai' literally means 'to serve', and he did serve the IshinShishi during the Bakumatsu…

Kenshin was not born into a samurai family. Samurai is a social status that is gained by birth, and it's never mentioned in RK that he was born into a samurai family. "To serve" is really one of the most important qualities of samurais. However, the duty of samurais is to serve their lord, but Kenshin never served one. Kenshin did work under Katsura Kogorou of Choshu province, one of the three heroes of the Restoration. However, the reason for him to work as a Choshu Hitokiri, is not the loyalty to a family or a single person, which is what samurais served for, but compassion towards all the commoners in the nation. What brought Kenshin to the way of Hitokiri, was not some virtues like "Makoto" or "Glory", but the hope that a peaceful era would finally arrive. Besides, the believes of Kenshin to life as a Hitenmitsurugiryuu swordsman is very different from that of a samurai. From the way the student of the school is chosen (by their ability instead of birth ), it is clear that Hitenmitsurugiryuu does not care about class or birth of a person. Furthermore, the school's emphasis of the "desire to live" is a contrast to the samurai's emphasis of "Glory/Beauty of death". The role of Kenshin as Hiten's swordsman brought him further away from the way of samurai. (Thanks, Sandy-chan for this info!)

To further surprise you (or maybe not), Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin's master was never a samurai either! So there was absolutely no way for Kenshin to have gained the social status of 'samurai' (which, to remind you, is gained by birth)! It is never mentioned in RK that Hiko Seijuro was a samurai (and he was never supposed to be one). Although Hiko is a master swordsman, this doens't make him automatically a samurai. "Samurai" does not only represent a person's fighting skill, but more importantly, it represents one's class and social status. This social status is passed on by birth. Furthermore, samurais were divided into higher-class samurai and lower class samurais. Many of the participants of the Meiji Ishin were from the lower samurai families, eg. Okubo Toshimichi (the politician killed by Seta Soujiro in RK). Lower-class samurai could attain a higher rank through adoption. (eg. Kido Koin , who is also known as Katsura Kogorou, the leader of Choshu Ishis, attain a higher rank by a death bed adpotion). However, it is very rare (if there is any) that a samurai will adopt someone from a non-samurai family.

The first time samurai played a central part in a military campaign was in the middle of the 11th century, during the "Early Nine Years War." The war begun in 1050 as an attempt by the leading Fujiwara family to extract taxes from Abe Yoritoki, the superintendent of the Ainu lands north of the capital, and to reduce his clan to obedience. The Fujuwara clan brought some additional muscle in the form of the Minamoto and Taira. Despite initial success (Abe Yoritoki died early in the war), the war dragged on to 1062. Minamoto Yoriyoshi's son Yoshiie, distinguished himself so greatly in the final battle, that was so fierce that it is said that women and children fought as bravely as men, that he got the nickname "Hachiman Taro" (Firstborn of the War God). At this time group tactics was still something unknown, and samurai went into battle alone. It was at this time that it was customary for a samurai to recite his lineage (with the standard disclaimer that his own life wasn't worth anything) before fighting. Tales of these early samurai are filled with heroic feats, and while many of them must be greatly exaggerated, it is safe to say that to a samurai, death was much preferable to defeat or capture.

(Thanks again, Sandy-chan for this info (the 2 above paragraphs)!!)

So apparently, neither Kenshin nor Seijuro were samurais… Overall, I think (and so does the rest of SASS…) that technically it's much more accurate to call Kenshin and Seijuro master swordsmen.

CREDITS for giving this wonderful info and asking questions:

Sandy-chan, Pan, Michiru, Himura Kenshin. (SASS Mailing List)