List of Rurouni Kenshin characters

This article uses the Japanese naming order for fictional Rurouni Kenshin characters; the family name is given first, followed by the given name. For real people living in modern-day Japan (the author and the voice actors), the western order (family name given last) is used.
Several of the main characters of Rurouni Kenshin, the faction of Shishio Makoto, and the Kyoto Oniwabanshū. Kenshin has the large picture at the top-right, and Shishio has the large picture at the bottom-left. The top row includes, from left to right, Shiro, Okon, Hiko, Kaoru, Saitō, and Sanosuke. The second row has Kuro, Omasu, Okina, Misao, Yahiko and Aoshi. The third row has, from left to right, Hōji, Yumi, Usui, Chō, Fuji, and Iwanbō. The bottom row has Sōjirō, Kamatari, Anji, Henya, and Saizuchi.

The manga series Rurouni Kenshin features a large cast of fictional characters created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Set in Japan during the Meiji period, several of the characters are real historical figures who interact with the fictional characters.

The story begins in 1878 and follows a pacifist wanderer named Himura Kenshin, who was previously an assassin known as "Hitokiri Battōsai" working for the Ishin Shishi during the Bakumatsu period. After helping Kamiya Kaoru, the instructor of a kendo school in Tokyo, in defeating a criminal, he is invited by her to stay at her dojo. During his stay in Tokyo, Kenshin befriends new people including Myōjin Yahiko, a young child descendant from a samurai family who starts training under Kaoru, Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army cadet who enjoys fighting, and Takani Megumi, a doctor involved with the illegal drug trade. He also encounters old and new enemies whose ambitions cause Kenshin to return to fighting, this time to protect the innocent.