Sanosuke, when he was 9-10 yrs old, was once in a group known as the Sekihou Tai. This orginization was destroyed, because they gave false information out to the public about promises the government would make, but this was totally false. A bad guy had set up the group, so that they could destroy them. Since Sanosuke survived the attack, he has hated the Meiji government as long as he could remember. He travelled around looking for fights and new challenges. You could call him a gangster, because that's what some people refer to him as. When he accepted a task to challenge the famous Battousai he was really excited, because it meant that he could take out revenge on the government he so hated. However, he was defeated by Kenshin, and Kenshin explained to him that it wasn't all the governments fault. After that, they became the best of friends, and he occassionally freeloads off of Kaoru at her home. Plus, drinks a lot and holds nasty but fun quarrels with Megumi.