Who's Battousai? What's the difference between him and Kenshin? When Kenshin was much younger, (his current age is 28), he carved a name for himself as the Hitokiri Battousai, (Hitokiri literally translates into 'shadow', but in this context means 'killer'; Battousai was taken from his trademark Battou-jutsu stance on the battlefield), the most feared assassin in all of Edo. He paved the way to a new Era, fighting for the Ishin Shishi (one of the major factions in Old Japan's political turmoil), and succeeded in eliminating the major leaders of the Shinsen Gumi (the biggest opposition to the Ishin-- they were pretty much all that stood between the Ishin and victory).

After the Bakumatsu no Doran (the war that culminates between the two factions), he changes his name back to Himura Kenshin, and begins a ten-year journey as a rurouni (vagabond; pretty much the same meaning as ronin). (* useless fact: Watsuki himself admits that the term 'rurouni' is not a real word, and he didn't even know that himself until he looked it up. 'ronin' is the correct term.) However, now that he lives as the peaceful, non-killing rurouni, he sometimes 'reverts' back to his old killer-mentality.

You can tell when he turns into the Hitokiri when his eyes shift into gold (they're normally purple). This happens when he's very, very upset, and wants to kill something (or, more accurately, someone). It's kind of like a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde syndrome-- except Kenshin turns so much cooler when he turns into the Battousai. ^_^

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