Kawakami Gensai

Kawakami Gensai (1834-1872) was a swordsman of the late Edo period from Higo Province (present-day Kumamoto Prefecture), and is known as one of the Four Great Hitokiri (assassins) of the Bakumatsu. He is said to have been small in stature and a master of one-handed sword drawing. His persona is considered one of the models for Himura Kenshin, the protagonist of the manga and anime Rurouni Kenshin.

Kawakami Gensai was born in Kumamoto castle town, the second son of Komori Teisuke, a lower-ranking retainer of the Higo (Kumamoto) domain, and was adopted by Kawakami Genbei of the same domain. His swordsmanship was close to self-taught, though it is also said that he studied the iaijutsu of Katayama Hōki-ryū, and his nimble swordwork was reputed even in his own time. He was deeply involved in the sonnō jōi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) movement, and in 1862 he went up to Kyōto, where he became close to Kusaka Genzui and Katsura Kogorō (Kido Takayoshi) of the Chōshū domain and earned the trust of Sanjō Sanetomi.

In his activities in Kyōto during the Bakumatsu, Kawakami Gensai is said to have cut down many people, but the only killing certain from the records is the assassination of Sakuma Shōzan in 1864. Sakuma Shōzan was an enlightened thinker and military scholar of the day, and his assassination caused a great shock.

After the Meiji Restoration, Kawakami Gensai strongly insisted on expelling the foreigners, opposing the Meiji new government, which was moving toward opening the country, and for this he was regarded as a danger by both his domain and the new government. Because he harbored Ōraku Gentarō, he was suspected of involvement in the Nikyō Incident and was arrested in 1870. He was beheaded at Kodenmachō in Tōkyō on January 13, 1872 (Meiji 4/12/4), at the young age of 38. As a practical user of the Japanese sword and an important figure in Bakumatsu history, Kawakami Gensai is still remembered today.