Rurouni Kenshin Characters - Minor Characters

Minor Characters

• Yamagata Aritomo (山縣 有朋?) (Seiji Mizutani and Hari Kaneko, Simon Prescott, Crispin Freeman (Media Blasters) and Bill Harwell (Samurai X: The Motion Picture)) was one of Kenshin's comrades. Yagamata grew a mustache since taking position of power in the Meiji government. Yamagata tries to convince Kenshin to stop carrying a sword, but Yamagata realizes that Kenshin's openly displayed sword and his actions as a rurouni ensure safety for others. Though Yamagata only has one appearance in the manga, in the anime, he appears again as the assassination target of a corrupt politician, Takuma Hashizume, but thanks to Kenshin, he was saved and Hashizume was arrested. Much later, he alerts Kenshin about an assassination attempt led by Ukyo Inagi. Yamagata also plays an important role in the Feng Shui arc assisting Kawaji and Tsunan with stopping the plot to destroy the Circle of Eternity. Watsuki said that he could not get his version of Yamagata to resemble surviving photographs of the real Yamagata.
• Maekawa Miyauchi (前川 宮内?), a character only in the manga, is the owner of a martial arts dojo where Kaoru trains. He is the master of the Chūetsu-ryū style. Isurugi Raijūta appears at Maekawa's dojo and defeats him in a match; Kenshin prevents Raijūta from mortally wounding Maekawa. After the attack Inui Banjin made against his dojo, Maekawa does not blame Kenshin, but decided to retire and choose a young successor.
• Shibumi (渋海?) (Masaru Ikeda, Steve Kramer) is a corrupt politician who employs assassins to eliminate rivals in order to further his own career. He employs Udō Jin-e, Akamatsu Arundo, and Saitō Hajime. Shibumi orders Saitō to kill Kenshin, not knowing that Saitō is in actuality allied to Ōkubo Toshimichi. After Saitō appears at Shibumi's place and kills Arundo, Shibumi begs for his life and offers money to Saitō; Saitō refuses and kills Shibumi.