The show revolves around the adventures of the legendary samurai known as Battosai the Manslayer. Years after the revolution in Kyoto, during the Meiji era, he reappears in Tokyo as a Rurouni or 'Wanderer' by the name of Kenshin Himura. After getting a place to stay at the Kamiya Dojo with the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu style, Kaoru, he stops wandering to protect the people of Tokyo with his Sakabato (Reversed-Blade Sword) so that he may never kill another again like he did mercilessly in Kyoto. Along with the boy swordsman, Yahiko, the fighter-for-hire, Sanosuke, and the beautiful doctor, Megumi, Kenshin lives his days in the city of Tokyo protecting the weak without ever having to kill in the new era of Japan.