In the eleventh year of the Meiji Era (1878), a vagabond swordsman is found wandering the streets of Tokyo. A strange man, he carries a reverse-bladed sword and has an x-shaped scar on his cheek. He wants only to be left alone.
However, a girl named Kamiya Kaoru accuses him of being the man claiming the identity of the legendary Hitokiri Battousai. This man is murdering people in the name of her family's doujo. When he saves her from the real killer, she invites him to come stay at her doujo, since he obviously has no other place to go. This is the beginning of the story of Himura Kenshin.
Before the Meiji Restoration, Himura Kenshin was known as Hitokiri (Murderer) Battousai. He was the top assassin for the reformist group Ishin Shishi. However, when the old government was overthrown and the fighting had drawn to an end, Hitokiri Battousai had disappeared. Kenshin wandered the countryside for nearly eleven years; the world presumed him dead or lost.
When Kenshin meets Kaoru, he is no longer Hitokiri Battousai, for he has sworn never to take another life again. His sword is not a regular sword, but a reverse-bladed sword, meaning that he cannot kill anyone with his sword, but he can defend himself. Kenshin is a man who is trying to escape his past, and create a future for himself. With the help of Kaoru and the others that he meets, he may just have a chance.

THE KAMIYA DOUJO
Kaoru's doujo becomes a haven for the series regulars. After Kenshin's arrival, he and Kaoru find themselves helping a boy named Myojin Yahiko. Yahiko has been pressed into the service of a band of local thieves in order to repay a debt. Kaoru goes to rescue him but finds herself outnumbered. Kenshin shows up and rescues them both, gaining the admiration of the boy. When he says he wants to be just like Kenshin, Kenshin replies he's not interested in teaching anyone how to kill and tells him Kaoru should be his teacher. Reluctantly, he agrees.
Sanosuke's introduction to the doujo is somewhat less peaceful. Incredibly strong, Sanosuke uses the giant Zanba sword, which was originally designed to be used by horsemen. The sword proved too unwieldy to be used, but Sanosuke's strength enables him to use it as a normal sword. When he beats up some drunks at the local restaurant, he catches the attention of several people. Sanosuke challenges Kenshin, but he declines. Meanwhile, one of the other men from the bar hires him to kill Kenshin. After several rounds of fighting, Kenshin wins, and Sanosuke tells him that he'll be keeping an eye on him to see if he will really protect those he cares about. Over time, the two gradually become friends.
The final member of the "family" is Megumi. A promising young doctor, she is unknowningly working for another doctor who is providing opium to the local crime lord. When the doctor is killed, the crime lord takes Megumi prisoner, as she also knows how to make the drug. Ultimately, Kenshin frees her from her forced employment and she becomes the neighborhood doctor, providing medical assistance for not only Kenshin and the others but all the people who live in the area.
Over time, the relationships of the characters develop and deepen. There are several subtle and not-so-subtle romantic relationships about to bloom. But the relationships between the characters who come to call the Kamiya doujo home make them seem very much like a family. They are a group of lost souls who find their place in a very troubled world.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
RUROUNI KENSHIN is set in the Meiji Era, which began in 1868. It was a time of great change and great uncertainty for Japan. The political and economic events of the era play an important part in the KENSHIN story.

THE DEMISE OF THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE
Before the Meiji Restoration, which gave rise to the Meiji Era, Japan had been ruled by the Shogun for over two hundred years. After the Battle of Sekigahara, conveniently held in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and declared himself Shogun, the ruler of the nation. The Emperor was retained, but his power and status were merely symbolic.
The government system Tokugawa installed was essentially a blanket over the existing local government. Local lords, called daimyos, could do as they pleased, as long as they conformed to the Shogunate's policies and wishes. This loose system of government was obviously not ideal, and after some two hundred years, the foundation for the Shogunate had become unstable.

Samurai during the end of the Bakumatsu period. The United States forced Japan to open its doors to the outside world in 1853.

At the beginning of the Tokugawa period (1600-1858), there were essentially three classes in Japan's hierarchy: nobles, samurai, and peasants. The nobles made the rules, samurai enforced them, and the peasants followed them. However, the peasants were also responsible for producing enough food to feed all three classes. Taxes were paid in rice, and from the taxes paid to the local daimyo, he gave stipends to the samurai under his command. It was a fragile agrarian-based economy that could only endure for so long.
Later in the Tokugawa period comes the rise of the "fourth class," the merchants. Merchants were looked down upon because they didn't contribute or produce anything; they merely made money off the work of others. However, despite the disdain from the other classes, the merchants had products that were in demand.
And this increased demand lead to an increase in currency, but there is only so much rice one can grow. Daimyo started taking taxes years in advance to attempt to retain a positive cash flow, but in the end, this strategy proved unsuccessful. But the hardest hit by all of this was the Samurai. Since they only had a fixed income upon which to live, they often found themselves indebted to the merchants, which of course weakened their position.
So when Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and demanded Japan open up trade relations, Japan had a very unhappy peasant base, an indebted and nearly powerless samurai class, and a government that could hardly support its own weight. The merchants were the ones quietly holding much of the power. As a result, the government knew that they could not refuse the United States.