Personality: Yahiko is a former pick-pocket and the second border at the Kamiya dojo, who was rescued by Kenshin and Kaoru from a local yakuza gang. He has a great deal of pride since he came from a long lineage of samurai. Yahiko wishes to be viewed as an adult despite his sometimes immature behavior, so it annoys him greatly whenever someone calls him ‘Yahiko-CHAN’. He shows no respect for Kaoru, and likes to call her ‘busu’. The two fight quite a bit, similar to the way a brother and sister fight. Yahiko holds Kenshin in very high esteem and is in awe of his skill. He wishes to become as strong as him when he grows up so that he hand uphold his family’s name on his own. When someone makes him mad, Yahiko can be loud and sometimes violent (like the times when he climbs on top of Sanosuke and tries to bite his head) though he’s not quite as violent as Kaoru. Yahiko was the one who originally coined the phrase ‘Kenshin-gumi’ and tries to assist in Kenshin’s many battles to prove his strength. He can also show wisdom beyond his years from time to time.
Techniques: Yahiko is trained in the series in the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū swordsmanship style. During his six months of training, his teacher Kamiya Kaoru recognizes him as the strongest child in Japan, though Yahiko often says that is not good enough since he wants to be as strong as Himura Kenshin. After seeing several of Kenshin’s fights, Yahiko becomes adept at imitating some of Kenshin’s Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū techniques, combining them to perform many other powerful sword techniques. During Enishi’s attempt to kill Kenshin, since Yahiko wants to become strong enough to protect his friends he is taught the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū’s two succession techniques. In the first one, Hadome, Yahiko crosses his arms over his head and catches the blade of the opponent with the back of their hands. This allows him to maintain their grip on their sword while catching the opponents blade at the same time. However, if properly used, it can be chained into Hawatari, Kamiya Kasshin-ryū’s offensive succession technique. It is a counter-attack and can only be performed after a successful use of the Hadome technique. From the Hadome position, Yahiko twists his wrists, thus stripping the weapon of their attacker away from their wrists. He successfully learns both of this techniques and becomes so adept at using the Hadome, that Yahiko starts performing variations of the technique. By the time he is a teenager he even becoming famous due to his title of “the man who has caught 1000 blades”.