The second season of the new TV anime " Rurouni Kenshin : Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story " based on the popular manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki is " Kyoto Disturbance". The "Kyoto Arc", which depicts the fierce battle between the protagonist Himura Kenshin and Shishio's group, is a popular episode in the original work, and in episode 35, "Hiko Seijuro", Hiko Seijuro, the 13th successor of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu and Kenshin's master, appears. Yuichi Nakamura, who plays Hiko Seijuro, one of the strongest characters in "Rurouni Kenshin", describes him as "a difficult and interesting character". We asked him about the appeal of Hiko Seijuro and what went on behind the scenes of the recording.
◇ When I was in junior high school, "Rurouni Kenshin" had a special vibe
"Rurouni Kenshin" is a popular manga that was serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) from 1994 to 1999. It depicts Himura Kenshin, who was feared as a Battousai assassin during the late Edo period, as a wanderer who vowed not to kill after the Meiji Restoration, searching for a way to live in a new era. A new chapter, "Rurouni Kenshin - Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story Hokkaido Arc -", has been serialized in the monthly manga magazine "Jump SQ." (Shōkyōsha) since 2017. With a completely new staff and cast, the first season of the 24-episode series was broadcast in July 2023 as a new TV anime series, and the second season has been broadcast on Fuji TV's late-night anime slot "Noitamina" and other channels since October this year.
Nakamura, who read the serialized "Rurouni Kenshin" when he was in junior high school, describes its appeal as "a fresh work."
"Of the works I read in 'Weekly Shonen Jump', there weren't many that used swordsmen as their subject matter in line with history, so in that sense it was very refreshing. The fads were fighting battles like 'Dragon Ball', and even when weapons were used, it was fantasy like 'Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'. So there weren't many works that told a story based on historical fact or showed human emotions, so I remember this having a somewhat special color."
He says that the "Kyoto" chapter in particular left the strongest impression on him.
"I think the Kyoto Arc is the strongest part where Kenshin fights as Kenshin and tries to change something on his own. When Yukishiro Enishi appears in the next arc, it becomes a matter of Kenshin's atonement, and in the Hokkaido Arc it becomes a story of 'taking over'. In that sense, the Kyoto Arc is the strongest part where Kenshin tries to move forward and do things of his own volition, and I feel like it may be the part where the theme of the work Rurouni Kenshin from the beginning is most strongly expressed."
◇ Kenshin and Hiko Seijuro "don't talk"? A unique master-disciple relationship
The name Hiko Seijuro is a pseudonym, and he lives in the mountains of Kyoto as a potter called Niitsu Kakunoshin to avoid social interactions. Kenshin visits Hiko to learn the secrets of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu style of swordsmanship in preparation for his battle with Shishio's group. He said that he felt that playing Hiko, Kenshin's master, would be "a difficult character, a difficult performance."
"In terms of the character's age, I'm about the same age as him, but when I thought about what it means to be in your early 40s in this era, I thought about how I was in a slightly more grown-up position than I am now. Hiko Seijuro himself is philosophical, but he has also given up on some things and has withdrawn. He knows that the things he can change on his own are only small things, and that no matter how overwhelming his power is, it won't change the country, so he lives his life by only sticking his nose into things that are within his own circle. He also hates people and lives deep in the mountains, so he doesn't meet anyone and has no intention of protecting anyone. However, the difficult thing is that although there is such a character image, when I act in this story, there is no depiction of that. There is no way to portray Hiko's "emptiness," and I can't act it either. So when he meets Kenshin, he has to vent his anger and feud that he currently harbors towards his disciple."
He also explained that the conversation between Kenshin, played by Soma Saito, and Hiko was "difficult, because it seems like they're having a conversation but they're not."
"He's talking one-sidedly. In short, their goals are different. Kenshin's goal isn't to talk to his master, so he doesn't talk to him. He's come because he wants to receive some final training for the battle that awaits him later, and Hiko is angry and indignant that his disciple has just shown up and is saying what he wants, so their conversation doesn't mesh."
However, after this initial conversation, he felt that it would lead to an exchange between master and disciple in which "Hiko gradually makes Kenshin realize, 'What do you lack right now?' and 'What do you want to do now?'"
"I don't know if that's what Hiko was aiming for, but Kenshin comes to an realization within himself. Moreover, he has to realize through practice that what is necessary for the final secret technique is not to risk your life, but the feeling that 'to live'. So, through their back-and-forth exchanges, Hiko is gradually guiding, or drawing out, Kenshin. Not with words, but through attitudes and the exchange of swords, he learns Kenshin's thoughts and makes his next approach. It seems to me that he does this not through conversation, but through his actions, so I think that rather than it being something I do, it's mostly down to the viewers to realize something through what is shown through direction and images, and through the drama."
◇The charm of Hiko Seijuro that I discovered while acting: Why did I name him Kenshin?
Regarding Hiko Seijuro, since he appears in only a limited number of scenes, he said, "I feel that how people interpret the character will be different for each person," but he also said that he noticed a side of him that he had not noticed when reading the original work, and found it fun to play the role.
"Reading the script, doing the voice recording, and then looking back at it, I noticed something at each step, and that was the interesting part. There were many times when I realized afterwards that, 'Oh, maybe that's what the characters were saying and what they were doing.'"
The most memorable scene was when Hiko named Kenshin, who was originally called "Shinta" when he was young, "Kenshin" and took him as his disciple. Shinta lost his parents to illness, and was attacked by bandits on the way to be taken by a human trafficker, but was saved by Hiko. A few days later, Hiko saw Kenshin building graves for everyone, including the human trafficker and the bandits, and decided to take him as his disciple.
"When I was reading the original manga, I wondered why he suddenly gave him that name. Hiko tells him that Shinta is too kind and unsuitable for a swordsman, so he should call himself Kenshin. I thought he felt sorry for the boy who was left alone, but decided to take him on as his disciple because he seemed strong-willed. But in the monologue preceding that, Hiko is feeling his own powerlessness."
In his monologue, Hiko says, "There have been so many times in the past when I have wielded my sword in accordance with the principles of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, but in the end I was unable to save anyone."
"Hiko thought that Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu would change the world, but it didn't change anything and people just died. After that, Hiko met a kind boy. I felt that at the time, he realized that he couldn't change the world in the coming age, so he decided to entrust it to the exact opposite. Furthermore, Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu is passed down from father to son, so he knew that he would die when he inherited the secret techniques, and he took on a disciple with that resolve in mind. Watsuki-sensei also calls Hiko the strongest character, but I think he realized that he couldn't resist the flow of the world and lost in something that wasn't about the sword. When I think about it that way, I feel that the scene from the past was very interesting and profound."
As Nakamura says, Kenshin's master, Hiko Seijuro, has many charms that cannot be expressed in a single word. It will be interesting to see how Hiko Seijuro is portrayed in the currently airing TV anime "Rurouni Kenshin."
