Why did kenshin fight? the mitsurugi style is to protect.

[HeroYui]

The hiten mitsurugi is to protect the innocent yet he kills anyone. Innocent or guilty he dosent want to take responsiblility at least at first.

[Don]

But Kenshin doesn't kill "anyone."

He follows Katsura's orders because Katsura doesn't say "go kill some women and children." All assassinations are justified as part of the revolution. Men who fight must be willing to give everything up for their ideals, which is probably what Kenshin thinks to justify his killings.

Saying "innocent or guilty" is iffy. He will not kill anyone innocent. If he did, he would have killed Tomoe immediately upon her seeing him but he doesn't do that. Perhaps it could be because he witnessed the deaths of Akane, Sakura and Kasumi but we can't really be sure of that.

Now Kenshin killing "guilty" people... that's not true. He killed them because it was a war. A war is a conflict between two ideals, so in order to win the war, Kenshin had to kill. It's not that they were "guilty" or anything.

Now protecting the innocent by killing is somewhat hypocritical (the ol' "fighting to end all fighting" cliché) but it shows how naive he was. He justified his deeds with the fact that if the bloodshed continued, more would die. So if he could stop the war, it'd all be over.

I'm not sure what you mean by "at first" but if you mean after he begins wandering, he took responsibility for a long time. Specifically, he stated that he'd continue killing after Tomoe's death because if he didn't, all the previous deaths would have been in vain.

Anyway, 1:34... I'm sleepy... this is how NOT to end a post. ;P

[suzaku]

kenshin doesn't kill anyone...

he fights because he wants to protect the ones he want to protect especially the ppl he loves...

[suzaku]

oh yeah...

he wants to fight because he wants to repent himself...

[Don]

I thought we were talking about Kenshin during the Bakumatsu... ^_^;;;;;

[psycnarf]

OK to make it simple during the Tokugawa era Kenshin kills because he wants to create a new world where everyone can be safe and happy coz thats what Katsura Kogoro told him. Also Hiko did say that to protect and save others one must kill coz kenjutsu is a murdering technique.