Myōjin Yahiko was the only son of a low-ranking samurai family, but was orphaned during the early years of the Meiji era when his already poor family fell on hard times. Having no one else to turn to, Yahiko was made a pickpocket in the Tanishi yakuza, to whom his late parents owed a considerable sum of money. However, in early 1878, young Yahiko met and was rescued by the swordsman Himura Kenshin, who freed him from his debt to Tanishi and brought him to live at the Kamiya dojo, where the boy could hone his strength and restore his pride by studying kenjutsu. Though still a boy, Yahiko slowly becomes a competent swordsman in Kamiya Kasshin-ryū and eventually one of Kenshin's most trustworthy allies.