did a samurai called battosai exist?

yes Nightshadow the Japanese do bury their dead!. There are cemeteries all over the place in Japan. Graves have stone markers that are usually relatively tall (3 to 4 ft may be?) but with a small square section. They put flowers on the graves and also food on special occasions.
one of the most famous cemeteries for me is the one in Shinagawa (Tokyo) where Lord Asano, his family and the 47 Ronins that avenged him are all buried. I burned lots of incense there in respect a few years back. by some amazing coincidence the day after I saw a play "the 47 Ronins" at the grand Kabuki theatre on Ginza. You do know the story of the 47 Ronins don't you?.
I am not Japanese by the way but European. As early teenagers my buddies and I used to play medieval battles in actual medieval castles so I later became interested in Japanese castles etc.
By the way you younger guys, DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET!! too many times there is some info that is totally wrong but get picked up, rewritten, passed on etc. and soon people take it as 100% fact. I am not necessarily talking about the subject on this site, only in general..
The great thing is that you young guys are interested in ancient Japanese history..

thanks

and yes i do know their story...

hey all
I've been reading here around and saw many things that maked sence and a lot of bullshit to
I'm not going to say what most people said here already that's no use, what I can say is that most fans of rurouni kenshin here only saw the anime, well a good advice to you all read the manga to, the writer gives alot of info about the characters he use and where he found them,

my opinion on this?
I believe that there was a Hitokiri Battõsai, if it was gensai I don't know, but I think that there was a guy nobody could beat in battle

Yes it did exist, it is said that the character called battosai, opened the doors of the meiji ishin with asassnations, making possible the restoration. Also it is said that the Hitokiri Battôsai was just a swordman that was famous for his swordmanship, but he was killed by the soldiers of the commodore Matthew Perry during a fight, triggered by the new law (which prohibitted the possesion of the sword) shot by a gun in his chest.

T-T that's so sad!!

Kawakami Gensai was the character loosely based on the character Himura Kenshin or aka Battosai who studied in the school Jishūkan instead of studing the Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryu style. In 1861, Gensai married Misawa Teiko (Yukishiro Tomoe in the manga) yes he was one of the Four Hitokiri (man slayer) of the Bakumatsu era they followed tenchu or "judgment from the heavens." He was executed in late 187. In the magna he lives with Kaoru-dono(teacher of Yahiko, master of the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu Dojo) after the rebellion is often referred to as the Bakumatsu no Doran. The warring factions were the Bakufu (who had recruited the Shinsengumi and wanted to retain their power as the ruling government), and the Ishin Shishi (who wanted to abolish the system and restore the emperor to power). On June 5, 1864, the Shinsengumi halted an attempt by extremists who were planning on burning Kyoto and assassinate key members of the Bakufu in the chaos. This event, which took place at the Ikeda-ya Inn, is the setting of the story in Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen. as he refers to her sometimes raising a kid (Kenji) in the real history his child is called Gentarō, who survived even after Gensai's execution, thanks to Teiko's efforts. So in the end it is really up to you if you want to believe that a samurai called Battosai exist. Because in truth Kawakami Gensai was the character loosely based on the character Himura Kenshin or aka Battosai

This info came from http://www.animeacademy.com/rurouni_kenshin.php and, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai

It is just like the 3 musketeers (they were actually 4 in the stories but the number 3 sound better than 4 in French and there are other reasons too). Yes they were real persons all of them BUT the books written by Alexandre Dumas and made in numerous movies don't tell the true story of these musketeers,even though the life of Mr d'Artagnan was in fact extremely interesting.Dumas moved the action one generation back, perhaps because Queen Anne and Cardinal Richelieu were especially interesting villains.

Even though in the series the technique Kenshin Himura used was fundamently refered to as Hiten Mitsurugi Style,In real life,the man Kawakami Gensai actually used a technique called Shiranui-ryû.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiranui-ryu

As another note,if anyone read this page here,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai ,
then you should feel glad for Kamakami Gensai,as it is mentioned his life wasnt wasted as a warrior that only had a dishonered ending to his life.He had a son called Gentarô Teiko,who survived even after Gensai's execution, thanks to Teiko's efforts.

yes, i read alot of this and agree with a decent percentage. Late reply cus just found this but i found it very interesting to read. i have looked into alot of the information about Kawakami Gensa, it may sound weird but i took Kenshin on more as a role model and have trained swordsmanship my own. (yes a anime role model i know, but it was more of his character and kind hearted style to things i admired, as well as his great strength) but for most of you it is like the one guy said. Volume 1, Rurouni Kenshin. there is a page mentioning that Kenshin is based off of Kawakami Gensai, therefore any one to take his place in reality, then it is Gensai himself. everything else is covered so i am sure this forrum is pretty much over now.
(10 years of training and still not done, kindness and such, thats me, foolish like him, yes, acting like a idiot and posting randomly like he prob would irl today, yes)

battosai himself is fictial character but hitokiris are real history of japan and they worked the way kenshin in anime the name battousai is call battojutsu wich nowdays are called iaido or iaijutsu same as kenjutsu changed to kendo battojutsu its art of draving sword and swing it and put it back in a blink of an eye so its a killing skill the new name refers the art of skill only not aply in real life hence the new name

Actually Yes in fact Himura Kenshin from the anime Rouruni Kenshin was based on a real samurai named Kawakami Gensai if you want proof here is it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai