Kawakami Gensai

Kawakami Gensai, one of the four great Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu, could be mistaken for a girl at first glance, but his nature was the complete opposite of his appearance; he was a cold, calculating man said to be the most terrible of the four.

He was famous for cutting down Kuma Shouzan in broad daylight with his unique, lightning-fast Furanui style of Kenjutsu. Whether he was responsible for other assassinations is still a mystery. After the new era was brought in, his ideas about isolationism conflicted with that of the government’s, and he was tried on false charges and executed in the fourth year of the Meiji era (1871).

External Link: http://sword.ne.jp/swordsmen/bushi/gensai.html