Aritomo Yamagata

山县有朋 山県有朋（やまがた ありとも）

Gender:Male

A Choshu faction Ishin Shishi who survived the Bakumatsu era alongside Kenshin. He refers to himself as "ore" or "watashi." Currently, he serves as the Minister of the Army in the Meiji government (later, he wields significant influence not only in the army but also in the political and bureaucratic circles). He is perceived as a polite individual. Upon hearing that Kenshin appeared in Tokyo, he attempted to recruit him as a general in the army but was refused (in the first anime series, he showed persistence by internally stating, "I won't give up," as Kenshin and his friends departed). In the original work, he appeared in Kenshin's flashback during the Jinchu arc as a young man named Kyosuke Yamagata (at that time, he didn't seem to have a favorable impression of "Battousai"). However, in the first anime series, he appeared several times, including in the movie version of the first anime series. In the Feng Shui arc, he independently led his Imperial Guard battalion to the scene of an incident, but it ended in vain, resulting in a disciplinary action. In the Hokkaido arc, he has numerous body doubles as a lesson from the Kioizaka incident. One of them was assassinated by Yaminotake, another conducted regular governmental duties in Tokyo, and yet another visited Kenshin and his group to declare the destruction of the Kenkaku Heiki. Meanwhile, another one recklessly sent officials to interrogate Toza, leading to a massacre of the officials by Toza's unit.