At the end of the Tokugawa era, during the period of the Meiji Restoration (1869), there was a civil war between the Realists and the people from the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Realists wanted to destroy the shogunate to establish a Republic.  One realist from the Restoration, a samurai assassin named Kenshin Himura, who without his help the transition to the Meiji would not have been possible. He was known for anticipating every movement of his opponents, and for killing them in one strike.   He was known as Hitokiri Battousai (literally, the man cutter ; Hitokiri means assassin and Battousai means the sword master)  After the Restoration, the mysterious Battousai disappears and is never again seen...

 
 
 
 

Everything you have read is completely true, as you can see, the story of Rurouni Kenshin has it's base on a true fact. Everytihg else is not true, with the exceptions of some characters, like Saito Hajime, who lived during the the Meiji era.  10 years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan is recovering from that horrible part of their history. Battousai is now a Rurouni, a wanderer, vagabond, a samuria who just goes from town to twon doing nothing. He is no longer an assassin, and he uses a Reverse blade, a blade that doesn't have a cutting edge, enough for leaving the enemy unconscious, but without kiiling him.  He accidentaly meets Kaoru Kamiya, the kendo teacher from the Kamiya Kashin Dojo. After saving Kaoru's life, they both become friends and Kenshin starts to live in Kamiya Dojo.  Afterwards, they also meet Yahiko Mioujin, a pickpocket kid descendant of a long race of low-class samurais. After seeing Kenshin in action, Yahiko decides to train Kendo. He wanted Kenshin to be his master, but he doesn't want to teach anyone his killing style, the hitem mitsu ryuugi. Yahiko finally accepts to train under Kaoru, but neither both of them are very happy about that.  Then they encounter Sanosuke Sagara, a deadly warrior that has written on the back of his shirt the kanji "evil". He only enjoys a good duel, not for money, but for the challenge,. After seeing Kenshin in a battle, he asks him if he wants to fight with him, but Kenshin declines. That night, Sanosuke goes to the dojo and tells Kenshin the real motives of why he wants to fight with him. During the Meiji Restoration, he formed part of the Sekiho troop, whose leader was Souzo Sagara. Sanosuke took his last name from his master.The Sekiho troop was part of the meiji army, but it was falsely acused of treason and it was eliminated by the meij army, inculding it's leader. From that point, Sanosuke started to hate the Realists and the Meiji Governmnet. Kenshin, being the primary defender of the realists, was where Sanosuke pointed all his hatred to. After learning this, Kenshin accepts his challenge. His easily deafeated by Battousai, not even his incredibly huge Zanba sword helped him, because Kenshin cut it in half. After this, Sanosuke no longer hates Kenshin, they even become friends, and joins the dojo.  I won't tell more about the story, if you want to find more, watch the series!! I think that in USA Rurouni Kenshin has been translated to Samurai X.