Kazuma Kuwabara

Kazuma Kuwabara (桑原和真 Kuwabara Kazuma) is a fictional character in the anime and manga YuYu Hakusho

Kuwabara (Which is what most people call him) is the second toughest kid in Sarayashiki Junior High School and at first is always trying to get Yusuke Urameshi's spot. He leads a gang consisting of himself, Kirishima, Okubo (Ōkubo, spelled "Okubo" in the English anime and usually "Okubo" but sometimes "Ohkubo" in the manga), and Sawamura. He has a soft spot for kittens (including his own, Eikichi) and an iron code of honor. He at first has a minor crush on Botan when he first meets her but later harbors an enormous crush on the ice apparition Yukina though he doesn't know that she is Hiei's sister.

Kuwabara has a tough older sister named Shizuru Kuwabara (Yukina and Shizuru are the only ones who call him by his first name). As the show progress, Yusuke and Kuwabara cease being rivals and become great friends and becomes a member of the team (Even though he doesn't get along that well with Hiei). His special powers are his High level Reiki Sensitivity (Allows him to see the Supernatural around him) and his Rei Ken which is a sword made of his Reiki (It was first discovered during the Genkai Sucessor Tournment). But compared to Hiei, Kuwabara is not that good of a Swordsman.

During the first half of the Chapter Black Storyline, Kuwabara loses his powers which he suspects from using Suzuki's Tameshi No Ken against Elder Toguro in the Dark Tournament Finals. Later on he regains his powers and gains the Jigen Tou which he used to save his three school friends from Seaman's (Mitarai Kiyoshi) water based monsters. However, it's ability to cut through dimensional walls attracts Sensui who kidnaps Kuwabara so he can use this ability to destroy the barrier between the human and yokai realms, lukily because he hadn't fully mastered it yet it bought Yusuke and the others some time to rescue him. After seeing Yusuke sacrifice himself, Kuwabara masters it but ends breaking the barrier down anyway so he, Yoko Kurama, and Hiei could get to Sensui but none of them come close to matching Sensui's power. After the ordeal is over Kuwabara decides to retire from fighting permanently and focus on his schoolwork after realizing he cannot keep fighting yokai for the rest of his life.

Although Kuwabara is not as strong as the rest of his teammates and rarely uses his brain while in battle, however he is the nicest of the four.

Attacks

• Rei Ken (Spirit Sword in the English Dub)- This is Kuwabara's signature attack where it creates a Sword made of Kuwabara's Reiki where it's strength depends on how much Reiki Kuwabara uses. It was first used in the Genkai Tournament when Kuwabara held a broken sword piece from a special spiritual sword used by Musashi the opponent he was fighting. It caused the sword to emerge. After the Tournament was over, Kuwabara did some training and learned how to control it at will. While Hiei is a master swordsman, Kuwabara on the other hand swings his sword like a flyswatter. Later on, Kurama teaches Kuwabara how he come manipulate his Rei Ken with his mind which comes in handy during the Dark Tournament.

• Rei Ken Nayrobi (Spirit Sword Extend)- When Kuwabara learned how to control his Rei Ken he also developed this move as well. This move allows Kuwabara to extend the width of his Rei Ken. It can be used to attack enemies from a distace or to increase his jumping distance by using it as a pole vault. In the English Dub Kuwabara says Sword get long

• Rei Ken Ni Tou Ryuu (Spirit Sword Twin Blade or Double Spirit Sword in the English Dub)- During his training before the Dark Tournament under Kurama and Hiei, Kuwabara developed this technique where he can materialize two Rei Ken at once. Used only during the first match of the first round against Team Rokuyukai's child fighter Rinku, It wasn't much help against Rinku's Devil Yo-Yo attack.

• Tameshi No Ken (Sword of Trials or The Trial Sword in the English Dub)- Before the finals of the Dark Tournament, Suzuki, (Suzuka in the Dub) the former leader of Team Uraotogi gave Kuwabara a sword hilt which once belonged to his teammate Shishiwakamaru. Kuwabara used it during his match against Elder Toguro, it is where it does a tremondous drain on Kuwabara's Reiki but allows him to produce a Rei Ken two-three times stronger than normal. It also allows Kuwabara to produce any object he can imagine. Suzuki warned Kuwabara that this object might have some side effects and it is belived that shortly afterwards it caused Kuwabara's powers to become dormant.

• Rei Shuriken- This is where Kuwabara produces Shuriken that is made of his Reiki. Used only against Elder Toguro in the Tournament Finals where after he notices that Kuwabara doesn't know about Genkai's death so uses he molding capabilities to replay the event and altered the facts abit for his personal amusement which angers both Yusuke and Younger Toguro, in the end Kuwabara uses this against Elder Toguro because he made fun of Genkai's death, however it is not strong enough to finish him off.

• Jigen Tou (Dimensional Blade or Dimension Sword in the English Dub)- For the first half of the Chapter Black Storyline, Kuwabara did not have any of his powers as a possibility of a side effect from using the Tameshi No Ken. When he regained his powers he gained this technique, where not only it is more powerful than the Rei Ken, but it also allows him to bring down any Dimensional Barrier. This ends up making him a target of Sensui since it will allow him to break the barrier between the Human and Yokai Realms.