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Orphaned as a kid, Mugen happened to grow up in the roughest, toughest part of old Japan you could think of: Ryukyu (present-day Okinawa). It was the bowery of its day, a combination seaport/prison camp where survival really was order #1. With so many and so diverse people arriving daily, Mugen picked up a lot and learned how to survive in the rough-and-tumble environment. Eventually, Mugen develops his own one-of-a-kind fighting style: Champloo Kendo (the term "champloo" comes from music, meaning a mixture of multiple styles). Much like the modern style known as capoeira, it's a hodgepodge of fighting moves he picked up along the way along with things he cooked up himself, all mixed together with breakdancing moves to keep things interesting.

Most of the time, Mugen's a simple, sensible man who always takes the pragmatic approach to things--his way of living can boil down to just two words: "whatever works". His sword is a Tsurugi (which is a sword that curves as it ascends, and is bladed on both sides), and his sandals have steel plates nailed to the undersides--unusual, yes, but damn good ideas. He'll whoop you for your money or defend a distressed damsel if the situation suits him. But the fire's always burning in him, and once it's set off, he can become damn wild.

Mugen is a suspicious and slippery guy who's shrewd and sharp-eyed at the same time. An opportunist like no other, he lives for one thing: to keep on living life on his terms. He's anti-authoritarian, anti-traditionalist, whatever else you want to name him. The tattoos on his wrists and ankles indicate he's spent time in prison on the mainland, so it's easy to see he's not a model citizen. Basically, he'll break a rule if he wants to--simply because it's a rule (and you wonder why he can almost never agree with the prim-and-proper Jin; the first time they met it was an instant sword fight). This is a man who's out to shape his own destiny. In the process, he begins to see things around him and come to believe that it's a philosophy that the world could use a little.

The name "Mugen" can come to mean several things, depending on how you look at it. It could mean "without illusions" (alluding to his pragmatic philosophy), "not an illusion" (like "the real thing", alluding to his skill and ability to survive), or even (if you use the alternate Kanji) "without limits" (perhaps alluding to his potential).

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