This may be a silly question, but I’m wondering if there’s anything in the manga that explains this.

Aoshi’s fighting style incorporates Kempo, but that makes sense because he’s the boss of Oniwaban- why wouldn’t the boss of a group of ninjas make use of everything at his disposal?

Shishio, punches Sano into a wall, but that scene looks more like a raw demonstration of his strength than any technique. Only reason he doesn’t use his sword is because Sano is unarmed, and taking a sword to an unarmed Sano (who isn’t a threat to him) is beneath him.

And I vaguely remember something about Seijuro Hiko being as strong as he is because of the physical demands of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, but even he isn’t really seen to have much hand to hand fighting prowess— we only ever see his strength manifested with a sword.

So, since Saito isn’t a Ninja, and doesn’t have the strength resulting from training in Hiten Mitsurugi or having his nerve endings burnt off (and low key steroids), then how is Saito so proficient at hand to hand combat?

In raising this question, I’m thinking about the scene where Saito just destroys Sano hand to hand, and how Saito seems completely unfazed by his sword breaking when he fought Kenshin. While the first example can be seen as a demonstration of the difference in Sano and Saito’s power levels, the second example made me wonder:

More than being unfazed it was almost like he knew that if he and Kenshin were both unarmed, he would have the advantage. The onlookers even confirm this when Saito unarmed Kenshin with his belt by saying something like “Without his sword Kenshin is at a disadvantage”. All of this leads me to believe that Saito is a freakin monster at hand to hand combat— he even casually offers to fight Anji when Sano struggles against him as if Anji wouldn’t have presented a challenge for him

And this is Saito we’re talking about. A guy that openly says he still considers himself a Samurai. This means that in addition to the “Aku Soku Zan” (slay evil immediately) code that Saito lives by, he still believes in carrying himself with honor. So I doubt he would have taken his sword to Anji unless Anji tried using his first— so Saito really thought he could beat Anji hand to hand!!

So my question is how? How is Saito so strong without a sword?

EDIT: I just remembered that Saito does kill unarmed people if he thinks they are evil, so disregard that :)