A youngster who may have all the skills and attitude to be a samurai, but has not yet actually faced true battle. Often theKid Samurai has practiced an "art" form like kendo, instead of a battle form like kenjutsu, and has yet even to draw blood in a fight. Sometimes played as an arrogant buffoon, other times as a "little brother" sidekick. If he doesn't die a tragic death inone of his first true battles, theKid Samurai may mature into the trueSamurai.

Sometimes they'll use aNerf Arm. Sometimes they'll be aKendo Team Captain in their spare time.

For the Western equivalent of this trope, seeYoung Gun. For martial arts, seeKung Fu Kid,Ninja Brat.

Anime andManga

• Yaiba is the KING of this trope. A Kid Samurai who wields thePower of the Thunder God Raijin and fight onis and evildoers.
• Delusional and bombastic Tatewaki Kuno fromRanma ½ is an example of the buffoon variety.
• Motoko Aoyama fromLove Hina starts off as a Kid Samurai more because of her arrogance, but matures into a properSamurai.
• Tetsunosuke fromPeacemaker may be the world's most clear-cut Kid Samurai. He actually buys a katana at one point but isn't strong enough to get it out of the sheath.
• Myojin Yahiko fromRurouni Kenshin, pictured above, is an example of the more competent variety.
• Iori (Cody) fromDigimon Adventure 02 fits this trope, although he doesn't get to actuallyuse his kendo skills much. Hethrows a bokken at the Digimon Kaiser once and whacks around a pair of Gokimon with a giant spoon, but that's about it.
• Another is Okamoto Katsushiro, fromSamurai 7. He gains steadily in skill throughout the series; at the outset he cannot defeat a simple thug, but by the end he can defeat several Nobuseri at once, and even deflect an enemy beam cannon shot with his sword. He's shown post-battle to have gained significant wisdom and maturity from his experiences. His skills are improved enough that hisSamurai sensei Kambei shows greatrespect towards him, and presents Katsushiro with his own katana.
• Dragonball Z: Gohan in the beginning of the fight against Vegeta and Nappa and their Saibamen.
• Isidro fromBerserk is both a parody andDeconstruction (even though he's from aMedieval European Fantasy instead of Japan). The parody comes from the parts where he foolishly announces his intent to become the best swordsman in the world while other characters look on with arched eyebrows. The deconstruction comes from the fact that he foolishly believes that swordsmanship revolves aroundflashy techniques that you call out before using, doesn't know that his height and strength would make using aBFS like Guts, hisidol, both nearly impossible and impractical, often overestimates his own abilities and has actually chosen learning how to use swords instead of improving his throwing skills (the area in which he does truly excel).
  • It is stated and shown that Isidro is getting better at his swordsmanship, as he learns how to use his size to his advantage. However, in a fight with a pirate captain, the captain noted that Isidro didn't have a taste for killing...which is probably something youreally need in the Berserk world.
• Shu inNow and Then, Here and There.
• Toshiro Hitsugaya fromBleach. Possibly an unintentional example, because even though he's a skilled fighter he seems to draw tough opponents, whichmakes this perception a popular one.
• Played with inVagabond, where both Musashi and his would-be disciple Jōtarō go through this phase, though in Musashi's case the mentality originally leaned more towardsHeroic Wannabe; overcoming the hurdle of Inshun allowed him to fully grow into this, and after his encounter with Yagyuu Sekishuusai he was able to further mature and his rise truly began.
• Subverted (naturally) inAyakashi Ayashi, when a man who wishes to leave the family that adopted him, gives his sword to a kid, who immediately thinks this will make him a samurai. The catch?The sword is alive, and is after it's true owner, who happens to be the protagonist.
• He's not the most intuitive example, but the chimera Dolcetto fromFullmetal Alchemist might qualify. He's clearly fairly young, he dresses in martial arts clothing, and wields a katana. However, he's fairly easily defeated by unarmed opponents, and falls into the "killed in his first major battle" version.

Film

• The young prince in the Bollywood movieAshoka.
• Katsushirō fromSeven Samurai.

Literature

• Somewhat similar Western example:InNight Watch, Sam Vimesa.k.a. John Keel oversees training exercises at a Watch House, and tells the trainees that they'd do jolly well if an armless dummy came at them and stood stock-still. He later instructs them in the usage of various useful but entirely ungentlemanly weapons such as coshes and blackjacks.
• Jōtarō and later Iori in Eiji Yoshikawa'sMusashi.
• Rajiv Sanga inBelisarius Series
  • Technically he is a Kid Rajput butTropes Are Flexible. He is the son of a distinguished warrior prince of the Rajput tribe in India and is a remarkably ferocious warrior, once killing three trained soldiers with a pick and spade. He is also a decent one and risks his life to give local conscripts a chance to surrender when his father's men come riding into the city.

Video Games

• Lampshaded inBrave Fencer Musashi, where theprincess complains about how she should havesummoned a great hero and not a 'little turd'. Subverted in that the protagonistdual wields akatana and aBFS with surprising competence.
  • He may be a real samurai in his own world, despite his apparent age. One of the first things he does is try to order someone to bring him a palanquin.
• Brooklyn "Bullet" Luckfield ofSuper Robot Wars Alpha. While he's not to theSamurai Sanger Zonvolt's level yet, he's getting there. In Alpha 3, it's from Sanger he directly receives training to improve his techniques.
  • Interestingly lampshaded by Bullet's master Rishu Togo inSuper Robot Wars Original Generation, who states Bullet may avert this trope one day, as he's got more potential than Sanger and himself.

Web Comics

• Princess Raeka fromSamurai Princess begins the story having only practised kendo.

Western Animation

• In the Season one finale ofDexter's Laboratory, a Kid Samurai, of all people becomes the mentor to Dexter's family and teaches them the importance of teamwork so they can defeat a giant monster.

• Trope
• Kid Samurai
• All the Tropes Superhero Team
• Bushido Index
• Stock Japanese Characters
• Youngsters