First appearance: Battle 7
Age: 41-42
Height: 158cm
Weight: 53kg
Type: Sei
Type: Katsujin Ken
Martial Arts: All Chinese Kenpo (prefers soft forms)
Kensei is the second-oldest master at Ryozanpaku and the resident expert in Chinese Kenpo, particularly its softer styles. He's short and bald, and he's basically infamous around the dojo for constantly trying to snap revealing photos of women—Shigure and Miu especially—which reliably gets him beaten up. It's a bit ironic given that he was actually charming and handsome when he was younger and had no shortage of admirers.
Despite how he acts now, Kensei and Kenichi have developed a genuinely close bond. Sure, he razzes Kenichi like everyone else does, but the kid clearly sees him as a father figure. Kensei's usually the one who talks Kenichi into things too—whether that's moving into Ryozanpaku or buying his perverted photos (mostly just pictures of Tochumaru, according to Kenichi). The weird thing is, even with all his flaws and sleaziness, Kenichi has complete faith in Kensei's methods and teachings. That speaks volumes about what their relationship means.
Underneath the pervert act, though, Kensei's genuinely kind and thoughtful. He's bothered by how martial arts get weaponized in the world and would rather things stayed peaceful. In fights, he disables opponents without killing them—unless he's up against other master-level fighters, in which case he does what needs doing. He yells "Chowa" whenever he gets into it, which Kenichi's noted is kind of his thing. Funny enough, he's the only master who can actually cook worth a damn, so he fills in when Miu can't. He also has this quirk of calling everyone else "don" after their names.
Later on, it comes out that Kensei has a wife and three kids back in China, including a 16-year-old daughter named Ma Renka. Turns out he used to lead a huge martial arts organization with thousands of students, but he found all the responsibility tedious, so he handed it off to his wife and just. left for Japan to run an acupuncture clinic. His older brother Ma Sougetsu is apparently part of Yami's One Shadow Nine Fists, holding the Moon symbol.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
