Kuwabara, as most people call him, is the second-toughest kid in Sarayashiki Junior High School and is always trying to usurp Yusuke Urameshi's position as the toughest. In the manga(chp.1) he says he never lost a fight until he met Yusuke. He leads a gang consisting of himself, Kirishima, Okubo, and Sawamura (In the English dub, Komada). He has a soft spot for kittens (including his own, Eikichi) and an iron code of honor. He develops a minor crush on Botan when he first meets her, but later harbors intense feelings on the ice apparition Yukina, but is unaware that she is Hiei's sister.

Kuwabara has a tough older sister named Shizuru Kuwabara. She and Yukina are the only characters known to call him by his given name. In the anime, Kazuma and Shizuru's parents never appear and are rarely, if ever, even acknowledged. His father does makes a brief appearance in the final volume of the manga to reveal that Yukina is going to be living with them and appears to be aware of the Reikai, etc. As the show progress, Kuwabara's and Yusuke's relationship evolves from rivals to best friends, although the two still disagree constantly. Kuwabara and Kurama are quite cordial with each other, but Kuwabara shares no love for Hiei, and both will readily mention their hatred of the other, although in truth deep down they are friends.

Kuwabara's most unusual ability is his sensitivity to Reiki, or Spirit Awareness. He and his band of friends call this "the Tickle." Kuwabara has the ability to sense when ghosts and the paranormal are around, can see spirits and other demons, and can predict motives of others. Kuwabara can also create a blade out of his own spirit energy (known as the Rei Ken, or Spirit Sword). Although he first needed a piece of wood as a physical entity to create it, Kuwabara was able to practice and be able to create his own after one month (six months in the English anime). During his training, Kuwabara's sword is able to extend and shrink to his whim, and he can even create two, one in each hand.

Kuwabara, unlike the rest of his teammates, can be reckless, but is extremely loyal to his friends and has a very strict code of honor. He would do anything for his friends and for love but can be quite crafty in battle when he needs to be, and he is widely considered as the nicest of the four.

Genkai knows the truth: that Kuwabara's spirit awareness is so high that his own body was aware of Sensui's plan months before it happened, and has undergone a transformation to prepare for it. While preparing for the finals of the Dark Tournament he is able to create a massive prismatic blade, of pure Spirit Energy, which also generates a unique, almost-electrical, aura that crackles around his entire body and improve both his offense and defense, this is known as Tameshi No Ken or The Trial Sword.
Kuwabara is unable to access his powers during his fight against Kiyoshi Mitarai (aka Sea Man), a human teenager gifted with the ability to create indestrucible monsters made of water. Faced with the possible death of his friends, Kuwabara's powers awaken and he gains the power to slice through dimensional barriers with a new type of energy sword called the Jigen Tou, or Dimensional Blade.