Author introduction
Author ：： Satoru Noda
Date of birth
Birthplace ：： Kitahiroshima City, Hokkaido
Representative work ：： Golden Kamuy （Total 31 volumes）
Synopsis
The story is set in Hokkaido at the end of the Meiji era, and the main character is Saichi Sugimoto, known as the ”immortal Sugimoto.” He had come to Hokkaido to pan gold in order to earn money for the treatment of his childhood friend Umeko. There, he hears about a huge treasure trove hidden by the Ainu and begins his quest.
Sugimoto is attacked by a giant brown bear that has come out of hibernation, and his life is saved by the Ainu girl Asiripa. Ashiripa and Sugimoto have a common goal and begin to work together to search for buried treasure.
It includes thrilling adventures, deep relationships, and touches on Japanese history and Ainu culture. There are also many characters, each with their own backgrounds and motivations that add depth to the story.
Thoughts
This is also interesting anyway. I was able to experience Ainu culture, and I was surprised at first, especially when it came to food! I can understand Sugimoto’s reaction too! That’s what it feels like.
Although there is a lot of serious content such as life and the future of the Ainu, there are also many gags and funny faces, so you will be drawn into the world of Golden Kamuy without getting too heavy. I’ve read it over and over again, and it makes me laugh and cry every time.
Personally, I’m scared of certain people. . . . .
Volume 1
The main character of this story is Saichi Sugimoto, a soldier who was hailed as the “immortal Sugimoto” during the Russo-Japanese War. A war hero, he sets foot in Hokkaido, which was once bustling with gold rushes, in search of a large sum of money for a certain purpose. In Otaru, he pursues clues to a huge buried treasure believed to be hidden by the Ainu, worth about 800 million yen in modern currency.
Sugimoto meets Asirpa, an Ainu girl, and they work together to find a death row inmate with a tattoo that could be a clue to buried treasure.
He is attacked by Ogata of the Army’s strongest 7th Division, which protects the north, and then meets Yoshitake Shiraishi, who will be traveling with him from now on.
Also pay attention to Ainu cuisine!
Volume ２
Sugimoto and Asirpa decide to catch a rabbit and eat it. There is an exchange between Sugimoto eating rabbit eyeballs and Asirpa showing disapproval of dishes using miso.
Next, there is a scene where we learn about bears’ habit of reusing their hibernation holes. While Private First Class Ogata’s comrades from the 7th Division are chasing Sugimoto and his group, Sugimoto tells Asirpa to run away, and he himself runs into a bear’s den. While the soldiers are attacked by a bear in the bear’s den, Asirpa tries to outwit the soldiers using an escape method called “stop foot”, but is spotted by a soldier from Tohoku Matagi. Asirpa pretends to be an Ainu child who doesn’t understand Japanese, but when her tattooed human skin is discovered, it’s revealed that she understands Japanese. At that moment, a white wolf appears and helps Asirpa.
They head to the kotan (village) of Asirpa to raise the cub they found in the den.
Volume ３
Asirpa tries to rescue Sugimoto, who is captured in the 7th Division barracks. Shiraishi cooperates. In a fight with Nikaido of the corps, Sugimoto succeeds in escaping by feigning serious injuries.
Toshizo Hijikata also participated in the battle for gold bullion. He leads a prison break, recruits Tatsuma Ushiyama, and continues searching for gold.
Asirpa and Sugimoto go hunting for sika deer, and Tanigaki, who fails to catch Asirpa, goes with Tetsuzo Nipe. Tanigaki is unsure whether to continue as a soldier or return to Matagi.
In order to hunt down the wolf, which has a keen sense of smell, Nihei and Tanigaki try to take a bath in the river. Tanigaki sees Nihei’s tattoo and learns that Nihei is a prisoner. Asirpa realizes that Letara is being targeted. Asirpa begins her actions to help Letara.
Volume ４
Genjiro Tanigaki and Tetsuzo Nihei, who are aiming for the last Ezo wolf pelt, fight against Sugimoto and the others, and Tanigaki, who takes Asirpa hostage, falls into a deer trap and gets hit with a poisoned arrow. Nihei then takes Asirpa to lure Retara, but Nihei is killed by Retara’s wife. Tanigaki receives treatment at Asirpa’s Kotan and learns the truth about the gold nugget in the process.
Shiraishi encounters Hijikata’s gang and makes a deal with them.
Many murders occur at herring fishing grounds all over the place. Based on the features of the corpse, the culprit is identified as tattooed prisoner Kazuo Henmi. Hearing that Asirpa’s uncle is out fishing for whales, Sugimoto and his friends also head to the herring fishing grounds.
Volume ５
The scene begins with Shiraishi talking to Hijikata. Shiraishi talks about Sugimoto and pretends that they don’t have tattooed human skin.
At the herring fishery, Sugimoto and Asirpa carry a man who has fallen into the sea to shore to keep him warm. The man was Kazuo Henmi. Henmi asks about Sugimoto’s war experience and hopes that Sugimoto might be the one who will kill him.
Sugimoto runs into Lieutenant Tsurumi of the 7th Division and runs away with Henmi. Sugimoto learns that the man he is with is a prisoner and is almost killed. Henmi is stabbed by Sugimoto and eventually attacked by a killer whale and dragged into the ocean. Sugimoto dives into the sea to get Henmi’s tattooed human skin.
Meanwhile, Tanigaki is interrogated by Ogata and Nikaido at Asirpa’s house. He is shot, but survives and decides to leave the village.
Volume 6
Asirpa and his friends meet Kiroranke, and it is revealed that Nopperabou is Asirpa’s father. Unbelievable, Asirpa decides to head to Abashiri Prison to find out the truth about him.
Once she returns to Asirpa’s village. She then stays at a hotel run by a young landlady in Sapporo. Ushiyama and Sugimoto all hit it off and go out for drinks. That night, Asirpa is targeted by the young landlady. In fact, the young proprietress is Ienaga, a prisoner, and she has been killing and eating people with the idea of “same thing, same cure.” Interrupted by Sugimoto, Ienaga tries to destroy the hotel and escape. Shiraishi makes a mistake and drops all the explosives into the fire. Ienaga and Ushiyama are caught in a huge explosion.
Meanwhile, in Barato, a fight breaks out between Hijikata and Ogata over tattooed human skin.
Volume７
Asirpa and his friends stay at Fuchi’s brother’s house between Sapporo and Hidaka and meet the fortune teller Inkaramat.Inkaramak guesses that Asirpa and the others have come from Otaru and are looking for someone, which gives off an ominous omen.
Shiraishi wins the horse race using Inkaramak’s fortune-telling, and Kiroranke enters the horse race as a substitute jockey and wins without fixing the match.
Asirpa’s great-aunt’s sealskin wedding dress is sold to an American rancher, and Asirpa heads to the ranch to buy her back. When they go to the farmhouse to defeat the red-haired brown bear, they find Kiichiro Wakayama, a yakuza prisoner. Wakayama and Asirpa and others defeat the brown bear.
Volume 8
Ogata and Hijikata’s group assume that Nopperabou is a partisan from the Russian Far East disguised as an Ainu.
Lieutenant Tsurumi visits the Etogai taxidermy factory in Yubari. Edogai’s taxidermy is amazing, and he tries to get him to make a fake tattooed human skin. Edogai completes a fake tattoo of human skin, but it is discovered by Hyakunosuke Ogata. While Sergeant Tsukishima and Ogata pursue Edogai, Sugimoto and Shiraishi also join in the pursuit. Edogai and Sergeant Tsukishima escape into the coal mine with fake tattooed human skin. Sugimoto and Shiraishi are caught in an explosion in the mine shaft, but are rescued by Ushiyama and join up with Hijikata’s gang.
Meanwhile, in Asirpa’s Kotan, Ainu boy Cikapashi meets Tanigaki. Inkarama appears at Asirpa’s Kotan, and Asirpa’s Fuchi (her grandmother) falls asleep, believing the ominous fortune telling. Tanigaki goes on a journey with Inkarama to bring Asirpa back safely.
