Meiji 37 (1904)
Liaodong Peninsula, Lushun, 203 Meter Hill
Sour.
I'm so hungry.
I'm going to survive, even if it means
taking a bite out of the pale asses of the Russian soldiers I kill.
Charge! Forward!
Just try and kill me!
Try and kill me!
Die!
I'm Immortal Sugimoto!
Hokkaido, Near Otaru
Episode One Wenkamuy
Hey, Sugimoto-san!
Sugimoto Saichi-san.
You just came back from the Russo-Japanese war, right?
I heard they call you "Immortal Sugimoto."
You fought like a demon, they say.
You were so badly hurt you were almost at death's door,
and the next day you were up and running around.
They said that bayonets, machine guns, and even cannonballs couldn't kill you.
Is that true?
Listen, if that were true, you would've been given a medal for your heroics, right?
So why are you panning for gold?
I would've gotten a medal if I hadn't halfway killed a superior officer I didn't like.
Right now, I need money.
I see.
Hey, want to hear an interesting story?
It's got to do with gold.
Don't tell anybody about this.
I'm only telling you because I like you.
A long time ago, you used to be able to find tons of
gold nuggets the size of soybeans on the Hokkaido riverbanks.
Every day you could come back with 30 monme's worth of the stuff.
It was what they call a "gold rush," you see.
Around that time,
some of the Ainu were storing up tons of this gold to fight the Japanese,
who even after the Meiji Restoration were oppressing them by forbidding them
to hunt salmon or deer, and stealing their lands.
And then a single man stole it all,
and killed the Ainu who owned it.
Twenty kans of gold!
Enough to buy every brothel in Otaru and have money to spare!
The police were after the man, so he hid the gold somewhere in Hokkaido.
But he was arrested before he could tell anyone where it was,
and thrown into Abashiri Prison,
the prison at the far end of the earth, to be sentenced to death.
He wanted to tell his comrades on the outside where the gold was,
but he never wrote a letter.
The guards would just steal it, you see.
Everybody was looking for this gold, you know.
No matter what they did to him, he didn't tell anyone where the gold was.
In the end, one of the guards turned out to be a horrible man.
He cut the tendon of one of the man's legs so he couldn't escape.
What would you do in that situation, Sugimoto-san?
What would you do if you wanted to get the location of the treasure
out of the most heavily-guarded prison in Japan?
What did he do?
Just tell me already.
Tattoos.
He tattooed the bodies of his fellow death row inmates in his cell
with a code that revealed the location of the treasure.
He mixed charcoal with saliva,
and then slowly carved that ink in with a needle he'd kept hidden.
It's said only his comrades on the outside can decrypt the code.
And this is what he said to the other prisoners:
"Escape from this prison.
Whoever succeeds can have half the treasure."
A strange story.
Why go to all that trouble? Why make a tattoo that stands out?
You'd think, right?
It's what comes next that explains the tattoos.
To crack the code, you need all the prisoners' tattoos.
Some of the less reputable members of the military heard the rumors
about the tattoos and dragged the prisoners out of their cell,
saying they were going to "transport" them.
The police and the military were after the gold, too, you see.
But that was the prisoners' chance to escape.
They knew that somebody would get greedy and take them outside.
The prisoners killed all the soldiers,
and every last one disappeared into the forest.
And then?
Then what?
What happened to the escapees and the gold?
That's the end of the story.
Nobody's caught them.
And nobody knows what happened to the gold, either.
Who told you that story?
You seem quite well-informed about it.
This is another tall tale, right?
I remember last time, you told me that there was still an Ezo wolf out there,
and those things are extinct.
It's cold.
Saichi, you should come with me.
You can still pan for gold in Hokkaido.
You're not married, so it'll be easy for you.
I have to make money for my family's sake.
I want a good doctor to take a look at Umeko's... At my wife's eyes.
Every day she loses more of her vision.
It makes me sad to think she might not see her kid grow up.
Don't you agree, Saichi?
Yeah.
They say the doctors in America are the best in the world.
Look at this.
The boat tickets and the cost of the surgery will be about 200 yen.
But one lucky find when panning, and that's all you need.
Once the war's over, relations between Japan and the United States will get worse.
I have to hurry.
Saichi, take care of Umeko.
Nobody will take a girl with bad vision and a kid.
I've been your best friend forever, and I'm begging you.
Toraji, what are you talking about?
I can't go back to Japan!
Wait! Don't go!
Are you going to make Umeko a widow?
Toraji! Hey!
Damn it.
I said too much.
Want to see if I'm really immortal?
Look.
Now, you can shoot it whenever you want.
How about that?
That tall tale is starting to seem a little more credible.
If I ignore him, he might come back to kill me.
I'll have to kill him before he kills me.
What the hell?
Hang on, I'll pull you out.
A bear.
A bear buried the rest of his meal here.
His neck's broken.
Looks like he died before he could scream.
You've got bad luck, too, huh?
Hey, come on, now!
What the hell is this?
Are you one of the prisoners you were just telling me about?
It wasn't a tall tale.
That explains how you knew so damn much!
So these tattoos lead to the treasure, huh?
I can't leave him here.
I need to get him somewhere else.
Or that bear will come back and eat this part of the treasure code.
What? A baby bear?
Wait, if there's a baby bear...
She'll eat me!
Get back.
That poison is a mix of red stingray needles and wolfsbane root,
but a brown bear can take ten steps after being hit.
An Ainu...
Golden Kamuy
Is it dead?
Its hairs that were standing on end have fallen.
It's dead.
What are you doing?
Removing the meat from around the poison arrow.
It's a strong poison, so if you don't, it will ruin the meat and pelt.
Is he dead?
Yeah.
His whole stomach got eaten, and he was buried.
That mother bear got him.
Mother bear?
It came charging out of the cave next to a tree where a baby bear was hanging.
That's strange.
When a bear has just come out of its cave after hibernation,
its stomach has shrunk, so it can't eat immediately.
Even if it attacked a human to protect its child,
it couldn't eat them.
See? The stomach is empty.
Then another bear ate him?
This is bad.
The only ones who can eat meat at this time of year are Matakarip.
In the language of the Ainu, "Those that wander in winter."
Very foul-tempered, dangerous bears who failed to go into hibernation.
What will you do with that man?
I was going to, um, take him to a nearby village.
Don't even try.
He's been half-eaten by a Matakarip.
If you steal food from one of them, they'll chase you anywhere to get it back.
Are you going to lead a dangerous bear into a village?
Leave it.
I can't do that!
Is he part of your family?
Is he that important to you?
No, that's not it.
Then you can just shoot the Matakarip.
If you're a soldier, then fight.
On the battlefield, I fought Russians,
not monster bears.
It'll be pitch-dark soon.
If you're not ready to fight,
then you should leave him here and go.
The weak get eaten.
I have an interesting story to tell you.
I still don't fully believe it,
but if what this man told me is true,
we can't let this corpse be eaten by the bear.
You're used to bear hunting.
Help me.
It was the last request from my best friend ever since I was a child.
I need money, no matter what.
Yeah...
I didn't believe it at first, either.
I believe you.
Really?
Because one of the slain Ainu was my father.
What?
We'll talk later.
Hurry, and gather firewood.
Do the bears fear fire?
No. Brown bears don't fear fire.
We'll use this light to shoot the bear.
We'll use the corpse as a decoy to ambush it.
Should I bring it closer to the flames, then?
Wait.
These tattoos...
I see, this is...
What is it?
How cruel.
He never intended to split the treasure with the prisoners.
Look.
The tattoos stretch around the chest and arms,
and they're all cut off at the body's median lines.
It's just like the lines you use
to mark the cuts you'll make when stripping the pelt from a deer or bear.
You're saying he planned to kill them and take their skins?
Who was it who carved these tattoos?
Why was he so obsessed with entrusting his comrades with the treasure?
Could we just skin him before the bear comes?
There's no time.
The bears always stay near their prey.
So we have to defeat the bear?
Once a brown bear kills someone,
as punishment, they can no longer eat anything but human flesh.
They become dangerous and evil gods who don't fear humans,
Wenkamuy.
They find out that the humans they feared are actually weak creatures.
The bear will come.
Keep the fire going, no matter what.
We can't fight if it's dark.
Once it gets light in the morning, we'll have the advantage.
Find sitat.
Find what?
White birch bark.
White birch bark is oily and burns for a long time.
You can use it as a torch.
Twelve hours until sunrise, huh?
We'll need more firewood.
It's huge!
Crap! It's already here!
Yeah, that wasn't going to work.
Get below it and cling to its belly!
It got him?
It's too dark to see anything,
but I know basically where it is.
Even if I don't hit its vitals,
if the poison gets into it...
Don't shoot! You'll hit me!
He's not dead yet!
I'll take the risk and shoot!
Wait! I'll handle this myself!
Just stay put while I stab you!
Wait! Don't run!
Ow!
A wild dog?
Retar...
From where you are, the heart is under the armpit!
Watch for the shoulder blade and aim carefully!
Just try and kill me!
I'm Immortal Sugimoto!
Hey, you alive, Sisam?
Yup.
Sheesh...
I survived again.
That's a particularly dangerous way of fighting bears that Ainu hunters used.
I'm surprised you knew of it.
I didn't!
My body just moved on its own.
Anyway, can you pull me out?
You have courage and a talent for battle.
You're a skilled warrior.
Not bad, for a Sisam.
Sisam?
A Japanese.
The name's Sugimoto Saichi.
Asirpa.
That huge white dog...
What was that?
It's over there.
That's a wolf.
A wolf?
There's still some left?
It seemed to be protecting you.
It happened five years ago.
My father and seven men from the village were killed while transporting the gold.
Their bodies were chopped up and fed to the beasts.
Some of the pieces seemed to be my father's.
That's all I know.
We were never even told that the man who'd killed my father
and the others was arrested and sent to Abashiri prison,
let alone anything about the tattooed prisoners.
Hey, Asirpa-san.
Let's work together to find the gold.
It belongs to you to begin with.
I won't ask for an even split.
Just give me a small share.
Find it how?
We'll find the tattooed prisoners.
And then?
Kill them and skin them?
This is yours.
Take it, Sugimoto.
What is it?
A bear's gall bladder.
If you dry it, you can sell it as a medicine for a lot of money.
No part of the bear goes to waste.
We can eat the meat, of course.
And we can sell the pelt and use the fat as salve for burns.
You killed it, so you have the right to all of it.
Half of it should be yours.
I'll be satisfied with just the mother bear.
This one killed and ate a person.
The Ainu don't eat the meat of a bear that killed someone.
We won't take its pelt, either.
Bears that do bad things become evil gods
and are sent to a hell called Teyne Pokna Mosir.
I don't want to kill people, either.
If you kill people, you go to hell?
Then I'll be getting first-class accommodations there.
The fact that the man with the tattoos was living in hiding means that
it's likely the gold hasn't been found yet.
Asirpa-san, the man who killed your father is probably still alive within the prison.
The government won't want him killed until they've found it.
But the minute someone finds the gold,
he ceases to be valuable.
Finding the gold is a way to avenge your father's death.
Asirpa-san, you agree with that. It's why you helped me, right?
I'll be the one to dirty my hands.
You just lend me your wisdom.
I want the money. You want revenge for your father.
We have different goals,
but the same path.
If we join forces,
we'll be unstoppable.
Next Time Nopperabo
Next time:
"Nopperabo."