Look, Sugimoto.
These are pine cones that have been eaten.
There are lots of them.
The Ezo Pines are feeding grounds for squirrels.
If we lay a stick up against the trunk,
the squirrels will get lazy and use it as an easy way to climb up.
Then we put kukuri traps made out of wire on the stick.
When the squirrels put their heads through, it strangles them.
You eat squirrels?
I like squirrels, though.
I like them, too.
They only eat nuts, so their meat is delicious.
And you can sell their pelts to get money, too.
I hope we catch a lot.
Yeah...
Let's set them up on other trees, too.
If the escaped prisoners are looking for the gold,
they'll stay in Hokkaido.
I'll find them.
Hokkaido is a big place.
The prisoners aren't wild animals.
They won't be able to survive hidden in the mountains.
But in a small village, outsiders stand out.
An escaped prisoner is likely to want to hide in a large town,
where he won't stand out in the crowds.
The most populated cities in Hokkaido are
Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa...
And this place.
Otaru.
Golden Kamuy
Episode Two Nopperabo
The last days of the Meiji era.
Originally a port city, Otaru had grown into a
financial center so powerful it was called "The Wall Street of the North."
It was the largest commercial city in Hokkaido,
and there were Ainu villages nearby.
Women
Baths
Men
Hey, you come here often?
You seen any customers around here with weird tattoos?
What kind of tattoos?
Not like the ones the yakuza have.
A mix of curves and straight lines...
Nope.
What about it?
No, never mind then.
You a soldier?
I've never seen anybody with those tattoos,
but I've never seen a guy with a body like yours, either.
It's thanks to people like you
and the way you fought that we were able to get Karafuto back.
Thank you, really.
Have you seen any customers with tattoos like this?
Nope. I've never had a customer with something weird like that.
Hey!
What the hell is an Ainu brat doing in front of my shop?
Leave her alone, the poor thing.
You don't have a tattoo yet.
I'm told Ainu women
tattoo the skin around their mouth when they're old enough to get married.
But that'll scare off the customers, so maybe I'll sell you off somewhere first!
You stupid brat!
Hey.
Look at my thumb.
Who are you?
You ever see this tattoo?
Just like I thought, they're staying away from any place
where they have to show their skin.
But a man once asked me the same question.
So they had the same idea I did, huh?
A tattoo?
Clothing Store
No idea.
I see.
Thank you.
How many?
One man.
How far are they going to go?
I was planning to find out where they slept.
But I guess I can do it here!
Got him.
There's my first one!
Where are the other prisoners?
I heard you need all those tattoos to decrypt the code.
You'd have to stay together for there to be any point.
Yeah, I thought the same.
At first.
Why did you leave?
We killed each other.
All of a sudden, without warning,
we started killing each other!
I had no idea what was going on, so I started running!
I couldn't trust anyone, so I was hiding alone.
I see.
So one of the prisoners realized.
What, you don't know?
Those tattoos are only usable if you kill the owner and skin them.
That brutal bastard...
So, what, you're going to hunt us down one by one?
You'd be better off hunting rabbits, mister!
Is that all you have to say?
Don't worry. Once you're dead, it won't hurt if I rip off your skin.
Hey, Sugimoto.
You promised not to kill him.
If you kill him, I won't help you.
Asirpa-san, you need to play along, okay?
I was going to scare him into telling me some things.
You're good at this, Asirpa.
It's well-drawn.
This is great, Sugimoto.
You call it a "pencil"?
It's very convenient.
My father was good with his hands, too.
So women loved him.
Ainu men give makiri they made themselves to the women they love.
The women look at how well-made it is
and use that to determine how well the man can support them.
My father made me this menoko makiri.
What kind of man carved that tattoo?
"Nopperabo."
What does that mean?
He had no face.
Who's there?
Did he have someone with him after all?
What are you doing?
He'll shoot you!
I'm making a smoke screen.
I'll give you covering fire. Hurry!
A Type 26 revolver...
At 300 meters, the bullets can't reach me.
She put green wood on the fire, huh?
What?
I planned to take him alive, but...
I can't beat this guy if I hold back!
Move and I shoot!
A soldier. I knew it.
And the Regiment Number on his epaulet...
The Hokkaido 7th Division, the strongest in the army!
Golden Kamuy
The Imperial Japanese Army's 7th Division.
During the Russo-Japanese War,
they were sent into the deadliest battlefields, like the Siege of Port Arthur,
and despite suffering heavy casualties, they contributed to the victories there.
They are the army's strongest division,
and the people of Hokkaido call them
the Guardian of the North out of fear and respect.
The prisoners are dangerous, but these guys are bad enemies to have, too.
Who are you with?
I was with the 1st, but my enlistment term just ran out, and I left.
I see.
Then we may have met at 203 Hill.
You don't seem to understand how dangerous a gamble it is that you're making.
Are you after money?
Nope.
I'm doing it for the girl I love.
Sugimoto!
Sugimoto of the 1st Division.
Immortal Sugimoto?
Ow!
He's going to fall!
If he'd escaped, his friends would've come after us.
This was for the best.
"Immortal Sugimoto."
What does that mean?
There's one way to not die that I learned in the war.
Don't be killed.
Asirpa-san, I'm not a murderer.
But if they're going to kill me, I'll kill them first without hesitation.
"The weak get eaten."
That's the same everywhere, right?
Even in a situation like this, you still get hungry, huh?
We're alive, so of course we get hungry.
Let's prepare dinner at my hunting tent.
We'll eat the squirrels we trapped.
I'll make them into chitatap.
Chitatap?
You chop them with a blade to make ground meat.
It's an Ainu dish.
First you skin them.
Once you score the pelt, you can take it off like you were removing a suit of clothes.
Squeeze out the contents of the organs and wash them clean.
The gall bladder is bitter, so we remove it.
You toss the whole brain into the chitatap, but it's delicious even by itself.
Sugimoto, you can have the brain.
Asirpa, do you eat it raw?
What does that mean?
Do you have a problem with the way we eat?
No...
I'm just not used to eating stuff like that.
Then eat the brain.
Is it good?
Yeah.
Squirrels are small, so we chop the meat with a tashiro to make a chitatap.
A chitatap doesn't have parts that are hard to eat,
so you can eat the whole thing.
Who taught you how to hunt?
My father.
I don't have any brothers,
so my father always took me hunting.
I like the mountains more than I like weaving at home.
Take my place.
Chitatap means "something we carve together."
The "we" comes from the fact that we take turns chopping.
Say "chitatap" as you chop.
Chitatap, chitatap, chitatap.
Chitatap is only made from fresh kills.
You eat it raw, after all.
But you're a rich and refined Sisam, so I'll put it all into an ohau for you.
A meat version of fish ball soup, huh?
Thanks.
The blood and bones went into the Chitatap, too.
So the salt and broth taste will soak into it.
Thanks for the meal.
It's good!
There's no bad smell to the meat.
It's slightly sweet.
And the tiny chopped bones in the soft meat give it a nice crunchy texture!
Hinna, hinna.
What's that?
Words of thanks.
We say them to the food.
Hinna.
Hinna hinna.
We found him on the riverside in the evening.
Any later and he would've died of hypothermia.
Someone attacked him in the mountains?
Why was Private Ogata out in the mountains by himself?
There's the second one!
Did you run from the other prisoners after they tried to kill you, too?
How many prisoners are there?
Where were you supposed to meet Nopperabo's friends?
Did the trap crush his vocal chords?
Is that Ainu your pet?
You want me to break your jaw so you really won't be able to talk?
Stop it, Sugimoto.
I don't care.
I'm used to it.
There's no need to be used to it.
Sugimoto!
Look! A rabbit!
Where? I can't see it.
You can see the ears there, right?
With black tips.
You're right.
But it's hidden, so I can't hit it.
I don't want to just wound it.
When a rabbit's running around during the day,
it's because the weather is getting bad, and it needs to find a safe place.
Let's catch him and hide in the tent for today.
The man's name was Shiraishi Yoshitake.
A master escape artist called "The Escape King."
Well, Sugimoto? I got it!
Behind you!
What?
You're kidding me!
Sugimoto, don't go too far!
The weather!
You head to the tent, Asirpa-san! I'll catch him!
I want to eat this rabbit now, though.
You bastard...
Get back up here! I'll shoot you!
Go ahead, and do it!
I don't care if I get shot now or later!
Gunshots?
Nipusfum.
Nipusfum, in the language of the Ainu, means "The Sound of Splitting Trees."
A brutal cold wave of -30 degrees Celsius causes a rapid drop in temperature,
which causes the water contained with the trees to freeze,
and the trunks to shatter.
Wait, damn it!
This is not good!
This cold is too much!
My head feels like it's splitting!
Fire! We need to start a fire, or we'll die!
It's no good!
They have only ten minutes to take action to survive.
Let's rub wood together to start a fire...
Hypothermia results in muddle-headedness.
That's not going to work, you moron!
Hypothermia results in an unconcerned expression.
Right! My gun!
Where's my gun?
Is that it?
I dropped all my bullets with gunpowder in them!
Damn it!
I'm not going to give up!
I'm going to survive!
I'm Immortal Sugimoto!
What are you doing?
You! If you don't want to die,
find the bullets that fell into the river!
We should be able to use the gunpowder... inside!
We make a deal!
I'll help you, so let me live!
You can shove your deal up your ass!
We're both going to die!
Are you going to take the deal? Well?
Fine!
Just get in the river and start looking for those damn bullets!
In case I ever need to shoot the lock off a jail cell.
It's so cold, I forgot.
Okay... all... ready!
There are 24 tattooed prisoners in all.
Who knows how many are alive?
As for Nopperabo's friends, I really have no idea.
The only one who knows is the leader of the prisoners, who lead the escape.
What's he like?
I thought he was just some old man who was a political criminal.
He was a quiet, model prisoner.
But he had us all fooled.
He stole a sword off one of the soldiers right in front of me,
and in less than a second, three men were dead.
I learned later that he was a survivor of the Hakodate War thirty years ago.
A samurai from the old shogunate.
What I was told was that he was supposed to have died during the Hakodate War.
The Demon Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi,
Hijikata Toshizou...
I'll tell you one more thing.
This is what Nopperabo told us prisoners.
"Go to Otaru."
Shiraishi, is that your name?
Give up on the Ainu gold, and get out of Hokkaido.
It's not just the other prisoners and Nopperabo's friends who are after the tattoos.
The 7th Division, back from the Russo-Japanese War, is after them, too.
I'm the Escape King.
No matter who catches me, I'll escape like smoke.
See you around, Immortal Sugimoto.
Lt. Tsurumi!
Ogata's woken up!
I see.
Then I guess I'll pay him a visit.
Next Time Kamuy Mosir
Next time:
"Kamuy Mosir."