What an endlessly fascinating series Golden Kamuy is. A fascinating plot set in a fascinating historical context. With a cast full of fascinating oddballs. It checks all the boxes, pretty much, which I suppose is mainly why it’s as popular as it is. It certainly intensified my interest in the Ainu and their role in Japanese history and culture. As it happens I went to an Ainu special exhibition at the Museum of Kyoto today. Makiri were a prominent part of it, which now seems rather fitting for obvious reasons.
Golden Kamuy loves to name drop, among other things. Sometimes they’re familiar to us and sometimes new, and we got a little of each this week. Horkew Oskoni is a name I’m almost certain we’ve never heard before, which would make sense if Asirpa was the only one who knew it. Her father already had two names – Wilk and Nopperabo. But his true Ainu name was Horkew Oskoni, and Asirpa reveals it to Tsurumi as he’s suffocating Sofia with Wilk’s face. Is it the key to decoding the skins? Asirpa seems to think so, and Tsurumi appears to be pretty convinced too.
It’s Ipopte who’s responsible for Asirpa and Sofia’s escape. He tries to play his appearance off as innocent at first, but once he cut Asirpa’s bonds the jig was up. Tsurumi is in the zone by this point, grinding over the skins and their meaning – Asirpa has lost her importance to him. But Ipopte pays for his actions, being shot twice in helping her escape. It would have been a third and fatal time too, by Tsukishima. But the makiri he carries saved him, and Warrant Officer Kikuta carries him to safety. Asirpa doesn’t know that, though, and that’s crucial as she’s just seen Boutarou’s body and is seriously in crisis over all the deaths she feels responsible for.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As you recall I speculated last week that Koito and Tsukishima might have been jumping the gun in believing Tsurumi’s story about his true motives. Well, Koito realizes that given that the two of them (and Nikaidou) reek of beer, it’s very likely Tsurumi knew they were listening at the door. Does that mean his story was a lie? Not necessarily – and he did let Asirpa flee and order Tsukishima to give up the pursuit. But that seed of doubt is back in Koito’s mind either way, and it’s certainly going to prove an important plot point.
Kikuta is a key figure in many ways, but he’s always been a mysterious character. As a warrant officer he’s the most junior among commissioned officers. He has a relationship with Ipopte – they shared a powerful moment wounded in a trench, helping each other cling to life. He and Sugimoto share a bond too, a subject that looks set to be explored next week. Kikuta is a man who seems to engender a lot of respect from everyone who knows him, and I think it’s fair to wonder where his loyalties will lie when the last act of this drama plays out.
Given what Asirpa told him, Tsurumi is surely closer to cracking the code now than he’s ever been. Asirpa is too of course, so effectively it’s a race to the finish line now. Both of them probably have enough skin to (or have seen enough) to put the pieces together. The key, she reasons, is the kanji on each skin which can all be read the same way. And all are a part of Horkew Oskoni’s name. Asirpa has also deduced which skins have been fakes by the bleeding of the dye used in them, a product of her knowledge of the processing and dying of attus fabric. But that only levels her with Tsurumi – he knows too, of course.
There’s one possible wild card here, the last piece of information Boutarou gave Shiraishi before he died – the first place the Ainu hid their gold when they gathered it. Reunited with the Hijikatagumi (more Kadokura, yay!) they board a train for that destination, kick a poor snob out of first class very rudely, and start working 0n the skin game. Sugimoto is so exhausted he dozes off. And as he’s doing so, Shiraishi’s comment about the comfy first class seats sets his mind off down memory lane, and a comment Kikuta made to him years earlier. This time the name dropped – Hanazawa Yuusuke – is definitely one we’ve heard before. But how does it fit with the current situation?
