ISSN: 1500-0713 Golden Kamuy: Can This Popular Manga .
ISSN: 1500-0713Essay Title: Golden Kamuy: Can This Popular Manga Contribute toAinu Studies?Author(s): Kinko ItoSource: Japanese Studies Review, Vol. XXIII (2019), pp. 155-168Stable URL: inko-goldenkamuy.pdf
GOLDEN KAMUY:CAN THIS POPULAR MANGACONTRIBUTE TO AINU STUDIES?Kinko ItoUniversity of Arkansas at Little RockIntroductionGolden Kamuy1 is an incredibly popular Japanese manga that hasbeen serialized in Shūkan Young Jump, a weekly comic magazine, sinceAugust 21, 2014. The magazine is produced by Shueisha that publishes itskomikkusu2 and digital media in Tokyo. The action adventure comic story bySatoru Noda revolves around two protagonists, Saichi Sugimoto, a returningJapanese soldier, and Asirpa, a beautiful Ainu girl in her teens. The mangaalso features many characters who play the roles of significant “supportingactors” for the dynamic development of the story. They all have strong andunique personalities, various criminal and non-criminal backgrounds, as wellas complicated psychological characteristics. The compelling story alsoentails hunting, conflict, violence, food, and events in the history ofHokkaido, Japan and the world. Golden Kamuy has been creating muchinterest in the Ainu people, their history, and their culture among the Wajin(non-Ainu Japanese) in today’s Japan.3I have been doing research on Japanese manga since the end of the1980s and started my fieldwork on the Ainu during my sabbatical in thespring of 2011. In this essay, I am doing a content analysis of Golden Kamuy,paying special attention to the depiction of the Ainu and their culture as wellas its educational values and contribution to the Ainu Studies.1Noda Satoru, Golden Kamuy, vols. 1–8 (Tokyo: Shueisha 2019). Kamuy isan Ainu word that means “god(s).”2The Japanese word komikkusu refers to softcover comic books that containa collection of the chapters of a serialized manga in weekly or monthly comicmagazines.3Wajin, shisamu, and shamo are Ainu words that refer to the non-AinuJapanese. Shamo is a derogatory term. See Kurihara Noriyuki, ed., ImakosoShiritai Ainu Kitano Daichi, Sokoni Ikiruhitobito no Rekishi to Bunka,Manga Golden Kamuy (Tokyo: San-ei Shobō, 2017).
156KINKO ITOWho are the Ainu?The Ainu4 are an indigenous, ethnic minority group of Japan whoseancestors lived in what was once called the Ainu Mosir. The vast and peacefulland of the humans included northern Honshu, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and theKurile Islands. The estimated population of the Ainu today is approximately25,000, but the number could be much higher. The majority of them residein Hokkaido, and others live in the greater Kanto area near Tokyo and Chiba.Their lifestyles are totally assimilated in contemporary Japan, but theirtraditional music, dance, language, crafts, religion, and food distinguish themas an ethnic group.The Ainu traditionally lived in harmony with nature as they engagedin hunting, gathering, fishing, and farming. They also traded goods withWajin in Ezo (present-day Hokkaido), Akita, Aomori, and Iwate5 as well asother people in the northeastern part of China, Kamchatka Peninsula,Aleutian Islands, and the downstream of the Amur River in the 13th century.They traded kombu (kelp), sea otter skins, eagle feathers, salmon, bear gallbladder, and bear skins in exchange for precious stones, porcelain, samuraiarmor, and clothes made of Chinese silk.6The Matsumae Domain controlled a segment of southern Ezo sincethe 15th century. The basho ukeoi system (contract fishing system) and theWajin merchants made the Ainu engage in forced labor since the end of the17th century. The Ainu men were “recruited” to work in distant places, andthe only people left in the villages were elderlies, women, and children.Russian vessels started to frequent Ezo seeking ice-free ports in the 1760s.The Tokugawa government decided to take over the land from the MatsumaeDomain as they feared that the Ainu might leave Japan and unite with foreignpowers.7 The Tokugawa government started its direct control over the easternThe original meaning of the word Ainu is “humans (as opposed to gods),”“humans in general,” “man,” and “father.”5Akita, Aomori, and Iwate are located in the northern part of Honshu.6Segawa Takuro, Ainugaku Nyūmon (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2015), 104–114 andUemura Hideki, Ainu Minzoku Ichimon Ittō (Osaka: Kaihou Shuppansha,2008), 26–27.7Several main characters of Golden Kamuy attempt to establish the Republicof Ezo, which is independent from Japan.4
GOLDEN KAMUY157part of Ezo in 1799 and the western part in 1807. The land was returned tothe Matsumae Domain in 1821, but Ezo became a Japanese territory in 1854.8The history of the Ainu is the history of an ethnic cleansing thatofficially began in 1869 when the Meiji government renamed Ezo Hokkaidoand established the Hokkaido Colonization Board. The Japanese governmentstarted its vigorous assimilation processes on the Ainu in 1871. It needed toshow to the world that the Ainu are indeed Japanese nationals, and Hokkaidobelonged to Japan. The policies included adoption of Japanese soundingnames and Japanese language and prohibition of the Ainu language, theirtraditional tattoos on women’s mouths, pierced earrings of men, andperforming their very important “sending off the sacred bear’s spirit”ceremony called Iomante. Those Ainu who wanted to cultivate land wereprovided with houses and farming equipment, and they were encouraged tosettle down. However, the Wajin took all the fertile land, and the lands givento the Ainu were often small and uncultivatable. Prohibition of fishingsalmon in rivers began in 1870. Traditional poisonous arrows and springloaded poison traps were prohibited in 1876, and hunting deer in 1889. Dueto these restrictions placed by the Japanese government, the Ainu wereforbidden from catching their staple food, leading them to starvation.9The lifestyles of the contemporary Ainu people are basically thesame as any Wajin, but some people might encounter problems in their dailylife that are related to the consequences of inequality from the past whichinclude poverty, prejudice, discrimination, bullying in education,employment, and marriage.10 The Ainu are supportive of one another, andthe majority are self-sufficient. Many of them contribute to the maintenance8Ainu Minzoku Hakubutsukan, ed., The Basic Knowledge of Ainu Culture(Urayasu: Sofukan, 2009), 37–39; and ann-elise lewallen, The Fabric ofIndigeneity Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2016), 129–132.9Ito Kinko, “An Elderly Ainu Man’s Story: Ethnography,” Japan StudiesReview (2014):115–118; “Have You Heard about the Ainu? Elders of Japan’sIndigenous People Speak,” dir. Ito Kinko, YouTube video, 1:18:06.November 29, 2016 (accessed February 18, 2019, https://youtu.be/0Q6cYEQUpBg); Kurihara, Imakoso Shiritai Ainu Kitano Daichi, 82–83;and Uemura, Ainu Minzoku, 38–46.10Kayano Shigeru, Ainu no Ishibumi (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun Shuppan,2009); and Uemura, Ainu Minzoku, 90–93.
158KINKO ITOof their precious culture by learning the Ainu language, traditional crafts(woodcarving, embroidery, fabric production, and clothing making), songs,and dances.11 The Ainu Cultural Promotion Act was enacted in 1997, and itenables the Ainu Cultural Foundation to administer a national budget for thepreservation and promotion of Ainu culture as part of Japan’s culturalheritage. Numerous Ainu women revivalists engage in creating cloth works– textile weaving, embroidery, appliques, and robe making that connect themto their heritage and tradition. lewallen (this author uses all small letters forher name) observes this resurgence of Ainu culture as “broadening thediscursive spaces within which Ainu can explore and expres o me, “You do not need to portray the pathetic Ainu.Draw the Ainu who are strong.”19Noda indeed does draw strong Ainu. For example, he depicts Asirpaas a new type of young Ainu woman. Asirpa’s grandfather was Polish andher grandmother was an Ainu on her father’s side. Her Ainu mother died soonafter she delivered Asirpa. Her father named his daughter Asirpa, whichmeans “new year,” and “future.” He taught her hunting and survival skills inthe natural environment. She has a fuci (grandmother) on her mother’s sidewho lives in an Ainu kotan (traditional village community). She has a tattooaround her mouth, speaks only Ainu, and transmits her wisdom and the Ainutradition to her granddaughter. The fuci is depicted as a “vanguard of culturalpreservation.”20Asirpa is brave, intelligent, self-sufficient, mature, and talented. Shealso has a great sense of humor and sensitivity. She is at an age when Ainugirls start tattooing around their mouths, but she is ambivalent and reluctant.Asirpa recognizes herself as an Ainu woman in a new age. Noda portrays heras independent, powerful, and assertive. I am sure she has a very positiveinfluence and effect on the minds of young readers, especially females.Asirpa is a great role model and an agent of socialization which the readersvicariously experience as they read the manga.Noda definitely had confidence that Golden Kamuy would be verypopular because of his on-going, in-depth research that entails not onlyreading resources, but also engaging himself in empirical observations andseeking information from specialists. For example, Noda went hunting withan Ainu hunter who taught him the techniques and knowledge to hunt variousanimals and meats. He actually ate the brain of a deer raw. Noda’s vigorousresearch, empiricism, and sincere respect and attitude toward the ethnicminority, their history, and culture won him much trust from the Ainu andother scholars.21Excerpt from “Golden Kamuy Noda Satoru Interview,” Kono Manga,January 4, 2016 (accessed February 22, 2019, n, The Fabric of Indigeneity, 92.21“Manga Taishō 2016 wa Noda Satorushi no ‘Golden Kamuy’ ni kettei,”Oricon, March 29, 2016 (accessed May 15, 2019, https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2069262/full/); and “Kanaeru Chikara (7) Mangaka Noda Satorusan,”19
GOLDEN KAMUY161Golden Kamuy – The Comic StoryThe unprecedented interest in the Ainu and their culture in recentyears in Japan and elsewhere is partly due to the popularity of Golden Kamuy.In March 2016, the comic story won the Manga Taishō (Cartoon GrandPrize).22 It received another award Hokkaido yukari no hon taishō (GrandPrize for Books Regarding Hokkaido) in its Comics Division in 2017 and theManga Taishō of the Tezuka Osamu Bunkashō (the Manga Grand Prix of theTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize) sponsored by Asahi Shimbunsha (Newspaper)in 2018.23 The animation version of the popular manga started to air in Japanin April 2018, and the video clips are streamed on YouTube worldwide.The two protagonists in Golden Kamuy are Saichi Sugimoto, areturning soldier from the Russo-Japan War (1904–1905) and Asirpa, ayoung Ainu woman in her early teens.24 It is a story about Sugimoto seekingthe enormous Ainu treasure trove hidden in Hokkaido at the end of the MeijiEra (1868–1912). He needs money to take care of the wife of his late bestfriend by bringing her to the United States to operate on her eyes. Asirpa, onthe other hand, wants to know the whereabouts of her father who disappearedand had something to do with the hidden trove.Golden Kamuy belongs to a genre called seinen manga (manga foryouth and young adults), and the themes include adventure, survival, conflict,battle, historical romance, gastronomy, and the Ainu culture. TatsuyaMatsuura, who has been writing news flashes about the Manga Taishō prize,states that Golden Kamuy is one of the hardest comics to write a review ofand label its category. He says that any attempt to classify this manga alwaysends in incongruity. This manga has many elements, some of which do notalways mix and match. Matsuura lists them as “history, ethnicity, hunting,gourmet food, suspense, action, battles, gag, yaoi, etc.”25Asahi Shimbun Digital, January 8, 2017 (accessed May 15, 2019, 70110011620001.html).22Kurihara, Imakoso Shiritai Ainu, 7.23“‘Golden Kamuy’ Won the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Award for Manga!The New Birth Award is Shiodome Itagaki,” Comic Natalie, April 25, 2018(accessed May 15, 2019, https://natalie.mu/comic/news/279582).24Noda, Golden Kamuy, vol. 13; and Kurihara, Imakoso Shiritai Ainu, 7.25Tatsuya Matsuura, “Manga Award 2016, Noda Satoru ‘Golden Kamuy,’”Excite News, March 29, 2016 (accessed May 15, 2019, 04/?p 2).
162KINKO ITOGolden Kamuy contains much violence and brutality, which isdefinitely adult content not suitable for children. There have been 18 volumespublished in 2019. Some of the major characters that surround the twoprotagonists, namely, Sugimoto and Asirpa, include ex-prisoners, murderers,hunters, soldiers, ex-samurai, and several Ainu characters such as Kiroranke(Asirpa’s father’s friend), Inkarmat (a sexy Ainu fortuneteller), Osoma(Asirpa’s cousin), Asirpa’s grandmother, and Uiruku (Asirpa’s father).Episodes with violent themes and scenes are very common, and they includemurder by guns, pistols, swords, saws, knives, awls, poison, fire, poison gas,punches, kicks, stabbing, decapitation, and disembodiment. There are certainwar scenes where a “legitimate” mass murder takes place as well. 26Generally speaking, a paradox has always existed in regard to the duality ofJapanese serenity and brutality. Manga is no exception. Certain comics foradult men and women have been notoriously known as violent and ruthless,but the violence rarely translates into real-life situations. The brutalityexperienced in comics is “properly distanced, and should therefore lead tocatharsis,” and the distance from reality must be just right to have maximumcathartic effects. 27 The aggression and cold-bloodedness vicariouslyexperienced in comics might lead to the containment of the readers’ ownanger and frustration by catharsis that enables their release of pent-upnegative and afflictive emotions.Certain episodes of Golden Kamuy are sexually explicit with muchnudity. A mosaic design seen in pornographic films and DVDs in Japan,mushrooms, and other phallic designs are used to cover the genitals in thecomic story. The characters have various sexual orientations, and one of thecharacters in particular is a beautiful transgendered young woman who usedto be an old medical doctor and prisoner. Different kinds of sex acts are alsodepicted in the stories, and they include coitus between couples, S&M, groupsex, masturbation, and bestiality. Certain episodes also feature a pervert whoengages in human taxidermy and another one who has a fantasy and a desireto be murdered violently. 28 The Japanese traditionally enjoyed sex moreopenly than any other people in the world, and sexuality and sexual acts arealways one of the most important themes in both adult men’s and women’s26Noda, Golden Kamuy, vols. 1–18.T.J. Scheff, Catharsis in Healing, Ritual, and Drama (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1979), 25.28Noda, Golden Kamuy, vols. 1–18.27
GOLDEN KAMUY163comics.29 Sex found in Golden Kamuy is nothing new or perturbing to manyJapanese readers. Noda said in an interview, “[To make stories moreinteresting] the characters have multifaceted personalities. Even an atrociousprisoner has a lovable personality with playful and sublime aspects.” 30 Nodaalso mentioned that he actually prefers to depict more complicated pervertsin his comic story.31Golden Kamuy and the Ainu StudiesOne of the unique characteristics of Golden Kamuy is that it depictsvarious aspects of traditional Ainu life which many Wajin do not know orhave not cared enough to know in contemporary Japan. The manga portraystheir history, customs and manners, religion, food, clothing, language, andphilosophy, among others. Golden Kamuy is the first Japanese comic that hasan Ainu as one of the protagonists, and it indeed depicts positive andpowerful images of the Ainu and their lifestyle. Readers learn the world ofthe Ainu through Asirpa as their guide. In this sense I would say that it is agroundbreaking comic series that is also educational. It is not too much tosay that it belongs to a category called benkyō manga (“study comics”) thatprovides easy and joyful learning for children and adults alike. For example,the classic manga Japan Inc. Introduction to Japanese Economics byIshinomori Shōtarō (a renowned Japanese comic artist) teaches themechanisms of the Japanese economy and industries in the format of a comicstory.32 Likewise, Golden Kamuy can be “a textbook” for the Ainu Studies.The Ainu language is freely spoken by both the Ainu and non-Ainucharacters in Golden Kamuy, and it is basically the first bilingual comic inJapanese and Ainu languages. Hiroshi Nakagawa, a professor of AinuLanguage at Chiba University, supervises the Ainu language content. AinuIto Kinko, A Sociology of Japanese Ladies’ Comics Images of the Life,Loves, and Sexual Fantasies of Adult Japanese Women (Lewiston, NY: TheEdwin Mellen Press, 2011). 149–191.30Excerpt from “Golden Kamuy Noda Satoru Interview – Motto hentaiwoegakasetekure! Fukuzatsuna kyarakutāga sakuhinwo omoshirokusuru!”Kono Manga, January 11, 2016 (accessed February 22, 2019, ōtarō Ishinomori, Japan Inc.: An Introduction to Japanese Economics(The Comic Book) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).29
164KINKO ITOis considered an isolated language, and it is not related to Japanese at all. Itdoes not have a system of writing, and everything has been transmitted orally.The Ainu have a very strong oral tradition such as Yukar (a long epic aboutheroes) and Uwepekere (traditional folk ballads). Noda eloquently introducesthem in his comic story. Oratory gives the Ainu power, and it was one of therequirements for becoming a village leader.33The readers of Golden Kamuy will also learn many Ainu words,idioms, proverbs, and greetings in certain episodes. Noda provides hisreaders with the meanings and explanations of the usage when an Ainu wordor idiom is introduced in his manga, as well as the visual images.Certain Ainu words appear repeatedly, and the readers master themnaturally. For example, the protagonists and other characters enjoy eatingAinu food together on many occasions, and they always say “Hinna! Hinna!”with big smiles. Hinna is a word of gratitude to the food, and it is translatedas “delicious.” Sugimoto loves miso (fermented soy bean paste) and Asirpaalways confuses it with osoma (an Ainu word for feces). She laughs andteases Sugimoto for eating osoma as she makes funny faces. Noda portraysAsirpa in such a comical way that the readers delight in her various facialexpressions.In a certain episode, Asirpa takes Sugimoto to her kotan andintroduces her cousin to him. Sugimoto is quite surprised to find that hername is Osoma (feces). Asirpa explains that the Ainu give their babies nastynames when they are born so that bad spirits that cause illness do not takethem away from the parents. Examples of the names include “Lump of Feces,”“Someone Who Farts,” and “Grown Up Stinky.” Sugimoto is amused whenhe learns that Asirpa’s baby name was “Grandfather’s Anus.” Traditionally,Ainu parents give their children their name based on their psychologicalcharacteristics and personal events when the child is about six years old.34Readers also learn and master many Ainu words related to hunting(arrows, bows, traps, poisons, medicines, etc.), fishing (boats, names of fish,seals, whales, traps, seasonal fishermen, etc.), gathering (names of plants,herbs, and mountain vegetabl y lives.ConclusionGolden Kamuy has recently played a vital role in introducing Ainuculture to those Wajin who had not been interested in them before readingthis compelling comic story. It is thereby crucial to read and understand themanga correctly in its historical contexts. As in this case, the time period isset at the end of the Meiji Era when Japan was still on its way tomodernization and becoming a world power. The Ainu are totally assimilatedliving in modern homes with amenities and not in a traditional cise (house),which can easily burn and are thus dangerous. They get their food from theirfamily gardens, stores, and supermarkets, drive cars and trucks, use cellphones and internet, and wear fashionable clothes.Some of the Ainu men wear a traditional robe made of tree fiber anda head dress, and women might wear traditionally embroidered robes withheadbands and necklaces for formal occasions, like attending a publicceremony or delivering a speech. Their unique attire gives them identity anda sense of pride and great heritage as it is transmitted for generations.Manga and animation, which is usually based on popular manga, arehuge, thriving, and popular mass entertainment industries that affect Japaneseeconomy, politics, public opinion, education, and socialization. They areoften so powerful that it is acceptable to say that the contemporary Japanesemindset and public opinion are deeply influenced by popular manga andanime. The readership and viewership are not limited to children, youth, or
GOLDEN KAMUY167young adults. Manga is for everyone, and ever certain Prime Ministers haveopenly admitted that they were avid readers of manga.39As a result, manga serves as a bonding agent, influences people’svalues and political ideologies, and sets trends in fashion, hobbies, language,and economy. Manga has contributed to social changes in Japan over somany years and in so many ways.40 Golden Kamuy increases the awarenessof the ethnic minority group among the Wajin, and it also teac
a collection of the chapters of a serialized manga in weekly or monthly comic magazines. 3. Wajin, shisamu, and . shamo . are Ainu words that refer to the non-Ainu Japanese. Shamo. is a derogatory term. See Kurihara Noriyuki, ed., Imakoso Shiritai Ainu Kitano Daichi, Sokoni Ikiruhitobito no Rekishi to Bunka, Manga Golden Kamuy
Perkins Powered - 3 Phase, 480 - 208V, 60 Hz Marapco Generating sets are also available in 60 Hz on demand Specifications are subject to change without prior notice www.marapco.com Generating Set Perkins Engine Model Leroy Somer Alternator Model RPM 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 .
Revised July 2012 Section 1500 Table of Contents Liens, Adjustment and Recoveries 1500.1 Introduction-Liens, Adjustment and Recoveries 1500.2 Court Order 1500.3Benefits Paid Pending Appeal Decision 1500.4 Liability 1500.5 Estates 1500.6 Voluntary Reimbursement 1500.7 Health Ins
Similar attention to the sound has been paid to Chiri Yukie’s thirteen kamuy yukar as well in recent years. “The Ainu language researcher Katayama Tatsumine (1942-2004) and the Chitose-born bard Nakamoto Mutsuko (1928- ), who earlier collaborated on the text and recording of Kamuy Yukar (1995), in 2003 published a CD version of
1.7/1500 7/101 1.8/1500 18/10 2.5/1500 21/2 3.0/1500 3 4.0/1500 4 5.5/1500 51/2 Results and analysis: 1. Record the results on a copy of the results sheet. 2. For each value of slope of the channel calculate:- The
The golden ratio View this lecture on YouTube x y Figure 3.1: The golden ratio satisfies x/y (x y)/x. We now present the classical definition of the golden ratio. Referring to Fig.3.1, two positive numbers x and y, with x y are said to be in the golden
Eagle II, Golden Eagle II, & Directional Golden Eagle II (Eagle 3 has Yr 3 included): 3rd Year Warranty (444-0002-03) 1 Each 30 days 227.00 39 Kustom Signals, Inc. Eagle II, Golden Eagle II, Directional Golden Eagle II & Eagle 3: 4th Year Warranty (444-0002-04) 1 Each 30 days 252.00 40 Kustom Signals, Inc. Eagle II, Golden Eagle II .
Using Golden Now that you have Golden installed and configured to work with AIS, you can begin using the software to pull data. Golden uses Oracle SQL queries, sometimes referred to as scripts, to request data from AIS. This guide will help you access scripts, navigate Golden, run scripts and export data to Microsoft Excel. Script Access
definition used is one proposed by Russell and Norvig: “Artificial Intelligence is the study of human intelligence and actions replicated artificially, such that the resultant bears to its .
