Chapter 12

## Kamuy Mosir

* Color
* Volume
* Magazine

**Kamuy Mosir** (カムイモシㇼ, *Kamuimoshiri*) is the 12th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

While staying at Asirpa's kotan, Sugimoto asks her about her family. Asirpa says she is living in her *cise* with her grandmother while her aunt and uncle live in another house. Asirpa reveals that her *ekasi* (grandfather) fell sick and died six years ago and her mother died of illness soon after giving birth to her. Speaking in Ainu, Huci tells Sugimoto that Asirpa spends all of her time in the mountains and can't do a woman's work; a woman that cannot sew or knit is unable to find an Ainu husband. She says that Asirpa refuses to get tattooed despite being nearly of age, and Asirpa argues that a lot of girl refuse to get tattooed — Huci is just old-fashioned. Asirpa's grandmother asks Sugimoto to take Asirpa as his wife, as she can't depart this world in peace until she knows her granddaughter is safe. Sugimoto asks Asirpa to translate what Huci just said, but Asirpa, visibly ablush, tells Sugimoto that Huci said that people shouldn't eat poop. Sugimoto smiles and once again claims that it's not poop, it's miso.

A small Ainu girl points at Sugimoto and says *sinna kisar*. Asirpa explains that the girl noticed how strange Sugimoto's ears are compared to the Ainu. Sugimoto asks the girl's name, and she introduces herself as Osoma. Sugimoto thinks she is messing with him, but Asirpa tells him it's not a joke: the Ainu have a custom of giving babies disgusting names to protect them from evil spirits of illness. Once children turn six years old, they get a real name based on their personalities and what they've done in life. Sugimoto wonders what Asirpa's name was, and she says it was *Ekasiotonpuy*, meaning "grandfather's butthole".

When Huci feeds the bear cub, Sugimoto asks what she is feeding him. Asirpa replies that it's a mixture of meat and broth. She muses that the cub will grow up to be as huge as his mother in just three years. Sugimoto asks if Asirpa doesn't like bear cubs, pointing out that she hasn't even touched the baby bear. Asirpa says it's not that she doesn't like them. However, she thinks Sugimoto should stop petting the cub or he will get too attached to him. Sugimoto looks confused by what Asirpa said and asks if they will return the bear into the wild once he gets bigger. Asirpa reveals that they will perform a ceremony and send the bear off to the Land of the Gods. She tells Sugimoto of a bear cub she doted upon as a child. Asirpa was so attached to him, she tried to sneak the cub out and return him to the mountains right before the ceremony; the adults were furious with her, and Asirpa was so sad she didn't participate in the ceremony. She explains to Sugimoto that for the Ainu it's not an act of killing, but of "sending back". The Ainu believe that all useful things around them, things with power beyond their control, are *kamuy*, or Gods. The *kamuy* send useful things from the Land of the Gods to human world; in order for their lives to be peaceful, humans must take good care of the objects they use and not neglect their prayers. As the Ainu are hunters, the *kamuy* of animals are especially important. When they're in the Land of the Gods, all *kamuy* take the form of humans; when they come to the human world to play, they're clad in the flesh of animals. The bear, *kimun kamuy*, is especially important among the animal *kamuy*: for one or two years the Ainu raise the bear cub in a cage, *heperset*, and when the time comes, the whole village turns out and sends the cub off with a great celebration in a ceremony called *Iomante*. At the ceremony there's signing and dancing, lots of food is prepared, and the bear's spirit is sent off with many gifts so the gods know that the human world is a wonderful and fun place and will come back to earth.

Hearing Asirpa's story, Sugimoto wonders if Asirpa really believes it, noting that if she did believe it, sending the bear off wouldn't be that sad for her back then. Asirpa explains that within every belief lies a useful lesson to help people survive: for example, raising the bear cub instead of killing it means they will have more fur and meat in the future. Asirpa claims that her people lived their lives following those lessons, so she believes they're correct. Still, it doesn't mean that there's no sadness in saying goodbye, and that's why she prefers to keep her distance. Sugimoto smiles and says that Asirpa seems different from other Ainu. Asirpa tells Sugimoto that her father gave her the name Asirpa, which means "new year" but can also mean "future".

In Otaru, Hijikata Toshizou goes to a brothel disguised as a soba restaurant to find another Abashiri convict, Ushiyama the Undefeated. Hijikata finds Ushiyama with a prostitute, and Ushiyama immediately assumes that the prostitute sold him out. He grabs her leg and throws the woman at Hijikata, who dodges it and attacks Ushiyama with his katana. The two men clash, and Ushiyama pulls out his gun, asking if Hijikata really thought his katana would cut through his thick skull. Hijikata shows Ushiyama a copy of tattooed skin made on oil paper; he explains that there's no need to kill each other when they can copy the tattoos instead. Hijikata offers Ushiyama to join him, mentioning that sooner or later they will come to blows with the 7th Division and they need the tattooed skins they're in possession of. Ushiyama snarls and sarcastically wonders if Hijikata is planning to have a swordfight with the whole Imperial Japanese Army. Hijikata smiles and says that it doesn't matter how old you are, boys just love to play with swords.

## Character Appearances

* Asirpa
* Retar *(Cover)*
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Huci
* Asirpa's Uncle *(Mentioned)*
* Asirpa's Mother *(Mentioned)*
* Osoma *(Debut)*
* Asirpa's Father *(Mentioned)*
* Tatsuma Ushiyama *(Debut)*
* Toshizou Hijikata