Tatsuuma Ushiyama/Story

Overview
Story
Gallery

## Background

Ushiyama was born in Mikawa province, in modern day Aichi. Ushiyama practiced Judo for ten years and during that time, went unbeaten. One day, he lusted after his master's wife and slept with her. When his master found out, he was enraged and gathered ten other students to beat him, but none of them were a match for Ushiyama. He killed his own master and left the other ten students with various broken limbs including one who had his skull caved in and became bedridden for the rest of his life. As a result, Ushiyama was sent to the Abashiri Prison.

## Plot

### Escape King Arc

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.

Hijikata and Ushiyama visit an old acquaintance of Hijikata, Shinpachi Nagakura. Nagakura agrees to let Hijikata use the house they're visiting as his base of operations; he says he can give him whatever capital he has on hand, and a small number of the latest foreign-made guns he received. However, Nagakura laments that there's a limit to what he can do for Hijikata, and that he is too old to join his crazy schemes. Hijikata doesn't believe it, claiming Nagakura's body must be burning for the chance to revive the Shinsengumi legend. Ushiyama, who's been listening to the conversation, recognizes Nagakura and the legendary Nagakura Shinpachi, the best swordsman in the entire Shinsengumi. Ushiyama tells the two men that he's figured out they're after more than just gold.

The group of Toshizou Hijikata is looking for allies to search for the gold. Hijikata wants to recruit Zenjirou Shibukawa, a leader of of a band of thieves that was recently released from Kabato Prison. Ushiyama is skeptical of Shibukawa's cooperation, and Hijikata reveals that earlier he sent some messengers to the men but they never returned. Still, Hijikata claims that they need Shibukawa's talents and his men and empathizes that they must not kill Shibukawa under any circumstances. Ushiyama mentions that there's only ten of them versus a dozen of Shibukawa's men, which puts them at disadvantage. Hijikata disagrees and says that one cannot count on raw numbers winning battles, what matters is how many men on your side are prepared to die.

Upon arriving to Shibukawa's residence, Hijikata and his men get inside the building. One of Shibukawa's men confronts them but Ushiyama quickly grabs him and throws him in the air, breaking the ceiling. Shibukawa says that he hasn't seen Hijikata since he was transferred to Abashiri Prison but back in Kabato Prison he helped him a lot. Hijikata asks if his men have arrived, and Shibukawa replies that they did and were tortured until they gave up the information about Ainu gold. Hijikata announces to Shibukawa that he will either join him or fight to the death. Shibukawa asks Hijikata to show him his Abashiri tattoo, but instead Hijikata throws him the severed heads of the men that were supposed to attack Hijikata and his group. Hijikata demands Shibukawa order his men that are hiding behind the walls to lower their weapons. Shibukawa seemingly surrenders, saying Hijikata may have fooled everyone in Kabato by acting like a quiet old man, but he always knew that Hijikata was a dangerous son of a bitch. Suddenly, Shibukawa shouts, telling his men to kill the group, but he is immediately shot by Hijikata. The fighting ensues, and Hijikata, carrying both his katana and Winchester rifle, kills several of Shibukawa's thieves and orders his own men to let anyone escape. Ushiyama watches him, remarking to himself that this must be the true face of the Shinsengumi's Merciless Vice-Commander.

In the carriage on their way back, Ushiyama asks if Hijikata is planning on re-creating the Shinsengumi and warns him that he is only interested in the gold. Hijikata says there are a great multitude of people that want to liberate this land of Ezo that have existed here for a long time.

### Edogai Arc

In a cabin that Hijikita's group is staying at, Ushiyama is feeding Ienaga to help her recover from her wounds. He starts off a conversation by listing the tattooed skins that they have in their possession, and listens as the other men talks about Noppera-Bou and his motives. After hearing Hijikata's opinion on Noppera-Bou, Ushiyama states that it sounded like he never trusted the other man, and wonders if Noppera-Bou may have allies outside. (70)

### Con Artists Arc

Ushiyama and Ogata made their way to Yubari, but gets split up at some point. He spots Sugimoto and Shiraishi riding in a mine cart and follows them to the Yubari mines. After the dynamites in the mines explode and the mine get barricaded with wooden planks, he breaks through them and finds the two who had been suffocating from lack of oxygen in the air. He carries the both of them outside where he spots and recognizes Asirpa.

As Sugimoto and Shiraishi drinks some clean water, Sugimoto asks him why he is in Yubari. Ushiyama replied that he came to Yubari with Ogata who had wandered off and that he was looking for him. Just then, Ogata emerged from the mines and offered to take Sugimoto's group along to explain the situation. They make their way to the Edogai store, where Ogata revealed the bodies of the men who had been skinned to make fake tattoos. Upon seeing this, Ushiyama expressed disgust. Ogata asks him if he had called Hijikata to which he replied that he should be here soon. Hijikata approaches them, carrying a cat and a tattooed skin, saying that they must find a way to discern whether the skin is real or not.

Ushiyama silently stands by as Hijikata and Sugimoto talk to each other about Noppera-Bou and remained quiet even as tensions begin to flare between both parties. When Sugimoto says that they needed to meet Noppera-Bou in order to confirm something, he asks if he really wanted to see him. The mood is broken by Asirpa's stomach loudly grumbling and Ienaga suggests that they should eat. When Hijikata expresses concerns about how to distinguish the fake skins from the real ones, Ienaga says that she may know someone who could help them, a counterfeit artist named Chouan Kumagishi. Ushiyama comments that it's better than nothing and asks where they can go to meet him. She says that he is currently being held at Kabato Prison in Tsukigata. Some time later, Ushiyama heads out with Sugimoto and Asirpa in order to confirm Sergeant Tsukishima's status.

They return to the store to find it burning but they were able to find Ienaga trapped inside and Ushiyama breaks the bars off of the windows to rescue her. Once Hijikata, Ogata, and Sugimoto were able to leave the store, the group as a whole heads back into the town of Yubari and they agree to split up to remain inconspicuous. However, Ushiyama is surprised that he is being ordered along with Ogata to travel with Asirpa and Sugimoto to Tsukigata while Hijikata and Ienaga meets up with Nagakura and Shiraishi.

They take an off route path through a forest in order to avoid being spotted anyone that could alert their position to the 7th Division. Asirpa spots some woodcocks and sets up some traps to catch them, but the next day they are only able to catch two and Ushiyama says that she is in a bad mood as she violently plucks their feathers. Just then, Ogata approaches them and drops three birds that he had shot down. Ushiyama notes that he had left early in the morning and praises his skills but is annoyed by Ogata's arrogance. When Asirpa prepares some woodcock brains for them to eat, Ushiyama is visibly nervous about it and hesitates to eat it. Afterwards, he cuts up some citatap while following Asirpa's guidance and they eat some ohaw which he says tastes great. Asirpa tells them about an Ainu religious love poem to which Ushiyama and Sugimoto are deeply moved by.

They spent at least one night sleeping in the forest and makes their way to an Ainu kotan. Upon arriving at the kotan, they are greeted by an Ainu man who asks them if they have business here. Ushiyama tells him that they just need food and a place to sleep at and that they will compensate him for his hospitality. He sees a cage behind them, asking about it and Sugimoto turns around to see that the bear is too big to fit in the cage.

The man introduces himself as Ekurok and says that his "father" Retanno Ekasi is the leader of their village and that they should ask him for permission to stay. Upon arriving at his house, another Ainu man came out and immediately went back inside, which Ushiyama noted. Sugimoto tells them that they must clean the house and they wait outside for some time. The man comes back out and leads them inside, holding hands. As Retanno Ekasi is greeting them, Asirpa interrupts him which caught everyone by surprise. When Ekurok begins to introduce the rest of his "family", they are interrupted by Asirpa again who has to use the bathroom. Once Asirpa and Ekurok's Brother left the house, Ogata asks them what Asirpa's word meant, but the two Ainu men just remained silent with a grim look on their faces.

Ushiyama stayed quiet as his partners Sugimoto and Ogata began to argue about whether the men were Ainu or not. Suddenly an Ainu woman came to the window and yelled something before being carried away by another man, and Ushiyama asked what she said. Ekurok attempted to lie to them before being interrupted by Monoa. Fed up with Ogata's constant suspicions, Sugimoto takes out a kisarri that he found and hands it to Ushiyama. He stares at it nervously for a moment before putting on an awkward demonstration.

Sugimoto takes the kisarri from him and gives it to Retanno Ekasi who also does an awkward dance which ends with Ogata taking the stick from him and hitting his pinky toe with it. This causes him to scream in Japanese, which alarms Ushiyama who asks if he could speak Japanese. The ruse finally ends when Ekurok's Brother returned and lied about Asirpa's status, leading Sugimoto to hit him with the kisarri. Ekurok's Brother falls down, revealing the tattoo on his legs which Ushiyama points out. Finally realizing the truth, Sugimoto lets out an angry yell.

Sugimoto kills Ekurok's Brother with the kisarri and Ogata injures Ekurok who was attempting to reach for Sugimoto's rifle. When a couple of the convicts open the window to shoot at them, Ushiyama grabs Ekurok and throws him at them, causing them to fall over. He follows Sugimoto out of the house with a pistol in hand when he is assaulted by another convict. By flexing his muscles, he was able to protect himself and grabs the convict to throw him backwards into the bear cage. As a result, the hungry bear became free as Ushiyama curses, knowing what will happen next.

As Ushiyama emerges from the aftermath of the fighting, he hears a scream from nearby. He sees that the bear has attacked Retanno Ekasi, tearing off his his clothes to reveal tattoos on his back. Realizing that the man is one of the Abashiri Convicts, Ushiyama goes to confront the bear in order to protect the tattoo's visibility. The bear stands up and attacks Ushiyama who manages to blocks its paws and throws it down the hill. When the bear chose to go back into nature instead of fighting Ushiyama, he says to go and tell the other bears about the legend of Ushiyama.

Once the fighting had ceased, Sugimoto's Group helps the Ainu women bury the dead convicts and the women expresses their thanks by offering them food made with the year's harvest of turep. They help the women prepare the food and they enjoy it together. Afterwards, they deliberate on what to do with Kiyohiro Suzukawa with Ogata wanting to kill and skin him but Sugimoto decides to take him along since they were in a hurry. Meanwhile, the Ainu women wishes for Ushiyama to stay and help repopulate the village since he took down a bear and they want strong children as well. Ushiyama gets horny and also wants to stay but had to be carried away by Sugimoto and Suzukawa as the group as a whole said their farewells to the kotan.

They make their way back to Tsukigata where they meet up with Nagakura at the inn. Nagakura says that he has two pieces of bad news, the first of which is that Kumagishi is dead and the group is surprised that he already knew. When Asirpa asked what the other bad news is, Nagakura tells them that Shiraishi has been captured by the 7th Division.

Once Hijikata and Kiroranke returned from their mission and informed the rest of them that they had failed to rescue Shiraishi, everyone thought about what to do, with Ushiyama telling Ogata to check out Asahikawa since he belonged to the 7th Division. However, Ogata reminds him that the 7th Division has considered him a deserter. After some more thinking, they decide to leave Shiraishi to his fate since they already have a copy of his tattoo. However, Sugimoto refuses and says that he wants to save Shiraishi and pulls over Suzukawa, saying that they could use his skills as a con artist.

### Youichirou the Manslayer Arc

When Hijikata finds a certain object in a hidden room at Abashiri Prison that had once belonged to a man named Shinzou Doi, he shows it to Ushiyama and Nagakura, saying that Doi had been caught in Kushiro and that they should head to Kushiro to find him.

Hijikata's group arrives in Kushiro where Ushiyama is more than happy to help the women carry their baskets as they admire his strength. Ushiyama notices an Ainu man nearby and calls out to him, asking if he knew of any place to stay at. The Ainu man, Kirawus takes them to a hut where he prepares some shishamo smelt for them and Ushiyama praises his skills as he eats the food. When they finally get a lead on Doi's whereabouts, Nagakura tells Ushiyama to be on his guard, but Ushiyama is confused since Doi is a feeble old man that is even older than both Hijikata and Nagakura. Hijikata tells him that Doi is a fake name and that he was once a hired killer of the Bakumatsu Period known as Youichirou the Manslayer.

Kirawus takes Hijikata's group to an Ainu kotan in Nemuro where Youichirou had once lived. Ushiyama learns about Youichirou's past from Kirawus translating for the village chief who knew the former assassin. When they finally find Youichirou in a restuarant and Hijikata ends up in a shoot out with some hitmen who were after Youichirou's life, Ushiyama manages to knock over several of them long enough for Hijikata to kill them.

Afterwards, as Youichirou fled the restaurant, Ushiyama compliments Youichirou's strength and asks if they should convince him to join them but is turned down by Hijikata. Ushiyama, along with Nagakura and Kirawus were able to find Hijikata who had left to confront Youichirou, on the outskirts of Nemuro where they see that Youichirou had already died moments earlier from their duel.

### Pet Monster Arc

Ushiyama and Hijikata decides to look for Waichirou Sekiya in the Lake Akan area but Ushiyama decides to meet a prostitute instead. The prostitute gives Ushiyama a drink which contains some pufferfish and datura plant poison that left his mind muddled and his body unable to move. Paralyzed, Ushiyama is buried in a casket by Sekiya who then leaves to deal with Hijikata. However, Ushiyama is able to regain control of his body and breaks out from the casket.

As Ushiyama wanders around, his mind still muddled by the metel, he comes across a young boy who had been bullied and tied up to a tree. The boy asks Ushiyama to help him down but Ushiyama turns to leave as his stomach starts to growl. The boy then give him some dried peaches and in return, Ushiyama breaks the branch that the boy had been tied to. Back on the ground, the boy thanks Ushiyama and introduces himself as Chiyotarou, and mistakenly thinks Ushiyama's name is "Obencho". Chiyotarou offers to give him some more dried peaches in exchange for him becoming his henchman.

Chiyotarou has Ushiyama hide out in an empty tree since he cannot take his new friend home but brings some more food for him to eat and decides to take him ice skating. Despite being under the effect of the metel poison, Ushiyama is able to quickly learn how to ice skate. Just then, some of the older children approaches them and threatens to force feed Chiyotarou some marimo, to which he introduces his henchman Ushiyama.

As one of the kids begins to throw a marimo, Ushiyama violently knocks him down, much to Chiyotarou's horror. Ushiyama continues to attack the bulllies, and Chiyotarou attempts to get Ushiyama to calm down, managing to do so by offering him some dried peaches. The bullies begins to run away and as Ushiyama eats the dried peaches, Chiyotarou wonders what to do with Ushiyama.

Chiyotarou takes out a dried peach and calls out to Ushiyama to hurry up and get it before he throws it away. The boy then throws it into a nearby hot spring spot but Ushiyama is able to perform a jump spin and catch it mid-air before falling into the lake itself. As he attempts to resurface, he hits his head on the frozen ice before emerging from another spot near to where Kadokura is chasing Sekiya. With the effect of the Datura metel having worn off, Ushiyama regains his senses and sees Sekiya skating towards him, however he is stuck in the ice to be able to confront him.

As Kadokura pulls Ushiyama out of the ice, he asks him where Sekiya had been keeping him since Hijikata may be there as well. Ushiyama says that he cannot remember, however, he is able to recall drinking something that a prostitute had given him, believing that Sekiya must've paid her to do so. Ushiyama then picks up his coat as a cocoon slips out of its pocket. The cocoon is able to give Kadokura and Kirawus a clue as to Hijikata's whereabouts as Ushiyama shivers from the cold. Ushiyama decides to returns to the nearby town, still shuddering from the cold.

## References

1. ↑ Character profiles from the Golden Kamuy fanbook
2. ↑ Golden Kamuy Manga: Chapter 31