Chapter 271

## A Mottled Gold Coin

**A Mottled Gold Coin**, or **The Mottled Golden Coins** (まだら模様の金貨, *Madara moyō no kinka*) is the 271st chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Nikaidou spots Ariko approaching the church and confronts him, asking why he is here. Ariko says that he was just with Hijikata's Group at the Sapporo Brewery but got split up so he used that as an opportunity to tell Tsurumi about their location. He wonders if Tsurumi is inside the church and where everyone else is. Nikaidou states that Tsurumi told him not to let anyone inside and that the others are searching for guerillas. Nikaidou becomes wary of Ariko, asking where he heard about the church, and Ariko says that Kikuta told him and that he thinks he saw Sugimoto over by the other church. Ariko is confused that Nikaidou has suddenly disappeared while Nikaidou is charging over to the other church, screaming Sugimoto’s name.

Inside the church, Tsurumi says that the danger that Kiroranke and Wilk had sensed cannot be ignored by the Yamato people as 100 years later, Japan may end up being destroyed by other countries. He declares that no matter the era, the law of the world is survival of the fittest and that the weak get eaten. Tsurumi exclaims that the revolutionaries’ Far Eastern Federation would not last long against Russia and that Wilk and Hijikata’s vision of the Republic of Ezo carries the possibility of inviting foreign extremists into the government. As such, Tsurumi believes that Hokkaido should be governed by those who identify with Japan, those who have ancestors in Japan, those who treasure the country they were born and raised in, and those who love the people there.

Tsurumi laments that the Japanese would not be able to survive unless they band together as one and calls the idea of the other potential nations as being utterly absurd. He takes out a gold coin, asking Asirpa if she has seen a coin like it before, saying that the 7th Division found it among the belongings of the Ainu who died at Tomakomai. Tsurumi wonders if the Ainu must have dreamt of their own independent country and created the coin as a kind of currency before returning to their own villages and showing the gold coin off to other people in the hopes of bringing the Ainu together.

However, Tsurumi points out that, upon closer look at the coin, it has a mottled colour due to the different gold content from each region that was unable to properly mix together. Tsurumi calls it ironic, that for the Ainu who tried to come together as one, the mottled coin symbolizes them perfectly. Even so, Tsurumi says splits among comrades are rather common with revolutionaries before revealing that he believes that Wilk is not the only cause of the whole incident. He reveals that for countless years, the Ainu have treasured objects made from working brass or iron, and yet not a single treasure made from gold, as for the Ainu gold was not something they needed in their daily lives. As such, gold was useless to them.

Moreover, Tsurumi claims that gold was worse than useless, as when the Ainu panned the rivers for gold, the rivers became polluted and the Ainu starved as a result. Tsurumi questions Asirpa about her belief that *kamuy* resides in all things, such as clothes, daggers, tobacco cases, tableware, and even their own homes. He wonders if natural disasters and smallpox which endanger human lives also have *kamuy* and hypothesizes that if gold were to have a *kamuy*, it would be an evil god that brings misfortune to the Ainu. Tsurumi exclaims that those who touch gold meet a horrible death as it would be a *kamuy* more hideous and brutal than any others.

Tsurumi continues, saying that it is a *kamuy* so beautiful as it's dazzling and shining with a golden light, as such it could be called a “**Golden Kamuy**”, so to speak. Tsurumi calls out the seven Ainu men, Wilk, Kiroranke, the men at Abashiri Prison, the tattooed convicts, Hijikata’s Group, Shiraishi, and Sugimoto, saying that they all will be killed, like his wife and daughter. As Asirpa struggles with the thought, Tsurumi tells her to abandon the gold and asks if she already knew how to solve the code. When Sofia tells Asirpa not to reveal the code, Tsurumi immediately picks up Wilk’s skinned face and puts it over Sofia’s head, suffocating her.

Asirpa pleads with Tsurumi to stop it, but Tsurumi admits that he knew from the beginning that threats would not work on her. However, if Asirpa is still troubled over her decision, he would give her an excuse by suffocating Sofia. Asirpa gives in, saying that there is something that she thinks might be the answer but she does not know for sure yet. Tsurumi asks her what her basis for thinking it might be the answer is, and Asirpa replies that it is her father’s Ainu name that no one else except for her knows. As Tsurumi’s brain fluid leaks out excessively and Ariko is about to enter the church, Asirpa says that her father’s name is “**Horkew Oskoni**”.

## Character Appearances

* Rikimatsu Ariko
* Kouhei Nikaidou
* Mokutarou Kikuta *(Mentioned)*
* Tokushirou Tsurumi
* Asirpa
* Sofia Golden Hand
* Wilk *(Flashback)*
* Kiroranke *(Mentioned)*
* Irenka *(Flashback)*
* Oskeporo *(Flashback)*
* Mesira *(Flashback)*
* Ratci *(Flashback)*
* Kimuspu *(Flashback)*
* Huci *(Flashback)*
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Toshizou Hijikata
* Fusatarou Oosawa
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Fina *(Mentioned)*
* Olga *(Mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The titular *Golden Kamuy* is mentioned by Tsurumi when he is talking to Asirpa and Sofia. This is the first time the title is mentioned in-universe.