Chapter 75

## Ani, Where it All Began

* Color
* Volume
* Magazine

**Ani, Where it All Began**, or **Roots in Ani** (阿仁根っ子, *Aninekko*) is the 75th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Genjirou Tanigaki recalls back to one snowy night, when he was telling Tsurumi about his Matagi culture and how they make a food called "kane mochi". He talks about during one of his hunting sessions, how he came to know another man named Kenkichi Aoyama, who was one year younger than him. While they were huddled together in a shelter, Tanigaki gave him one of his kane mochi which he added walnut inside it, and Aoyama was able to correctly guess the ingredient. After this event, Aoyama became married to Tanigaki's younger sister, and thus the two men became brothers-in-law.

Back in the present, Tanigaki is out harvesting plants with Cikapasi and Makanakkuru. However, they are unable to focus on their duties as they all were concerned about Inkarmat's prophecy, especially since the Ainu take divination very seriously. Makanakkuru is upset that his mother hasn't been able to sleep and his daughter has started wetting the bed again. Cikapasi is worried that Huci might die and says that his family died from smallpox, before asking Tanigaki how his family is doing.

Tanigaki has another flashback to when his brother informed him about their sister, and he immediately rushed to the house where his sister and Aoyama were living together in. He found that the house had been burned down with his sister's blackened, charred corpse inside. Upon examining it, he found a stab wound in the area of her heart as well as Aoyama's knife nearby with its owner nowhere to be found. In a rage, Tanigaki stormed the Aoyama house asking where their son was, but they say he hasn't come back and asked him to leave them in peace, while bowing apologetically.

Tanigaki searched everywhere he could but couldn't find him, and had heard a rumour that he joined the 7th Division. Determined to find him, he leaves home insulting the rest of his family who insists that he not continue with his revenge. While in the military, Tanigaki searched the 37 Matagi villages in hopes of finding him but had no luck. Before he left for the war, he received a letter from his brother saying that his mother had died, and it was due to their sister's death and his decision to join the military that her life had passed. Tanigaki's hatred only grew, and he was determined to find him in Port Arthur and shoot him in the back.

While in the midst of fighting, Tanigaki spotted a wounded soldier from the 1st Division as well as a member of the White Sash Brigade, resting near the trenches. The soldier, revealing himself to be Sugimoto looks up and asks if he has any food, to which he gave him one of his kane mochi. While eating it, Sugimoto asks if it is a local dish from Akita, and Tanigaki asks him how he knew where he was from. Sugimototo tells him that Tanigaki said "et up" instead of "eat up", and that there is a solder in his platoon from Ani in Akita who told him that the Akita have a dialect of saying "et up". Tanigaki came to the conclusion that it must be Aoyama and that he finally found the man who murdered his sister.

## Character Appearances

* Tamai *(Flashback)*
* Noma *(Flashback)*
* Hyakunosuke Ogata *(Flashback)*
* Genjirou Tanigaki
* Tsurumi *(Flashback)*
* Kenkichi Aoyama *(Debut)*
* Cikapasi
* Makanakkuru
* Asirpa *(Flashback)*
* Inkarmat *(Flashback)*
* Tanigaki's brother *(Debut)*
* Aoyama's father *(Debut)*
* Aoyama's mother *(Debut)*
* Tanigaki's father *(Debut)*
* Tanigaki's mother *(Debut)*
* Huci *(Flashback)*
* Saichi Sugimoto *(Flashback)*