Chapter 70

## The Man from the Amur River

* Color
* Volume

**The Man from the Amur River** (アムール川から来た男, *Amūrugawa kara kita otoko*) is the 70th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

In the Ainu village, Tanigaki is watching Osoma play around with a seypirakka, a rope tied to a pair of shells, in which she is pretending to ride a horse. He comments that she has been playing with it nonstop for days already and is surprised she hasn't gotten tired of it yet. Osoma hands the toy over to Tanigaki to let him play with it as well, however it breaks under his heavier weight, injuring his right foot. Tanigaki falls over in pain and tells Osoma to hurry up and get Huci to treat his wound as Ryu looks on.

Elsewhere, as Ushiyama is feeding Ienaga, he lists out the tattoos that his group have in their possession: Ushiyama, Ienaga, Hijikata, copies of Shiraishi and Henmi's tattoos, and the skin that Ogata got in Barato which makes for a total of six. Ogata says that Hijikata has gathered a bunch of crazy people and old folks, and mocks him by saying that he might get some short-lived satisfication, but will be crushed soon by the entire imperial government and asks if he pities the men who are following him. However, Hijikata remains silent and continues to read his newspaper. Ogata then switches topic and questions if Noppera-Bou really is an Ainu, to which Hijikata gives him a glance.

Nagakura asks if Tsurumi had already figured out that much and Ogata talks about how Noppera-Bou killed seven Ainu men, and that they all had one thing in common: their knives and tobacco cases all had a small cut somewhere on them. He states that it is an Ainu custom for funeral ceremonies to have the goods and objects of the deceased destroyed or given a cut or mark so that their usefulness in this world can end and be transferred to the other world to be used by the dead.

Ogata then questions Noppera-Bou's motives and his reasons for doing what he did, before Hijikata interrupts by saying that Noppera-Bou is most likely a partisan from the Russian Far East and that there are several forces in that area which are fighting each other for domination over Russia. Ogata speculates that Noppera-Bou wanted to use the Ainu gold to fight for independence in the Russia Far East, but failed to get the gold out of Japan. Ushiyama says that it sounded like Hijikata never trusted Noppera-Bou as Hijikata wonders if there are also other partisans living as Ainu as well.

Meanwhile, back at Hidaka, Kiroranke states that Asirpa's great-aunt would be happy to get her daughter's clothing back. Asirpa notices a bow that is hanging on the wall and asks who made it. Dun replies that a famous old hunter had given it to him, and that he'd like to give it to her since her old bow had been broken in the battle with the bears. In return, he'd like to know the significance of the tattoes that Sugimoto's group had been collecting, however Sugimoto tells him that for his safety, it is best that he not knows. Dun then opens a chest and takes out a book, which to Shiraishi's horror is made out of human skin.

The book had once belonged to a hunter who was killed by the bears, as well as many other people and it was originally made by a man in the coal mining town of Yubari. A thief had broken into his house and stolen the book, but was killed in a fight some days later, so nobody knows which house he had taken it from. However, the thief was able to take a peek into the book and saw a skin with a very unusual tattoo inside. Outside, Sugimoto ponders about how many tattoos he has collected, and wonders if Tsurumi has acquired more as well. He makes his decision to go to Yubari to find out more about the skin.

The scene then shifts to the Yubari River near Chidorigataki Falls where Tsurumi and his men are observing a fresh grave of a man who died in a mining accident three days ago. There were some reported numbers of grave robberies in the area, and so Tsurumi has set up a bait to capture the grave robber who must've heard about the mining accident. Nikaidou holds up his brother's ear to Tsurumi's ear and says that his ear looks like his and wants him to give his ear to him. Tsurumi obliges him saying that he can have it if he dies, then Sergeant Tsukishima calls out to him to see a silhouetted man in front of the grave. Nikaidou accidently steps on a branch which alerts the man of their presence and he attempts to flee, dropping a glove. Tsukishima and Nikaidou chases after him, as Tsurumi stops to pick up the glove to find that it is made out of human skin. As Tsurumi puts it on, he comments that he'll have to bring it back to the silhouetted man.

## Character Appearances

* Osoma
* Genjirou Tanigaki
* Ryu
* Tatsuma Ushiyama
* Kano Ienaga
* Toshizou Hijikata
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Kazuo Henmi  *(cameo)*
* Shinpachi Nagakura
* Hyakunosuke Ogata
* Tsurumi
* Noppera-Bou  *(cameo)*
* Kiroranke
* Eddie Dun
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Asirpa
* Kiichirou Wakayama  *(cameo)*
* Prisoner Number One  *(cameo)*
* Gotou  *(cameo)*
* Tetsuzou Nihei  *(cameo)*
* Tsukishima
* Kouhei Nikaidou
* Silhouetted Man