The manga series Golden Kamuy features an extensive cast of characters created by Satoru Noda.
Sugimoto's group
A demobilized soldier and veteran of the Russo-Japanese War. He served a private first class in the 1st Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, and fought in the battle of 203 Hill. He was feared for his savage fighting style and amazing toughness on the battlefield, gaining the nickname . He seeks the gold to provide for , the blind wife of his dead comrade .
Asirpa <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
A young Ainu hunter who meets Sugimoto after saving him from a wild bear, and later partners with him to find the gold. She seeks to avenge her father, who she believes was murdered by hunters searching for the gold. Her Japanese name is .
A tattooed Abashiri convict and master escape artist. He is initially captured by Sugimoto, and later agrees to a truce after they need each other's help to survive the bitter cold after they fall in a river. He is based on Yoshie Shiratori.
GenjirÃ
 Tanigaki
See GenjirÃ
 Tanigaki.
Kiroranke
See Kiroranke.
HijikataâÂÂs group
A fictionalized version of the Shinsengumi commander of the same name who fought against the Meiji Restoration. Assumed to have been dead for decades, he was held in secret as a political prisoner before escaping alongside the tattooed convicts. He forms a group to search for the gold, which he plans to use to fund the secession of Hokkaido and creation of a second Republic of Ezo.
A fictionalized version of the Shinsengumi captain of the same name. Loyal to Hijikata, he learns he is still alive while working as the swordsmanship instructor for the guards at Kabato Prison.
A muscled judoka who killed his master. He allies himself with Hijikata in pursuit of the gold, but does not share his nationalistic ambitions.
Kadokura
See Kadokura.
A blind, elderly prisoner who uses echolocation to find his victims.
Hidoro's minion who later joins Hijikata's group.
Kirawus <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
An Ainu hunter. He works with Kadokura to support Hijikata's group.
Kano Ienaga
See Kano Ienaga.
Hyakunosuke Ogata
See Hyakunosuke Ogata.
The Hokkaido 7th Division
A first lieutenant, platoon leader and military intelligence officer in the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Harboring a grudge against the Japanese government for their failure to extract remuneration from Russia for Japanese veterans of the Russo-Japanese War, he seeks to use the Ainu gold to lead a coup d'état to form an independent Hokkaido. His forehead is covered by a ceramic plate, due to a head injury he sustained from an artillery bombardment during the Russo-Japanese War. Consequently, he suffers from the after effects of severe brain damage, including mood swings and sudden outbursts of violence.
A superior private and sniper in the 7th Division. He is the illegitimate son of , a lieutenant general who was the commander of the 7th during the Russo-Japanese War. Ogata tried unsuccessfully to corrupt Yuusaku Hanazawa, his virtuous younger half-brother and legitimate son of KojirÃ
Â, but eventually shoots him during the Battle of Hill 203. He is skeptical about Tsurumi's ambitions and deserts the army, initially joining Hijikata's group. He later joins the Sugimoto group, however he eventually colludes with Kiroranke to find the gold.
A Matagi and a private first class of the 7th Division who joined the army to find the matagi who killed his sister . After an extended stay in a kotan (Ainu village) to recover from an injury, he joins Sugimoto's group to fulfill a promise to Asirpa's grandmother to bring Asirpa home safely.
A sergeant in the 7th Division. Stoic and serious, he often acts as the straight man to Tsurumi's and Koito's eccentric personalities. He grew up on the island of Sado where he was persecuted because of his violent and brutal father. He loved a woman called Igogusa, so named because of her seaweed-like hair, but when he returned from the Sino-Japanese War, he found that his father had told Igogusa that Hajime was dead and she apparently threw herself into the sea. Tsurumi approached Tsukishima when he was on death row in prison after killing his father and Tsurumi manipulated him into joining the 7th Division and becoming a Russian interpreter. Tsukishima became so loyal to Tsurumi that he risked his own life to save Tsurumi during a Russian artillery bombardment when Tsurumi lost part of his forehead.
A second lieutenant in the 7th from Satsuma. As a naval cadet and spoiled son of wealthy Commander Heiji Koito, he was kidnapped by Russian agents and saved by Tsurumi to whom he became fiercely loyal. He is intelligent although sheltered and inexperienced, but is an excellent swordsman, trained in Jigen-ryÃ
«.
A private first class in the 7th Division. Seeks revenge for his twin brother, , who was killed by Sugimoto. A running gag in the series is how he continuously loses body parts following his encounters with Sugimoto.
A superior private in the 7th Division. He is unfailingly loyal to Tsurumi; when Tsurumi turned two moles on Usami's face into stick figures with a fountain pen, Usami had them turned into tattoos.
A Warrant Officer of the 7th Division who collects rare weapons. His favorite weapon is the Nagant M1895. He was also an older-brother figure to Sugimoto.
An Ainu man and a Private First Class of the 7th Division. His Ainu name is Ipopte (ã¤ãÂÂã·ãÂÂãÂÂ, Ipopte) and his father was one of the men killed by Noppera-bo. Tsurumi discovers that he is secretly working with Hijikata and turns him into a double agent.
A private first class in the 7th Division, who attempts to kill Sugimoto together with his twin brother KÃ
Âhei, but gets killed by Sugimoto instead.
He was the Second Lieutenant of the 7th Division and the Flag-Bearer during Russo-Japanese War and Ogata's younger half-brother.
The Abashiri Prison
The Abashiri Prison warden, an experienced swordsman.
The head jailer of Abashiri Prison who collaborates with Hijikata. He tends to have poor luck which he attributes to being born under a bad star, however sometimes his poor choices have a beneficial result.
Tokishige Usami
See Usami.
The Abashiri Convicts
A pseudonymous prisoner who murdered seven Ainu to steal and hide a large quantity of gold, the location of which is in a treasure map in the form of tattoos painted on the bodies of 24 prisoners. His true identity is Wilk.
Yoshitake Shiraishi
See Yoshitake Shiraishi.
ToshizÃ
 Hijikata
See ToshizÃ
 Hijikata.
Tatsuuma Ushiyama
See Tatsuuma Ushiyama.
A murderer who drunkenly informed Sugimoto of the existence of the tattooed skins.
A famous bear hunter who is fixated on killing Retar, one of the last Hokkaido wolves.
A serial killer with masochistic tendencies.
Originally named , a transgender woman and former doctor who feeds on the flesh of her victims to become youthful and beautiful.
A yakuza boss, and Nakazawa's lover.
A con man and expert impressionist.
A professional thief known as , and O-Gin's husband.
A scholar and zoophile. His appearance is based on Ernest Thompson Seton.
A martial artist who escaped north to the island of Sakhalin and specializes in the Russian fighting sport of . He relished his time in prison as an opportunity to indulge in the hand to hand combat through which he sought fulfilment.
An elderly former assassin (originally named ) known as . He moved to Nemuro in Hokkaido 30 years earlier and married an Ainu woman, but was sent to Abashiri Prison after killing the man who took his wife hostage.
A veterinarian and expert in poisons. He lost faith in god after his daughter was struck and killed by lightning and he placed his victims in life or death situations which would determine their fate. He is eventually killed by Hijikata who survived one of Sekiya's traps.
A small man with googly eyes and an expert gold panner. He once earned 50 yen a day by catching platinum sand, the price of which was suddenly skyrocketing as a material for the nibs of fountain pens. After Sugimoto saved his life, he teaches him how to pan for gold. He carries an Ainu cigarette case and a brown bear fur. Sugimoto and the others call him "Master Heita". In fact, he has multiple personalities.
A mentally unstable inmate who multiple tattoos everyone on his body and wears a cloth over his face to hide them. His habit is to trick and prank people, as he loves their looks of disappointment. After a troubled childhood, he started to prank and tell jokes to children, before abducting and burying them in his backyard.
Also known as due to the different ways the kanji in his name can be read, Ozawa is a charismatic and cunning bandit and swashbuckler with an immense affinity for deep swimming, as he has large feet and webbed hands. Due to his talents, he started pulling people under water in his youth and robbing them, totalling at least 55 confirmed murders.
Michael Ostrog is a man in his fifties with a well-built stature, presumably of European descent, suspected of being the heinous Jack the Ripper, who is responsible for a string of gruesome murders in London, nearly two decades prior to his escape from Abashiri Prison. He is based on the real life Ripper suspect with the same name, Michael Ostrog.
The Ainu
Asirpa
See Asirpa.
Wilk <span style="font-weight:normal">(, , )</span>
Asirpa's biological father. He is a mixed Polish and Karafuto Ainu who fled to Hokkaido. He stole the Ainu gold and assumed the pseudonym Noppera-bo, his ultimate goal being to use it to start an Ainu revolution against the Japanese government, with his daughter as their leader.
Kiroranke <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
A friend of Asirpa's father and veteran of the 7th Division. His true identity is (), a Tatar with Karafuto Ainu ancestry. A revolutionary and partisan in Russia, he assassinated Alexander II with Wilk at the age of 15, and seeks to use the gold to mount an invasion of Hokkaido.
Inkarmat <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
A sly and cunning Ainu fortune-teller. Though Asirpa calls her "Cironnup" ("fox" in Ainu) and dismisses her as a scam artist, many of her prophecies have proven true. As a child she became acquainted with Wilk, which led to her affection for Asirpa later in life.
Asirpa's grandmother ("Huci") <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
An elderly woman who raised Asirpa following the death of her parents.
Cikapasi <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
An orphaned Ainu boy who travels with Tanigaki and Inkarmat.
Osoma <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
Asirpa's cousin.
Makanakkuru <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
Asirpa's uncle and Osoma's father.
Enonoka <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
A Karafuto Ainu girl.
Others
Retar <span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
One of the last surviving Hokkaido wolves.
Nihei's Hokkaido dog.
<span style="font-weight:normal">()</span>
A Russian sniper pursuing Wilk and Kiroranke. During his pursuit, he is caught in a sniper duel with Ogata, during which he ends up shot in the mouth. He starts pursuing Ogata after this, continuously following Sugimoto's group to catch Ogata.
<span style="font-weight:normal">())</span>
A descendant of Russian aristocracy, and leader of the Russian partisans. Inspired by the con artist of the same name.
A taxidermist who secretly preserves the bodies of humans. He is employed by Tsurumi to create fake tattooed skins.
A yakuza, and Wakayama's lover.
A counterfeit painter, and Shiraishi's former cellmate at Kabato Prison.
A professional thief known as , and KeiichirÃ
Â's wife.
A fictionalized version of the poet of the same name. A journalist.
A fictionalized version of the photographer of the same name. An old friend of Hijikata.
Hanaeko is the daughter of a wealthy Tokyo socialite who was conspiring with Hanazawa's mother to seduce and marry him, in order to save him from the dangers of being a flag bearer.
References
External links