Ainu Representation in the World of Japanese Comics : Shumari and Golden Kamuy Take on the Ruling Narratives of Hokkaidō History

Keller, Zsófia (2025) Ainu Representation in the World of Japanese Comics : Shumari and Golden Kamuy Take on the Ruling Narratives of Hokkaidō History. TÁVOL-KELETI TANULMÁNYOK, 17 (1). pp. 149-178. ISSN 2060-9655

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Abstract

Examining Japanese history through manga may initially seem unconventional, given the considerable distrust towards the medium in Western scholarship, where it is often viewed as a tool for distorting history. To avoid misinterpretation in the analysis of Japanese comics, it is essential to approach them with what Tessa Morris-Suzuki terms historical truthfulness, recognising them as gateways to a complex web of inherited ideas rather than direct representations of the historical periods that they depict. This approach is supported by Luc Pauwels’ integrated conceptual framework for visual sociology, which cautions against conflating the depiction with the depicted in the analysis of pre-made visuals. This study employs this methodological framework to analyse and compare two manga series that explore Ainu history and culture: Tezuka Osamu’s Shumari and Noda Satoru’s Golden Kamuy. Both narratives are set in Meiji-era Hokkaidō, a time when Wajin newcomers sought to erase the Indigenous Ainu from the northern island’s history. Consequently, Hokkaidō is often still perceived as a natural frontier developed by settlers for the benefit of the Japanese nation, while the Ainu continue to be stereotyped as a dying race. By critically engaging with these prevailing narratives, Tezuka and Noda elevate their work to what Pierre Nora calls places of memory. Nissim Otmazgin describes the way in which interacting with such seemingly unassuming places of memory creates, propagates, and reproduces a variety of memories about history among its readership as banal memory. Tezuka’s Shumari challenges the narrative of Hokkaidō as empty land by portraying it as the colonised land of the Ainu, yet he struggles to escape the dying race stereotype in the depiction of his Ainu characters. Conversely, Noda’s Golden Kamuy rejects this stereotype by vividly—and at times anachronistically—showcasing the beauty of Ainu culture. However, by sidelining historical injustices in his narrative, Noda offers readers a shallow understanding of Ainu history.

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