In early 1900s Hokkaido after the Russo-Japanese struggle, Saichi Sugimoto tirelessly pans for gold. Nicknamed “Sugimoto the Immortal” for his death-defying acts in battle, the ex-soldier seeks fortune to be able to fulfill a promise made to his finest pal earlier than he was killed in motion: to help his household, particularly his widow who wants therapy abroad for her deteriorating eyesight. In the future, a drunken companion tells Sugimoto the story of a person who murdered a bunch of Ainu and stole a fortune in gold. Earlier than his arrest by the police, he hid the gold someplace in Hokkaido. The one clue to its location is the coded map he tattooed on the our bodies of his cellmates in alternate for a share of the treasure, ought to they handle to flee and discover it.
Sugimoto doesn’t assume a lot of the story till he discovers the drunken man’s corpse bearing the identical tattoos described within the story. However earlier than he can accumulate his ideas, a grizzly bear—the reason for the person’s demise—approaches Sugimoto, intent on ending her meal. He’s saved by a younger Ainu woman named Asirpa, whose father occurred to be one of many murdered Ainu. With Asirpa’s searching abilities and Sugimoto’s survival instincts, the pair agree to hitch forces and discover the hidden treasure—one to get again what was rightfully her individuals’s, and the opposite to satisfy his pal’s dying want.
