Boris the Manskinner Character Analysis in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Boris the Manskinner is a former Russian military officer who orders a Mongolian soldier to skin Yamamoto alive. Later, Mamiya encounters Boris in a Russian prison camp. While in the camp, Mamiya allies himself with Boris to stay alive. Before getting sent back to Tokyo, Mamiya tries and fails to kill Boris. In response, Boris can only laugh at Mamiya. He is a callous and cruel man with no value for human life.

Boris the Manskinner Character Timeline in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The timeline below shows where the character Boris the Manskinner appears in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...ranking offices—one Soviet, one Mongolian. Mamiya can tell they are intelligence officers. Mamiya watches as the Russian and the Mongolians speak to each other and go through the confiscated belongings of the... (full context)

The Russian officer walks up to Yamamoto and asks him about a letter. Yamamoto tells the Russian officer... (full context)

In response, the Russian officer gives Yamamoto a brief speech about how he will die. Essentially, he promises Yamamoto a... (full context)

Eventually, Yamamoto is completely skinned, and he dies. When it is all over, the Russian officer says to himself that Yamamoto must have been telling the truth. Otherwise, he would have... (full context)

...former convicts who chose to remain in Siberia for work. Mamiya recalls an incident where a Russian officer , the same one who had ordered Yamamoto to be skinned alive, encountered him at... (full context)

...named Nikolai. Mamiya seeks Nikolai’s advice about the Russian convicts. Nikolai warns him to avoid Boris the Manskinner, who gained infamy for his brutal torture methods during the war. Mamiya recognizes... (full context)

One day, Mamiya is summoned to the stationmaster's office, where he meets Boris, who proposes a collaboration to improve relations between the Russian and Japanese prisoners in the... (full context)

Mamiya’s letter continues laying out the account of Boris the Manskinner. With Boris’s assistance, the Japanese prisoners form their own representative committee, aiming to... (full context)

Nikolai tells Mamiya that any Russian officer who dares to challenge Boris’s authority would mysteriously vanish. Over the course of six months, Boris manipulates the Japanese prisoners,... (full context)

One day, Boris summons Mamiya for a meeting and offers him the position of his assistant, a role... (full context)

Eventually, Mamiya sees enough, and he resolves to kill Boris. Carefully, he plans an assassination attempt. In 1948, Mamiya learns that the government intends to... (full context)

Mamiya declines Boris’s offer, expressing his desire to return to Japan to reconnect with his family. However, before... (full context)

Boris nonchalantly retrieves two bullets from a drawer and tosses them to Mamiya, challenging him to... (full context)