Plenty of people have taken to Twitter to air their grief under a unifying hashtag, but who’d have thought it’d be the platform of choice for angry Japanese Buddhist monks?
Earlier this week, a Buddhist monk in Fukui, Japan, received a traffic ticket for driving in his monastic robe. Though he told the Yomiuri Shimbun he’d been driving that way for 20 years without incident, a police officer purportedly told him, “You can’t drive in that kimono” after pulling him over. Local law prohibits driving in clothes that may impinge safe driving.
The monk is refusing to pay the ¥6,000 fine (equal to about $55), and he and his local sect are adamant the regulation infringes on their daily activities. Other Japanese monks agree and are showing their support by flexing just how non-restricting their attire can be.
#Japanese monks are taking to Twitter to prove how agile & athletic they can be in their robes under the hilarious hashtag #僧衣でできるもん, after a recent incident where a Fukui monk was ticketed for driving in that outfit, which police insisted unsuitable for driving https://t.co/fZ7TO0eQCz
— Tomohiro Osaki (@TomohiroOsaki) January 3, 2019
Using the hashtag #僧衣でできるもん, translated by several Twitter users as “I can do it in priest’s robes,” monks are sharing videos of themselves doing everything from juggling to playing the drums to whatever the heck this is to prove their religious duds don’t hold them back.
#僧衣でできるもん #StarWars
— 祥山(療養中) (@showzan331) January 2, 2019
改良衣ですが参加！
動きやすくてとても便利です。 pic.twitter.com/oXZEHv0Dw0
運転に支障があるとの事ですが、お坊さんの衣は足もちゃんと動きますよ。
— とっしゃん@お坊さん大道芸人 (@tossyan753) December 31, 2018
#僧衣でできるもん pic.twitter.com/PVb1jepZQP
エアロバイクだって乗れるし、車の運転は支障ないと思うんだ！#僧衣でできるもん pic.twitter.com/tB2eLkEczT
— 焼け石に肉 (@yakeishininiku) January 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/detteiu1109/status/1079715414400163841
Stop whatever you are doing now and check out the hashtag #僧衣でできるもん . Japanese police officers ticketed a monk driving saying their robes “are too constrictive” (the hashtag is basically “I can do this in priest robes”) and contains many gems of priest agility. https://t.co/GWmvBzOayT
— Francis (@Francis_ento) January 3, 2019
Really, giving the monk a ticket cause his robe constitutes reckless driving 😐 #僧衣でできるもん https://t.co/Y6975bY6Ab
— Modesta M. (@LaModernaNYC) January 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/kossan1108/status/1080662390113366016
While most of their tweets are in Japanese, Twitter users worldwide are supporting the surprising subsect of the Twitter community.
https://twitter.com/AStayAtHomeRad/status/1080868520269893633
https://twitter.com/kaiimint/status/1080913078395428864
Seems like being excellent at both jump rope and juggling are necessary skills for Japanese monks #僧衣でできるもん
— Roxie (@roxhovdayyyyy) January 3, 2019
Stop whatever you are doing now and check out the hashtag #僧衣でできるもん . After a move by police officers to block them from driving saying their robes are too constrictive, Japanese Buddhist monks are showing off their sweet moves in full garb as proof of their mobility. https://t.co/XW9rUTito6
— Zack Davisson – Previously Notable (@ZackDavisson) January 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/Neptuneontwtr/status/1080896767686819840
Who knew Buddhist monks even used Twitter?
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