dearJulius.com

Holy Rap: Meet The 'Funky' Japanese Monk Who Gets Grannies In A Spin

While the likes of Calvin Harris or the Chemical Brothers have little to fear from his recreational activities, Tatsumi's love affair with music began very early -- before he was even born, he claims.

Japanese monk Akinobu Tatsumi DJs for music fans at a venue in the forest near Nishihara village, Kumamoto prefecture. (Image: AFP Relaxnews)

AFP Relaxnews

At a remote temple in Japan cradled by a croissant-shaped mountain range, Akinobu Tatsumi leads a rare double life -- as a Buddhist monk who preaches about DJing. The amateur enthusiast has been dabbling in hip hop since he was a teenager and makes clandestine recordings of his own ambient music while his temple, located in deepest Kyushu, western Japan, sleeps.

After keeping his nocturnal hobby a secret from fellow priests for years, the 38-year-old Tatsumi now gives record-spinning tips to his ageing temple-goers. "It's true a monk does usually deliver a regular sermon," Tatsumi told AFP at Syousanji temple. "When I first began playing the grannies music and showing them how to scratch, they did look a little bemused. Around here people call me the funky monk," the wannabe DJ added in an interview after chanting a sutra.

Tatsumi isn't your typical Buddhist monk. He has long hair, tied in a ponytail, and fancies himself as a human beatbox -- a genre also steeped in hip hop culture. "I was influenced by hip hop -- I started listening to Run-DMC and Public Enemy," said Tatsumi, nimbly sidestepping the issue of rap music's explicit lyrics. "I got into beatboxing in that way. I used to practise on the edge of a cliff, where there was a lovely echo," he added.

Tatsumi's digression from Buddhist writings to scratch sermons was fraught with risk -- he also says he kept his monastic life hidden from night-time venues he played at. "I didn't tell other priests about my music but also hid the fact I was a priest from bars and clubs," he said.

While the likes of Calvin Harris or the Chemical Brothers have little to fear from his recreational activities, Tatsumi's love affair with music began very early -- before he was even born, he claims. "My mother used to hold a speaker to her tummy and play me classical music or 70s disco," he said, noting, "Later when I discovered those records and played them, I felt I had heard them before, which was weird."

Tatsumi takes care not to anger his fellow priests, using headphones when he mixes his music -- which combines electro and dubstep with Buddhist chanting -- to avoid getting into trouble. Even when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis four years ago, Tatsumi persisted with his hobby, making music from his hospital bed. "I used to use the beep-beep of the heart monitors to make club music," said Tatsumi, who now walks with a cane.

The one-time skateboarding monk believes his illness has brought him closer to his fellow devotees. "I suddenly felt a connection with the aged and temple-goers who were suffering from illness or injury," he said, adding, "These days I get on famously with the old folks!"

A Part of Julius LLC
Made with in NYC by Julius Choudhury
Name

Adventure Travel,45,AI,14,Amazon,33,Apple,146,Apps,20,Arts & Culture,12,Beauty & Style,501,Bitcoin,1,Body & Mind,6,Bollywood,29,Books,5,Budget Travel,25,Business,654,Career & Education,45,Careers & Education,19,Celebrities,40,Computers,23,Coronavirus,25,Crime,52,Elections,139,Emoji,1,Entertainment,1108,Europe,1,Facebook,105,Fashion,4,Fitness,32,Food and Drinks,151,France,1,Gadgets,26,Games,191,Good News,333,Google,96,Health,1581,Healthy Living,2,Hollywood,1,Home & Garden,46,Huawei,11,Immigration,1,Industry,161,Instagram,16,Interesting,3,Internet,67,Investing,37,Lifestyle,527,LinkedIn,1,Markets,34,Microsoft Windows,3,Money,13,Movies,105,Mozilla,1,Music,121,Nature Travel,27,News,1387,Occasional Travel,7,Offbeat,405,Opinion,104,OS,1,People,188,Personal Finance,19,Politics,176,Real Estate,23,Relationships,13,Samsung,62,Science,568,Seasonal Travel,14,Security,22,Small Business,37,Smartphone,98,Social,38,Sports,20,Technology,716,Tesla,6,Transportation,26,Travel,457,TV,287,Twitter,24,Urban Travel,13,US,293,Vacation Travel,26,VR,6,Weather,1,Weight Loss,5,Weird,244,Wellness,7,World,308,
ltr
item
dearJulius.com News | Breaking News, US News, World News: Holy Rap: Meet The 'Funky' Japanese Monk Who Gets Grannies In A Spin
Holy Rap: Meet The 'Funky' Japanese Monk Who Gets Grannies In A Spin
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhanfY4U-EOuaDaBPlsGYz97W5R5RpdnK-4A-gPMMmjCU2SNFpRWCF5TPy1KBl7zKtoDKx5SYCR4NnZO4xIZsRr1aGN-bAco9vWSlbeoypziRi5g_7LGwPs4SmWakqh5d2k_ca5SC5nRXs/s1600/DailyNews.US.com.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhanfY4U-EOuaDaBPlsGYz97W5R5RpdnK-4A-gPMMmjCU2SNFpRWCF5TPy1KBl7zKtoDKx5SYCR4NnZO4xIZsRr1aGN-bAco9vWSlbeoypziRi5g_7LGwPs4SmWakqh5d2k_ca5SC5nRXs/s72-c/DailyNews.US.com.jpg
dearJulius.com News | Breaking News, US News, World News
https://news.dearjulius.com/2018/06/holy-rap-meet-japanese-monk-who-gets.html
https://news.dearjulius.com/
https://news.dearjulius.com/
https://news.dearjulius.com/2018/06/holy-rap-meet-japanese-monk-who-gets.html
true
2851388516137227212
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read More Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content