I sometimes forget that my profile picture makes people act and speak differently than they might usually. Which is entirely understandable.

We are humans before we are anything else. The labels we have are frankly annoying at times, but by what we look like is also a result of how we wish to portray ourselves.

Sometimes I see myself trying to give an answer of ‘what would a Yamabushi say?’, which is code for ‘what would master Hoshino say?’ But that wouldn’t be genuine to myself.

To see yourself as a human without all the labels is how we should interact with each other. Preconceptions can get in the way of genuine interaction, and we need to see through the veil and talk to the real person.

This is true with Yamabushi, and it’s true with people of another gender, another identity, another culture, the list goes on. Humans first.