freckledbastard:

law’s headgear in this chapter was often worn by komusou, or mendicant monks. the headgear was meant to imply a lack of ego, and were one of the few groups allowed to travel around japan back in the day (because, you know, monks). because of the anonymity of the headgear some had to become spies for the shogunate in exchange, who sent out more of his spies in that gear, which then inspired other people to go around wearing the attire because why not. so then if someone suspected you werent actually a proper monk theyd test you by asking to play a complicated piece of music on their flute (as seen in the left picture) if you could do it you were fine, if you couldnt you were a fake and were arrested.

eventually everyone realised how OP these monks were and they got nerfed via being disbanded hahahaha, too many of them were former samurai who’d become monks after their masters were defeated by the shogunate which could spell a lot of trouble for the new government

not that important, but just a fun bit of info for you

of course for such an intelligent guy the fact hawkins doesnt immediately recognise law’s sword or tattoos is pretty hilarious but what can you do