We all have seen the three statues of the three wise monkeys which means “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
The three monkeys are known as a Japanese pictorial maxim, which symbolizes the above mentioned proverbial principle. The name of the three wise monkeys are firstly , Mizaru- covering his eyes who sees no evil, secondly , Kikazaru, covering his ears who hears no evil, and thirdly Iwazaru, covering his mouth who speaks no evil.
However it is also said that outside Japan the names of the monkeys are known as Mizaru, Mikazaru and Mazaru.
The three monkeys have been referred to as the three mystic apes by Lafcadio Hearn, who was an Irish-Greek writer, translator and who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West.
According to further reports the monkeys are Japanese macaques, a common species in Japan.
The wise monkeys spreads the message of not allowing evil enter our sight, not allowing evil words to enter our ears, and finally to not speak and get involved in evil words and thoughts.
It is believed that the proverbial saying originated in ancient China, and then later was given a representation of an animal in Japan which eventually became popular in the West.
According to some studies around 475 to 221 BCE during the Warring States period of China, the proverb of looking not at what’s contrary to being right; listening not to what’s contrary to being right; make no movement which is contrary to being right got its way into the Analects of Confucius . The proverb was later brought to Japan by the Buddhist monks by the 8th century.
It is also said that using the Silk Road , the pictorial representation of the three monkeys was brought to China from India and then to Japan . The Silk road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. The three monkeys were portrayed in Buddhist sculptures during the time of Tokugawa period which is also called the Edo period, a period from 1603 to 1867.
Then in Japan at Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, the Code of Conduct developed by Confucius was represented by an eight-panel sculpture. There one of the panels is the three Wise Monkeys, which symbolizes the principle of not seeing, not hearing, and not saying anything evil. Later during the period from 1867 to 1912 of Meiji period, the sculpture was popularized in the West, inspiring the proverb “See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil”.
It is believed that the small statues have been popular in Britain since (probably) the 1900s; they are known to have been carried as lucky charms by soldiers in the First World War.
