Sunday 18 December 2022

Cabinet of Curiosities - Day 18

Today we have the Four Wise Monkeys carved in soapstone. 

Wait ... four?
Yes indeed, there were traditionally four: 
  • Iwazaru (Speaks no evil);
  • Mizaru (Sees no evil);
  • Kikazaru (Hears no evil); and
  • Sezaru (Does no evil).
Unfortunately, because Sezaru was usually depicted with his hands near his groin area, some of the more prudish Victorians assumed that he was doing something they disapproved of so they excised him from books, magazines and even some museums. Of course, the actual meaning of the hands in the lap is showing that Sezaru is not physically doing anything bad e.g. stealing, harming others etc.
Meanwhile, the common image of the Three Wise Monkeys comes from Japan where the number 4 is considered unlucky so the fourth monkey was left out of sculptures and artworks. 

The oldest 'three monkeys' source is a 17th-century carving over a door of the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan. The sculpture was created by Hidari Jingoro and is believed to embody Confucius’s Code of Conduct. The philosophy, however, probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai-Buddhist legend from China in the 8th century (Nara Period). And, upon landing in Japan, the fourth monkey found himself unloved and unwanted. 

Poor monkey.


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