The Temple is made up of several decorated buildings and in one of them is the wooden sculpture of the Three Monkeys of Nikkô, known as (from right to left): Mizaru (the one who does not see), Iwazaru (the one who does not speak) and Kikazaru (the one who doesn’t listen).
The Three Wise Monkeys — Legend of Japan
On its walls there are 8 panels sculpted by Hidari Jingoro (1594-1634). Jingoro enacted Confucius’ code of conduct in a monkey story about the human life cycle. The most famous and photographed is that of the 3 Wise Monkeys.
Anyway the 3 monkeys appeared on the Koshin stones maybe a century before Jigoro’s creations.
Once, when the gods were very busy with their work, they decided that they should send emissaries to earth to inform them about the behavior of men.
They wanted to find out when people did wrong, because they did not have great confidence in them. And if they did wrong and hurt each other, the gods would punish them.
It was not an easy decision to choose who to send for this spying task.
They had thought about the elephants –but they were very heavy and it was difficult for them to move-, about the crocodiles –although, how would they keep an eye on men, if no man wanted to live near them?-, and about fire ants.
The thing about red ants climbing on top of men, not even the gods were very amused as an idea, and they were immediately discarded.
Kikazaru, Mizaru and Iwazaru
After much discussion, the choice fell on three monkeys called Kikazaru, Mizaru and Iwazaru, who were reputed to be wise, each in his village. The decision was communicated to them through a footman, dressed in gold from head to foot, and the monkeys, impressed, did not hesitate for a single moment to say yes.
They had to shelter in a jungle, which was the navel of the world or almost, and from there watch over men. They would establish themselves in that jungle and in a few days a town would form around it. People who came and went in ancient Japan would stay there forever.
And the gods wanted those people to be watched over by the three monkeys. On the way to the jungle, the three monkeys who knew each other little, had the following conversation.
— I studied the matter a lot before accepting —said Kikazaru —imagine that he left behind a wife and small children. But this task is a commission from the gods, and they cannot be said no.
“Besides, the place we’re going to is full of bananas,” added Mizaru, who had a sweet tooth.
– Oh yeah? Bananas?
— Very crowded.
— Anyway, shouldn’t they have asked us for study certificates in a temple, for example? Check our honesty and our fidelity to the gods and…
— Golden colored bananas.
“I, however, am worried about the men,” Iwazaru said. – We have to keep an eye on them and be aware of their evil deeds… I’m afraid it’s going to be an exhausting task.
“Not at all,” laughed Kikazaru. – My wife says that they are very calm, they hardly ever get into trouble and they always speak sweetly. She knew them because in her youth she knew how to be the toy of a child emperor…
— Also, the bananas will reward us for all the efforts we make. They are golden bananas, juicy like honey on the inside and very soft on the palate.
“I’m not so sure that bananas are going to settle us…” Iwazaru sighed.
And said and done
The place that had touched them in the jungle was beautiful. A hut, between some palm trees and all the dates and bananas they wanted within arm’s reach. Mizaru was dancing on one leg of joy and she was having a blast eating bananas.
After a week, her figure had ceased to have its initial shape and her belly had become like a barrel. But he was happy. In those days, men began to come to the surrounding area and settle.
They built a few houses, then more. Entire families, with children and children with pets, seemed happy to settle there. The monkeys did not see any malevolent act among the men and Kikazaru patted his thighs happily, snorting:
-Have seen! They are as my wife said.
But suddenly one day it rained
A heavy rain, so much that it made the sea sting and the waves rise high. She rained the next day and the next. Then the men began to get bored. The women, bored, gathered around a fire and told gossip, badmouthed each other.
After a while, they fought because some defended some women and others another, and the children who ran around stole their fabric and undid them.
Then the mothers and aunts and grandmothers would lose patience with the children, and they would yell at them and beat one another on the head. The same thing happened to men. Bored, they organized fighting games. But after a short time the games seemed stupid to them and they began to hit each other really, with hate.
Some even broke an arm or a leg, and all were left with a stewed eye.
The three monkeys did not know what to do
Ratting people out so that they would be punished was not the task they wanted to carry out. Because people had good times too, especially when the sun was shining. No; all three were opposed to that unworthy work.
But they could not refuse a task that the gods had entrusted. They thought a lot and finally they found a solution: they would give a meaning in exchange for not betraying the men when they committed a bad deed, neither small nor big.
Kikazaru, would lose his hearing, because he did not want to hear evil; Mizaru, the vision, so as not to see evil, and Iwazaru would remain mute, so as not to utter evil.
The gods were not convinced by this arrangement; Thus the three wise monkeys half comply with the order:
Kikazaru sees everything that men do and tells Mizaru, who can’t see them, but tells Iwazaru everything his friend told him. Iwazaru, mute at last, can no longer tell anyone.
Men tend to do evil and sometimes also do good to repair the damage they have committed. And the three wise monkeys know it.
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