A Far East Journal
(1915 - 1941)
The primary
contents of this site are the journals of my grandfather, Harold Abbott Rand Conant [HARC], who spent many years in the Far East.
Although they are of particular interest to family members, anyone interested
in the history and cultures of Asia, particularly China, will find them of
inordinate interest since HARC was widely traveled,
took a great interest in the history of the entire region, and, because of his
many friendships, had a rather comprehensive understanding of events leading up
to the beginnings of World War II.
Edmund Conant Perry
Menlo Park, California
First prepared in book form March, 1994
Prepared for Internet hosting September, 1996
The
website with all journals can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5814/cathay.htm
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Chapter
10
Three
Wise Little Monkeys
Had I
been wise this would never have been written. The
little scamps led me in diverse directions and had me scampering up and down
seemingly endless library steps. These ubiquitous little fellows with their advice
to See, Hear, Speak No Evil seemed to offer some possibility of tie up with the
Japan of today so I started to chase it. To save others from following in my
footsteps, these Three Apes are given this pen of their own and are ''penned''
up (to the uninitiated, written up!) at some length.
Pose in a Million
This
newspaper photograph of three inmates of the London Zoo was sent to HARC by his
brother, Lawrence, in June 1955.
Our
miniature friends are often stamped ''Made in China,'' but I never thought the
prototype was Chinese and, in fact, I was once quite certain their origin was
Japanese, but am not now sure of anything in connection with the Scamperers! Many friends from the Far East had as many
different ideas. The returned (and tired) business man proving hopeless, I took
many further steps in various libraries, but feel sure even those would have
been in vain had I not been guided by kindly savants. The following cooperated
in my search for enlightenment: Dr. John C. Ferguson (who spent 56 years in the
Orient and wrote much on Bronzes, Mythology, etc.); Dr. L. Carrington
Goodrich of Columbia (whose most interesting A Short History of the Chinese
People was published by Harper's in 1943); Mr. Langdon Warner of the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard (I recently enjoyed his Long
Old Road in China and beautifully illustrated Craft of the Japanese
Sculptor); and Mr. Kojiro Tomita, Curator of the
Department of Asiatic Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Dr.
Goodrich wrote that the tiny preceptors ''are thought to have been launched by
Dengyo Daishi (Saicho, 767-822 A.D., who brought the T'ien- t'ai system of Buddhism
from Chekiang, China, to Japan) but may be connected
with both Buddhism and Taoism, and so with both India and China.''
Mr.
Tomita wrote:
In
regard to your inquiry concerning the ''three monkeys'' I wish to say that I
have been unable to discover any new material. All the available reference
books here merely repeat what has been said by an earlier writer (who was the
earliest I have no means of learning). They all explain the significance of the
''three monkeys'' by pointing out that the noun saru (monkey) is
homonymous with the adverb saru (not) and hence the animal came to be
used to denote the negative. Dengyo Daishi is popularly regarded as the
originator of the ''three monkeys'' idea. Whether this is so or not, the idea
appears to be of Japanese origin, since there seems to be no prototype either
in Indian or Chinese sources.
I may
add that the Japanese words for the three ''don'ts'' are mizaru (see
not), kikazaru (hear not) and iwazaru (speak not). When the
adverb saru is used as the second word in a compound, the first
consonant is changed phonetically from ''s'' to ''z.''
Saru
(monkey) is one of the twelve signs of the Japanese Zodiac. There is a Japanese
festival known as the ''Day of the Monkey'' at which prayers are offered at
shrines.
Joly's Legend in Japanese Art refers to the little scamperers as ''Three Mystic Apes,'' who see, listen to,
and hear no evil, and who are attendants of Koshin, the God of the Roads, but
the book further states they are also known as ''Monkeys of the Three
Countries, viz., India, China, and Japan,'' which rather complicates our
subject! Joly has another story about a legendary
monkey that, together with a boar and a demon, accompanied Sanzo
Hoshi (Yuan Chwan) on his travels. This Chinese
priest went to India in 629 and returned to China in 646 A.D. with many
Buddhist relics and writings.
Nikko
guides say that the monkeys preach the obvious sermon, but priests at mountain
shrines tell the most generally accepted legend, which fits the picture pretty
well:
In very
olden days, a wise and good Monkey King lived on one side of a mountain. A
Great Evil was on the other. The King's councillors were three very old,
wizened and very wise monkeys. Only they, by tradition, knew about the Great
Evil. They also knew that if anyone heard or looked on It,
his heart would be hardened forever, and woe would befall the Monkey Kingdom.
They were gathering rare wild flowers for the King one day. They peered through
some bushes and unwittingly gazed upon the Great Evil, hearing Its awesome shrieks. One covered his eyes, but he could
hear. One covered his ears, but he could see. One could both see and hear, but
covered his lips and pressed back the dreadful secret deeply within himself.
They stole back into the forest knowing their own hearts were spoiled forever.
They huddled together on a drooping willow branch. All their wrinkles were
shaking. They chattered and whispered dolefully for hours. By nightfall they
had decided to follow the counsel of the one who had seen and heard all but
would not talk about it and, by emulating him, keep the horrible secret from
becoming known, and thereby spare the King and his people a terrible fate.
There
are many variations and embellishments, and story tellers have even grafted the
three imps onto the well known tale of ''The Silly Jelly Fish'' (making all
sound a little too fishy!) which could then run somewhat as follows:
In
olden times Jelly fish had a hard shell which was both beautiful and a
protection against enemies. One such was the proud retainer of the Dragon Queen
of the ''World Under the Sea.'' He was the playmate of
the Dragon King. The Queen grew very sick. The whole Underworld moped, the
clams shut up, and skates lay flat and still. Only a live monkey's liver could
save the Queen! A tortoise, commanded to get one, arrived under a tree full of
monkeys, and lay quietly, sticking only his tail out. The simians, having only
two inch stumps for tails, formed a hand-to-hand chain for monkeyshines. They
swung to and fro like a pendulum until finally the lowest monkey was able to
grab the tail of the tortoise. This was what he had been waiting for. He stuck
out his head for a look-see and grasped the monkey, intimidating him into
riding pickaback through the water to the Dragon
Queen. (It is at this point that the three monkeys are said to have scampered
back to the limb and sat eating monkey nuts whilst lugubriously chattering and
sorrowing for their lost comrade.) The Queen felt sorry for the monkey, and had
him well fed. The Jelly fish had qualms and warned the monkey as to what was in
store. The monkey thought and thought and finally wept salty tears in front of
the tortoise, saying he couldn't eat as he had left his liver on the tree to
dry. The tortoise was in a quandry and carried the monkey
back for the liver, the monkey of course taking good care to disappear where
the tortoise couldn't follow. The Jelly fish was found out and stripped of his
shell, leaving him naked and ashamed, and then all his bones were broken with a
coral switch. His descendants were cursed and condemned to exist in similar
naked and flabby state for all eternity.
There
is another pitiful little yarn about a hunter who shot a monkey and hung him in
front of the fire to dry. The monkey's children never again wanted to hear,
see, or speak of such an Evil Thing. The hunter was awakened during the night
by a pattering of little feet and saw three baby monkeys trying to warm
themselves, and then their parent, from the dying embers. (The hunter shot no
more monkeys.)
I
wanted light as a prelude to writing this in unfamiliar surroundings. Bang!
Damn!! It must have been Iwazaru! He was clinging, as a weight (but
acting like a pendulum!) on an electric light pull. Even now nothing seems too
clear regarding Wynken, Blynken,
and Nod. Three Blind Mice might have laid the trail I tried to follow. The
research finally found me chattering and jabbering to myself. The tension
wasn't relieved when I came across a story called ''Momotaro,
the Story of a Son of a Peach''!
The
Japanese are good at telling fairy stories. If Three Wise Little Monkeys point
a moral, maybe it is that we should guard against monkey tricks now - and
forever afterwards?
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