Show speak see hear no evil an old japanese proverb the three wise monkeys s symbolize an old japanese proverb speak no evil see no evil hear no ei evil il 11 in japanese the proverb reads I 1 Iw w miharu kika which literally means non speaking 1 1 non seeing non hearing therefore notes a writer in the indianapolis news it often is said that tile the names ot of tile the monkeys tire are Iwa who speaks no evil Ali who sees no evil and Kika who hears bears no evil each word in the proverb ends with 11 by adding to a verb in japanese it becomes a negative adjective the Japan japanese esL word for monkey Is saru which phonetically becomes when it is preceded by a modifier hence the three monkeys became associated w with fill the proverb merely as a pun pull sometimes they are called the little littie apes of nikko because they appear in mural decorations in the ancient tombs in nikko japan according to to some japanese writers the three apes symbolize the fact that the japanese talks too much the chinese sees too much and the indian hears too much among the chinese there is a legend that confucius originated the proverb and its symbols when tile the great teacher told ills his disciples h he e was about to leave the earth they b begged e gge a him to leave them a special message to help guide them through the world of strife and trouble the sage complied by drawing pictures of the three in monkeys on the sand and left his disciples tile the maxim speak no evil see no evil hear no evil |