Skip to content
three wise monkeys

File:Toshogu_Three_Monkeys_Restored_2024_Crop.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ835709· pop 41· linked from 114 articles

three wise monkeys

Sign in to save

Also known as see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, 🙈, 🙉, 🙊, 🙈🙉🙊

pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle “see/hear/speak no evil”, depicted as three monkeys

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The three wise monkeys at the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan The three wise monkeys (三猿, San'en; [saɰ̃.eɴ], lit. 'three monkeys') are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." The three monkeys are

Mizaru (見猿), covering his eyes and "not seeing" (見ざる, mizaru),

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “three wise monkeys” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (8)