"All in One" Hear, see and be silent by Helma van der Zwan

About ""All in One" Hear, see and be silent"

by Helma van der Zwan

About the artwork

There is an expression of philosopher Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BC in China. He says to his disciples: "Do not look, do not listen, do not speak out and focus not on what is decorum in battle." This expression is in good agreement with the symbol of the monkeys.
Nikko in Japan (150 km northeast of Tokyo) is the Nikko Toshogu shrine located. Within this sanctuary is "the stable of the sacred fungus. It contains eight wood reliefs depicting the life course of human beings. These panels were created in 1636 by sculptor Hidari Jingoro. A panel on the front of the house shows three monkeys with their hands over their ears, eyes and mouth. This panel displays the youth again, based on the wisdom of Confucius. Jingoro used monkeys for its panels, because monkeys were important in the religions of China and Japan. One of the Oriental gods were Shomen-Kong?. To worship this god were in Japan several groups of statues made of the three monkeys. The oldest images date from 1528 and 1548. That is a hundred years before the shrine in Nikko Toshogu and were built.
The three monkeys are called in Japan Mizaru, with his hands over his eyes (see no evil), Kikazaru, with his hands on his ears (hear no evil) and Iwazaru, with his hands over his mouth (speak no evil). Sometimes a fourth monkey is shown: this is called Shizaru and displays "do no evil" out. He has his hands on his belly, his genitals or crossed.