Day Trip to Nikko (Part 2) / 日光日帰り旅行 （パート２）

What Toshogu is most famous for is the Shinkyusha (Sacred Stable) and Sanzaru (Three Wise Monkeys), especially the monkeys which spawned the phrase "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil".

東照宮で世界でも有名になってるのは神厩舎と三猿、特に三猿ですね。ここから生み出した〝見ざる、言わざる、聞かざる”。

The famous "Sacred Stable" and "Three Wise Monkeys" building / 神厩舎と三猿

I finally got to see it with my own eyes - "See No Evil!  Speak No Evil!  Hear No Evil!"

やっと生で見た ー 〝見ざる！言わざる！聞かざる！” 感動しましたな。


Although the above panel is the most famous, there are other panels that all teaches a lesson or has some meaning to it.

上記のパネルが一番有名ですが、それ以外にいっぱいあります。一つ一つは意味かなんかの教えことを表してる。

I'm going to skip the Japanese translations but will write what the sign says these monkeys were doing.  This panel is said to depict "A mother monkey is looking far into the future of her child, and a child is looking up at her mother".

"He is about to be independent"

 

 

"He is ambitiously looking up."

 

 

"He is frustrated in life and is desperately looking down the cliff while one of his friends is cheering him up."  This would be referring to the monkeys on the left side of the panel.

 

 

"He is love-sick."

 

 

"A newly-wedded couple are going to sail through the rough waves of life together."

 

 

"She is an expectant mother, and return to the first scene."


To be continued...

つづく。。。