History Behind Monkey Emojis

We all use emojis in daily life to express our feelings and emotions in text messages and they are really helping us with that. We just choose one that looks exactly how we feel, but are you sure about the real meaning of them?

For the start, all emojis came to us from Japan, where people had used them for a long time, even before smartphones. In the start, emojis were part of mangas (Japanese style books); little signs were drawn on characters to show their emotions more clearly. Then, with cell phones and text messages’ appearance, they started to use written signs for their expressions, like this;（；¬＿¬), （＞д＜）,<(．＿．)>.

And now we see them in every messenger, it’s even strange to see messages without them. But some emojis do not have just original meaning but a wise history behind them, which would be very interesting to know.

In this article, we will take a look at one of the most popular emojis – monkey!

Three Wise Monkeys

In all chats and messengers, you can find a lot of different animal emojis, they are all by one; one horse, one cow, one chicken, but more than one monkey, why? 

Because, those emojis are based on ancient Koshin belief (faith in Japan), where monkeys symbolize a philosophical thought. The first one is Mizaru; he is closing his eyes which means “see no evil”. The second is Kikazaru; he is closing his ears, which means “hear no evil”. The third one is Iwazaru who is closing his mouth, which symbolizes “speak no evil”. The idea is: If you don’t see, hear and talk evil, then evil will not touch you, and you are protected. In Japan, they are known from the 16th century as a wooden statute (or pictorial maxim) in Nikko, temple “Nikko Toshogu”, made by Japanese sculptor Hidari Jingoro.

Some historians believe that the thought came to Japan from Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, and inspired a sculptor to create those wooden monkeys. Quoting: “Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.” (Confucius, The Analects – 12)

In some arts, there can be all four wise monkeys, the 4th named Shizaru and he is crossing his arms, which means “do no evil”.

So I think, we are using them in an almost original way one by one and now we can also use them all together in a meaning “I have a shield against evil (or bad things)”, “I am protected”. It’s already another question, do you believe and agree with the idea that if you don’t see, hear and speak – are you protected?

Sources

• Three Wise Monkeys. (n.d.). Oxford Reference. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803104448685
• Dictionary.com. (2021, January 19). 🙈, 🙉, 🙊 Three Wise Monkey emoji. https://www.dictionary.com/e/emoji/three-wise-monkeys/
• L.T. (1901, December 13). Confucius, The Analects – 12 | US-China Institute. China.Usc.Edu. https://china.usc.edu/confucius-analects-12