見猿・言わ猿・聞か猿

みざる・いわざる・きかざる

子供の時代には、悪いことは、
見ざる　（見ない）
言わざる　（言わない）
聞かざる　（聞かない)

こどものじだいには、わるいことは、
みざる　（みない）
いわざる　（いわない）
きかざる　（きかない）

The Japanese saying, “Mizaru, iwazaru, kikazaru” corresponds pretty directly to the English, “See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.” It was originally use to teach children that they should not look at anything bad, say anything bad, or listen to anything bad. It has another layer of meaning because, in Japanese, the “-zaru” part of it means, “don’t do” but it also means “monkey.” Thus, you have the three famous monkeys–one covering its eyes, one covering its mouth, and one covering its ears–carved into the temple in Nikko. Recently, it has also developed another meaning. It is sometimes used when one doesn’t want to get involved with something. In this case, I guess it means something like, “I don’t see anything, I won’t say anything, I don’t hear anything.” Kind of like Sgt. Shultz in the TV show “Hogan’s Heroes” when he says, “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!” whenever he sees Hogan and his cronies doing something they shouldn’t be doing.