where did hear no evil see no evil speak no evil come from
Three wise monkeys
The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th - century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō - gū shrine in Nikkō , Japan . The carvings at Toshogu Shrine were carved by Hidari Jingoro , and believed to have incorporated Confucius 's Code of Conduct , using the monkey as a way to depict man 's life cycle . There are a total of eight panels , and the iconic three wise monkeys picture comes from panel 2 . The philosophy , however , probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend , from China in the 8th century ( Nara Period ) . It has been suggested that the figures represent the three dogmas of the so - called middle school of the sect . 
The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th - century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō - gū shrine in Nikkō , Japan . The carvings at Toshogu Shrine were carved by Hidari Jingoro , and believed to have incorporated Confucius 's Code of Conduct , using the monkey as a way to depict man 's life cycle . There are a total of eight panels , and the iconic three wise monkeys picture comes from panel 2 . The philosophy , however , probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend , from China in the 8th century ( Nara Period ) . It has been suggested that the figures represent the three dogmas of the so - called middle school of the sect .
The philosophy of the Three wise monkeys probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend, from China in the 8th century. The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th - century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō - gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan.
The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th - century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō - gū shrine in Nikkō , Japan . The philosophy , however , probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend , from China in the 8th century ( Nara Period ) .
A 17th - century carving by Hidari Jingoro over a door of Toshogu Shrine in Nikkō , Japan and believed to have incorporated Confucius 's Code of Conduct , using the monkey as a way to depict man 's life cycle, where  the iconic three wise monkeys are in panel 2 from a total of 8 panels. The philosophy probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend , from China in the 8th century.
The source that popularized this pictorial maxim is a 17th - century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō - gū shrine in Nikkō , Japan . The carvings at Toshogu Shrine were carved by Hidari Jingoro , and believed to have incorporated Confucius 's Code of Conduct , using the monkey as a way to depict man 's life cycle . There are a total of eight panels , and the iconic three wise monkeys picture comes from panel 2 . The philosophy , however , probably originally came to Japan with a Tendai - Buddhist legend , from China in the 8th century ( Nara Period ) .