If you’ve been alive on Earth for the past thousand years or so, you are undoubtedly aware of the Three Wise Monkeys. There are millions of interpretations, all of them variations on this:

They originate in Asia and are so ancient as to have their origins lost to the mists of time. The source that popularized this image is a 17th-century carving above a door of the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikko, Japan, but awareness of the principle reaches back to the Anelects of Confucius nearly two thousand years ago.

As with many ancient symbols, its meaning has become a source of debate among cultures. In the Orient it is taken to mean that one should shun viewing, repeating, or listening, ultimately to avoid doing evil things. Here in the west the familiar symbol has taken on a meaning closer to an admonition to turn a blind eye to the evil around you.

It seemed, then, a fitting fusion to take a western symbol of divine good and combine it with the monkeys to create a fusion of sorts, though whether the subject is avoiding the evil or merely ignoring it is up to the beholder. And so, I present for your approval,

In keeping with the ambiguity of the subject’s feelings on the matter, it seemed fitting to give this entry a Japanese title which means, “Don’t know nothing.” Of course, there’s a double-negative in play, so it would be wise not to jump to any sudden conclusions. Does she inspire any writers? If she does, we’d love to see the story…