Photo: Suki Lee

What are the 12 zodiac animals in Japan?

These symbolic animals, still in use today, follow this cyclical order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar. A Japanese zodiac animal came to be linked to specific character traits, which were thought to influence the personality of anyone born in its year.

nga.gov - Animals in Japanese Folklore - National Gallery of Art

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Animal Stories

Monkey: A Starring Role in Japanese Stories

Kanō Naganobu, One Hundred Monkeys, 1802–1816, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art Maybe because they look so much like humans, monkeys appear in many Japanese folktales, playing roles that range from wicked villains and mighty heroes to creatures symbolizing long life. Long-armed monkeys gather in trees and form chains, swinging from great heights across chasms. Japanese lore credits monkeys with the ability to live a long life, possibly because the Japanese character for the word “monkey” also refers to fate or luck. Although monkeys fill this scroll, there are not quite one hundred (as the title suggests). That number means abundance in Japanese art, and this picture may well be a wish for long life or good fortune. Ogata Gekkō, Monkey Reaching for the Moon, c. 1890–1910, woodblock print, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Robert O. Muller Collection (S2003.8.1669) Zen is a branch of Buddhism that encourages meditation. Zen priests use koan (riddles or puzzles) to express their insights and to guide a student’s thoughts. This print illustrates such a koan: a monkey reaches for the reflection of the moon in the water, but it vanishes into ripples once touched. The moon’s glittering reflection symbolizes the unreal nature of a fickle world and warns students not to strain for the unattainable. Sesson Shūkei, Monkeys and Crab, 16th century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, Private collection Depicting a group of monkeys preying upon a single crab, this painting illustrates another koan. It deals with karma, the principle of cause and effect that links one’s intent and actions to one’s future. In a version of the story, a monkey has a persimmon seed and a crab has a rice dumpling. Envious of the crab’s food, the wily monkey proposes a trade with the simple-minded crab. The crab agrees, and the monkey gobbles up the dumpling while the crab plants his seed. The next year, the persimmon tree bears large fruit, but the crab cannot reach it and asks the monkey for help. The greedy monkey climbs the tree and devours all the fruit. Even worse, the monkey throws the hardest persimmon at the crab and kills him. During the funeral the crab’s son takes revenge on the monkey, killing him with the aid of friends. Buddhist philosophy hinges on cause and effect—good deeds bring good results, bad deeds bring bad results. The wicked monkey is punished, but what of the young crab, who kills the monkey in revenge? As the novelist Akutagawa Ryūnosuke warns, “if crabs battle with monkeys, they will [both] end up being killed for the good of society” (Akutagawa A Week; “The Monkey and the Crab,” in a blog by Anthony Daniel Perrin). Some modern retellings of the story are less brutal: no one is killed; the monkey apologizes for his bad behavior; and all is forgiven. Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Bravery Matched with the Twelve Zodiac Signs: Monkey and Son Gokū, c. 1840, twelve woodblock prints, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, The Anne van Biema Collection (S2004.3.168.1–12)

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Monkeys may also embody heroic qualities. Here, the monkey king Son Gokū wears a tiger skin and—wielding a magic wand—transforms his fur into an army of small monkeys to battle Chohakkai (at top). This pig later becomes a friend and joins him on a quest to locate sacred scriptures in India. In East Asian folklore, Son Gokū symbolizes might and the warrior spirit. His feats are celebrated in a 16th-century Chinese novel that was also popular in Japan: He knows 72 different types of magic and can assume nine thousand forms. He can ride the clouds, fly six thousand miles, see the edges of the universe, and hear the faintest sound. Today he features in Japanese manga (comics) and cartoons, and is a childhood hero for many growing up in Japan.

Fox: Tricky Shape-Shifter or Deity Guardian?

Foxes play both good and bad roles in Japanese folklore. As dangerous, deceitful shape-shifters, they often transformed into beautiful women who lived among, even slept with, humans until their true identity was revealed. As messengers and protectors of the god of the harvest—Inari—foxes were also revered. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Moon of Musashi Plain, from the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, 1892, woodblock print, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, The Anne van Biema Collection (S2004.3.315) Dancing Fox, 18th century, ivory with staining, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA Both the print and the netsuke (a small carved ornament) seem to show the fox as it transforms into a new shape. Twisting to gaze at its reflection in a stream, the fox (at left) calls to mind a beautiful woman looking into a mirror. The dancing fox (at right) charms with a playful pose and wily expression suggesting the seducer it is about to become. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kuzunoha, the Fox-Wife, Parting from Her Child, from the series Thirty-Six Ghosts, 1890, woodblock print, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Duboc Not all shape-shifting foxes are malicious. In one story, a young nobleman saves a white fox from hunters. To repay his kindness, the fox turns into a beautiful woman named Kuzunoha, who marries him and has a child. But she cannot stay human forever. The print captures the tragic moment when her true fox form is revealed in the shadow cast against the rice-paper screen, and the son, pulling her kimono, begs her to stay. Leaving a farewell poem, she directs her husband and son to the forest where the couple first met: If you love me, darling, come and see me

You will find me yonder in the great wood

Of Shinoda of Izumi Province where the leaves

Of arrowroots always rustle in pensive mood

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(Nozaki, Kitsune: Japan’s Fox of Mystery, Romance,

and Humor [Tokyo, 1961], 110–111) They finally find Kuzunoha, but she can no longer turn back into a human. Utagawa Hiroshige, New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji, from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857, woodblock print, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Caroline and Jarred Morse. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA Foxes were also identified as messengers of Inari—the deity protecting rice farming and its harvest. In this print foxes gather on a cold, starry New Year’s Eve at a tree near the Inari shrine in northern Edo (now Tokyo). See the flickering flames above their heads? In Japanese folklore, these strange lights at night—actually caused by burning swamp gases—signal the presence of foxes. By observing the shadows cast by these flames, local farmers believed that they would be able to predict the success of crops in the coming year (Gerstle et al., Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection [Seattle, 2002], 320).

Earth Spider: Vicious Monster or Rebel?

Utagawa Yoshitsuya, Earth Spider, c. 1847–1852, triptych, woodblock print, The Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Museum Purchase In ancient Japanese texts, families that rebelled against the emperor were disparagingly called earth spiders (tsuchigumo in Japanese). In the popular imagination, the term was taken literally to refer to a ground-dwelling monster. With bulging eyes, eight legs, and knifelike claws, this earth spider holds a serpent and sits on a web that stretches, in gray and black stripes, across the bottom of the print. Adding to the horror, hundreds of small, black spiders crawl all over its body. To slay this gigantic monster, famous warriors descend in baskets with torches raised to light the underground cave. Despite the odds against them, the warriors succeed. The 10th-century samurai Minamoto Raikō sleeps in the right upper corner while an earth spider tries to ensnare him in its web. In the foreground, two of the hero’s four retainers play go (a board game), completely unaware of the imminent danger, but the other two turn their heads as if sensing the threat. Fast approaching is a horde of demons, including a lantern monster, a creature with nine skulls, and a small-headed woman with a gigantic face in her belly. The artist displays great creativity in turning demons described in Japanese folktales into bizarre and sometimes amusing visual forms.

Details of demons

In a message widely understood when this triptych was made, it also comments on harsh reforms carried out in the 1840s that suppressed the free spirit of the Edo period (1603–1868). The sleeping Raikō is interpreted as the ailing shogun Ieyoshi, while the many demons symbolize the resentment of the oppressed townspeople.

nga.gov - Animals in Japanese Folklore - National Gallery of Art

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