Week 12
Discussion
Monkey Business
Types of Monkeys
Monkeys live on every continent except Antarctica. Most live in trees except for baboons and their near cousins who are ground dwellers. Monkeys are generally split into two categories. The charts below show a sampling of each. They are definitely not complete.
Monkeys are among the most intelligent animals, with old world monkeys generally considered to be more intelligent than new world monkeys. Up until early in the 20th century, apes were thought to be a type of monkey. Though closely related, it is commonly understood today that apes are in a distinct taxonomic group of their own.
Apes are more closely related to old world monkeys than to new world monkeys.
There are so many types of monkeys that it is not possible to do justice to them all here, so I'm going to focus on just two.
Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata)
Also known as the snow monkey, the Japanese macaque, an old world monkey, is the only monkey native to Japan. The Japanese name for it is nihonzaru (literally: Japanese monkey). Nihonzaru live on all the main islands of Japan except Hokkaido, the northern-most island. They also occupy many of Japan's smaller islands.
The monkeys live mostly in forested areas, some of which is covered with snow for several months every year, accounting for their alternate name, snow monkey. The nihonzaru below has just caught a fish for lunch.
Nihonzaru live as far north as the Shimokita Peninsula at the northern-most tip of Honshu, Japan's largest island. No other monkeys in the world live as far north as that. In the winter, nihonzaru troops sleep huddled together for warmth.
There are two areas in Japan that have been set aside for viewing nihonzaru. Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama is a commercial park in the outskirts Kyōto. Paid admission and a half-hour hike takes one to an area where Japanese macaques gather to allow themselves to be fed apple slices; available from vendors. Bringing your own food in is not allowed.
The more famous area is Jigokudani wild monkey park in central Honshu. It is a natural area where nihonzaru have their own onsen (hot baths) fed by hot springs.
Nihonzaru have been known to make snow balls for fun.
There is a considerable amount of Japanese folklore featuring nihonzaru, and monkey is one of the animals of the Japanese zodiac.
Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)
My painting subject this week is the golden snub-nosed monkey, native to China. It shouldn't be confused with the golden monkey, a native of Africa.
An endangered species, golden snub-nosed monkeys live at high altitudes; some over 9,000 feet above sea level. They live in social groups of various sizes; some containing as few as 10 to 15 individuals, and others with as many as 500 individuals.
Golden snub-nosed monkeys have an impressive set of dentures, especially the canines. This one is either yawning or getting ready for a teeth cleaning.
Those canines are useful for fighting, too, with supporters taking sides.
Such fights can be scary to watch.
n the end, there is nothing like a mother's protection to make one feel safe.
Artwork
Netsuke
Netsuke were small carvings with a hole for attaching a cord. The other end of the cord connected to an inro, a segmented box for containing medicines and other small objects that men carried around with them. The netsuke and cord would be strung through an obi to keep the inro securely in place. The monkey netsuke below by an unknown artist is from the 19th century.
Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (Literally: Animal-person Caricatures)
This is a famous set of picture scrolls painted in the 13th century by an unknown artist--more likely several artists. In English, the scrolls are often called Scrolls of Frolicking Animals or Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans. This scene, one of the most famous in the scrolls, depicts a group of animals, led by a rabbit, chasing after a monkey thief.
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865)
Kunisada is noted primarily for his bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people). Among his other ukiyo-e were kabuki prints and poetry. In the print below, Kunisada combines the two by depicting the kabuki actor, Ichikawa Kodanji IV, as a Monkey Trainer in an unnamed kabuki play. The print is part of a series titled Thirty-Six Selected Poems. The poem was written by Sarumaru Tayû.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)
Famous for his landscapes, Hiroshige also produced may other types of ukiyo-e prints. This hanga (woodblock print) of a Monkey on a Leash was produced in 1835.
Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945)
Koson was a prominent part of the shin-hanga movement of the early 20th century to restore traditional Japanese subjects, values, and techniques to Japanese woodblock print art. Some of his innovations produced prints that looked much like water colors. The Monkey Holding a Dragonfly print below was produced sometime in the 1910 to 1923 period.
