'The Monkey King and the Moon Rabbit' by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1889. From the series 'One Hundred Aspects of the Moon'. This image is also available on:
Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a character from the 16th century novel 'Journey To The West', which is considered one of the four great classics of Chinese literature. The basic plot of 'Journey To The West' follows the quest of a Buddhist monk called Tang Sanzang and his companions to reach India and bring back Buddhist scriptures to China, loosely based on the real-life pilgrimage of 7th century monk Xuanzang, but with many additional fantasy elements. Sun Wukong's role in the novel is that of trickster hero, carefree and chaotic but with an undercurrent of cunning. When he comes into the story, he's been imprisoned under a mountain for five hundred years for causing havoc in the celestial realms. Tang Sanzang frees him, and over the course of the novel tames his violent impulses somewhat, until by the end of the story he achieves enlightenment and becomes the Victorious Fighting Buddha.
The lore surrounding the Monkey King predates 'Journey To The West', which borrowed from existing Chinese and Indian folktales, and continued to evolve after it. A running theme is the Monkey King's pursuit of immortality, which is why Yoshitoshi pairs him here with the Jade Rabbit. The Jade Rabbit, or Moon Rabbit, is a figure from East Asian folklore which originates from the fact that the dark patches of the moon's surface look a bit like a rabbit standing over a cup. In folklore, the 'cup' is a mortar and pestle in which the Jade Rabbit mixes the elixir of immortality, making him a prime target for the Monkey King. Given that the association between the moon and a rabbit also occurs in several Native American cultures, it's possible that concept of the Moon Rabbit dates back tens of thousands of years, to before humans crossed from East Asia into North America.
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