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Motif · motif_koi_carp

Koi Carp

A large ornamental carp, drawn swimming. The cited source makes the DIRECTION OF SWIMMING meaning-bearing: its element list specifies the koi swimming upstream, not the koi as such.
Thin
Medium confidenceresearched

2 attested · 2 promoted1 source · T2

Also called Koi

What the research says

motifs_seed
Category
animal
Variants
koi swimming upstream; koi swimming downstream; paired koi
Common themes
nature
Cultural flags
Japanese living tradition; the tradition and the Dragon Gate legend are routed to T11.10, only the drawn motif is registered here
Composition behaviors
S-curve following a limb; scales as a repeating texture field

Provenance

1 resolved

  • Japanese tattoo: a brief history and symbol meanings (opens in a new tab)

    Tier 2

    iNKPPL Tattoo Magazine

    Tattoo magazine style guide whose symbol list is the densest single-page motif-meaning evidence found for this batch. Verbatim: "Dragons, as symbols of wisdom and self-assurance, carp symbolizing courage, tigers as symbols of fearlessness, snakes as symbols of protection from misfortune and illness, peonies as symbols of wealth and prosperity, cherry blossoms as symbols of a warrior's short life and fleeting youth". Its bullet list adds "Koi carp swimming upstream - represents resilience and invincibility", "Tiger - symbolizes fearlessness", "Peony - represents life success", "Sakura (cherry blossom) - symbolizes sacrifice and obedience" and "Rat - represents fertility". IMPORTANT LIMIT: every claim here is JAPANESE-CONTEXT and describes a living tradition; each edge drawn from it is scoped to that context and flagged, and the tradition itself is T11.10's, not a motif node's.

    industry source · retrieved 2026-08-29

Related concepts

4 links

Can symbolize · 2

  • → outgoingCourageSymbolAttested
    strength 0.50needs cultural review

    JAPANESE CONTEXT ONLY. The source's prose lists "carp symbolizing courage".

  • → outgoingResilienceSymbolAttested
    strength 0.50needs cultural review

    JAPANESE CONTEXT ONLY, and conditional on depiction: "Koi carp swimming upstream - represents resilience and invincibility". A koi drawn swimming downstream is not covered by this evidence.

Associated with · 1

  • → outgoingNatureThemeThin
    strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.common_themes of motif_koi_carp ('nature'). No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.

Supports composition · 1

  • → outgoingBody FlowCompositionThin
    strength unstatedpromoted · not an independent attestationresearched

    Promoted from motifs_seed.composition_behaviors of motif_koi_carp ('S-curve following a limb') [class EC]. Source is the supporting concept, target the composition, mirroring placement_supports. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus.