insight explosion

it's weird how creativity and insight works.

i've been writing this story about brothers and kappas. the way i got to incorporating the kappa is itself kinda interesting. but i've had a few other insights that keep fleshing the story out. whether i decide to make the following symbols explicit or not, there is a further resonance for the story through their incorporation.

a lot of the story has to do with water, and with swimming. my brother was an excellent swimmer. now, something happens to swimmers who swim a lot in hyperchlorinated pools; their hair turns the color of copper... aside from almost being a homophone for kappa, there is a play i'm doing with copper pennies. copper pennies are almost worthless, so when people drop them, they hardly care to put in the effort to pick them up again. copper pennies serve as a symbol for near worthless people, who can imagine that, through accumulation, they may "add up to something"; but, sadly, no matter how many pennies one may assemble, one won't amount to much...

if you read the ending of amphibious, you know that there is this strange bowl made out of rusted-together copper pennies... you probably already know that this bowl was molded from the "bowl" of the kappa yagoro's head...

now, swimmers wear swim-caps to protect their hair and to improve their "hydrodynamics." swim-caps resemble bowls... which takes us back to the kappa.

swim-caps also resemble jellyfish, boneless bags that imbibe and squirt out water to propel themselves... that is, propel themselves without really propelling themselves, since jellyfish are at the mercy of larger currents. jellyfish are another symbol for the "worthless" protagonist, who has no backbone, and no internal motivation/direction.

and, returning to the kappa... the reason why i call the kappa yagoro is because it is a legendary kappa who has a saying associated with it. yagoro supposedly partied and played so much one night, that in the morning, he was unable to swim, and thus drifted with the current. this is the origin of the saying: "kappa no kawa nagare," or, the kappa who flows downstream. it's supposed to be an ironic statement, because kappa are supposedly excellent swimmers... but this saying resonates with the jellyfish, with its will-less floating...

the name yagoro is interesting in itself. apparently, yagoro can be an archery term, and is that moment aftere the "strength"/tension reaches its fullness, and before the arrow is released. there is thus an "almost" sense to the name; asymptotic.

this resonates with the feeling of the protagonist, who feels "almost" human, but not quite...

the choice of symbols is rarely "intentional" (in the sense of deliberate). many times, i choose to utilize symbols blindly, or because of dim associations. it is only later that the "wisdom" of the symbol becomes apparent...