Origins and Different Meanings of Koi Fish Types

Koi fish meaning is the thing that people who own and breed koi fish seek because they want to believe that the koi fish means or symbolize something other than just being ornamental fish. They want to believe that caring for a Koi will bring them more than just satisfaction because it can mean something more.

For people who do not know much about the Koi fish, it is nothing but common wild carp with colored mutations. However, for people in the East, specifically in Japan, the Koi is more than just color mutated common carp. The common carp originated in China and was later on brought to different Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, and now they can be found all over the world. Over the years, since the conception of the Koi (more commonly known as the Nishikigoi in Japan), many beliefs, legends and myths have been told to explain the meaning of the Koi or what it represents.

Indeed there have been many stories that have been told about the Koi. According to Japanese myths and beliefs, the Koi can symbolize masculinity, prosperity or good fortune, perseverance during adversity and strength of purpose. In Chinese, a Koi symbolizes balance and harmony (yin and yang), courage and also good luck.

According to the most popular Japanese story about what the Koi fish symbolizes, if a Koi is able to swim up and against the current of a waterfall, at a point called Dragon Gate on a river called the Yellow River, it will transform into a dragon. Thus, explaining why the Koi fish symbolizes perseverance during adversity. The Koi fish is known to swim upstream, like that of the salmon, this perhaps best explains where this most common story about what it symbolizes have come from.

Masculinity is one of the things that a Koi is said to symbolize in Japanese Culture. Every year the Japanese hold an event they call Boys Day Festival where each son in a family participates in the form of a Koi shaped kite. The bigger the kite, the better. The Japanese consider the carp as one of the most energetic fish because it is constantly moving and motion is seen as a characteristic of that of a boy.

In Japanese culture, the Koi fish also symbolizes Family. A specific color represents a member of the family. For example, the black koi is for the father, the flame red koi is for the mother, the blue and white koi represents the son and the pink and red represents the daughter.

The colors of the Koi also have significant meanings. For example, the platinum or silver colored fish represents success in business and the gold koi represents wealth and prosperity.

Many people have taken up collecting different types of Koi as a hobby and most of them believe that the Koi brings good luck and wealth. This can be because a Koi fish can be very expensive, especially the ones that are deemed to be high quality; these kinds of Koi have perfect color markings.

A Koi can mean a lot of different thing but there are really no concrete meanings. All of these are based merely on myths and different beliefs of people. In the end, it is up to the person to decide what the Koi means for him.