kappa

Crease Pattern Challenge 060

Crease Pattern Challenge, Origami

I hope my pictures are good enough, because this one’s really spectacular. Crease Pattern Challenge #60 is KAPPA the Water Imp by Chuya Miyamoto.

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (108) OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (111)OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (110)

He has a lanky, nearly simian body, webbed fingers, the head dish, scraggly hair, the beak, cute eyes, and an amazing shell. I’m afraid it’s gonna be hard to see in the bright green I used.

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (107) OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (112)

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (106) OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (105)

The shell is pretty cool. Below, I have the unfinished shell first. This version is how it’s given in the crease pattern. It could be a mess to show the finished version in the pattern, but it’s clear from the cover and other images. You sink each point in and out a few times to make concentric scutes (the shell sections; yes, I had to look that up).

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (104) OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (103)

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (102) OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (113)

Also notable: He is very head and shell heavy. If you make him, his legs almost certainly won’t hold him up, so, if you don’t want him sitting, either his legs should be reinforced or he should have some other structure to hold him up.

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (101)

OTMCP_060 - KAPPA - MIYAMOTO (109)

Kappa かっぱ

Origami, Original Designs

WKO_001 - KAPPA (107)

This is a design I came up with (probably my first one), but, before all that, what is a kappa?

A kappa (pronounced like pappa, Frank Zappa, or rapper; more so if you’re speaking Japanese) is a mythical water monster from Japan. It’s a lot like a turtle, but it’s bipedal (usually) and has a dish-like dent on top of its head that holds magic water which gives it power. It kills and eats swimming people by coming up under them and disemboweling them. It also likes to eat cucumbers. Supposedly, they are polite enough that they will bow to you if you bow to them first, even though they then spill their magic water and become weak and manageable. For extra info and pictures:

Kappa on Wikipedia
Kappa on Japanese Buddhist Statuary

My origami kappa is pretty simple, but I’m quite proud of the color change. Paper that is different colors on each side will make the kappa one color and its shell the other color.

WKO_001 - KAPPA (108) WKO_001 - KAPPA (109)

He also has a turtle beak and an indent on the top of his head for water. You can’t really put water in it though. I mean, you can, but it’s paper, so it’s not a good idea. The dent is more for show.

WKO_001 - KAPPA (111)

I came up with this before I was really designing things. I just sort of fell into it by luck. It probably came about from my folding John Montroll’s Cerberus (from Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami) so much. It’s not all that similar, but it has a similar start. I figure I found the kappa while playing around making so many Cereberii.