Happy new year alana,
In the link I gave in a previous post (Pieter van de Griend paper), there is a reference to the origin of the term ‘Samisen’.
I posited that Xarax might have found inspiration in a Japanese musical instrument (a Samisen) - where a knot (‘Bend’) was used to secure the 3 strings. Xarax knew that once you have a ‘bend’ - you now have a base from which to derive 4 corresponding eye knots (+ an additional 4 eye knots by way of transposition). I posit that Xarax derived his ‘Samisen Bowline’ from the so-called ‘Samisen bend’. Of course, I have no proof of this… since Xarax is not contributing to this IGKT website anymore.
I contacted Xarax a while back to inform him that the door is open for him to return. However, since Xarax believes in the concept of free speech, he may be reluctant to return (or might never return unless freedom of expression is allowed without tone policing).