#yeahhhhhh.......

Okay, so today we’re looking at Kaneki and his connections to centipedes and the symbolism of it.

THE CHINESE RED-HEADED CENTIPEDE

The Chinese red-headed centipede that Yamori put in Kaneki’s ear are, interestingly enough, not very aggressive toward fellow centipedes, which is apparently rare in large breeds of centipedes. This allows it to co-exist with other centipedes without too many problems. In China, they're also used as medicine to speed up the healing process. (*)

This could relate to Kaneki being able to ‘co-exist’ with both sides of the world—human and ghoul—because he’s a half-ghoul who has seen both sides of the picture. He knows what it’s like to be a human, just as he’s learned what life as a ghoul is like. He is able to blend in with both.

The healing bit could be about Kaneki’s acceptance of his ghoul side. Accepting that side brought Kaneki a form of harmony and healing that we saw again at the end of Tokyo Ghoul when he learned to embrace his human side after throwing it away. The problem was that, in the process of the Aogiri arc, Kaneki gradually let his human side slip from his fingers. He ‘healed’ himself and turned into a proper ghoul, but it happened too quickly for him. Kaneki wasn’t given enough time to accept that side of himself in a healthy way, which is probably what messed him up and made him discard his human side so haphazardly.

THE FIVE POISONS: THE CENTIPEDE

“One of the most dangerous and inauspicious days of the year in ancient China was the 5th day of the 5th month, according to the lunar calendar, which was popularly referred to as "Double 5" or "Double 5th", and also known as tian zhong jie (天中节).  This day marked the beginning of summer which by midseason meant dangerous animals and insects, the spread of infectious diseases, and the appearance of evil spirits.

The "five poisons" (wudu 五毒) actually refer to five poisonous animals.  In contrast to what one might expect, the purpose of the five poisons depicted on an amulet is to counteract pernicious influences.  This is because the Chinese believe in combating poison with poison as shown by the above examples of drinking realgar (arsenic) wine and mixing cinnabar (mercury) with wine.

Some historical sources refer to the five poisons as consisting of the snake, scorpion, centipede, toad and spider.  Other references have the lizard replacing the spider.” — (source)

From what I can tell, the lizard is the favored choice, so we’re working with it instead of the spider.

Going by the five poisons, we’ve seen the centipede (numerous times in various ways with Kaneki), the lizard (Kaneki on volume 7 with the gecko), and the snake (either Nishiki and his mask or—more likely to me at least—Amon). With three down, we’re left with only the scorpion and the frog.

The scorpion symbolizes many things: protection, solitude, stubbornness, defensiveness, and control. If any character, I’d put my money on Eto getting the scorpion symbol. Aogiri Tree has a hidden motive that has hints of being about liberation or justice of some kind, at least to them. Also, scorpions leave their mothers very young and live solitary lives, fending for themselves; the parallel matches Eto very well.

[EDIT: An awesome user by the name of karasunos9 pointed out that Suzuya Juuzou’s quinque is called Scorpion. His history of being an orphan and his past with Big Madam follows how baby scorpions leave their mother, making Suzuya a definite candidate for the scorpion symbol. If this is the case, then four out of the five symbols have already appeared.]

The frog will probably be the last and best of the symbols to appear. In China, frogs represent the ‘yin’ energy (/nudges) and—as I’m sure most of you know—in Japan they’re used by travelers to represent returning home safely. Frogs also represent growing into adulthood, understanding the pain and struggle in finding a place in society, good luck, and metamorphosis. They’re all the perfect symbols for Kaneki.

[EDIT: Another great user named themadamanga pointed out that Roma wears a frog hairpin. Roma has little to do with any of the frog symbolisms, but you can never be sure! However, like Suzuya and Amon, there haven’t been blatant illustrations of them like with Kaneki’s centipedes and geckos. Amon has slightly more stock because of the calendar illustration with a dragon (dragons have a relation to snakes in Japanese mythology). Still, the last three poisons can be a little iffy.]

Still on the subject of the five poisons, the Chinese drink realgar wine to combat them and their effects. This has relevance to Liu Yong’s poem ’Phoenix Perched on the Parasol Tree’: “Maybe I should go wild and get drunk, singing over my cup. But forced joy is tasteless. I don’t regret my loosening belt and robe. I’m fading away from you.” The indecision about getting drunk could be about warding off the centipede, one of the five poisons, and whether Kaneki should keep his ghoul side (the centipede) away by drinking or not. 

And some extra: 

In Japan, centipedes are a symbol of the samurai and victory. The famous samurai Takeda Shingen even had a symbol of a centipede on his battle flag. Kaneki’s centipede could symbolize his victory in the war between humans and ghouls.

But oddly enough, Japan also considers centipedes to be a symbol of evil. Go figure.

Another reason I believe Amon is the snake is because in China, snakes and centipedes are archenemies. This parallels Kaneki and Amon’s relationship with humans and ghouls pitted against each other, the two representing each side.

Centipedes can also symbolize moving forward and finding stability.