Well... this is kind of a big stretch. But hear me out.
Samurott's design incorporates the Japanese war fan, associated with grace and precision, much like the stereotypical design of special attacks. The art of wielding Japanese war fans is called Tessenjutsu, a similarly graceful practice
Japanese war fans were historically used to direct other attacks, which parallels the non-contact nature of special moves.
I understand that this is a huge reach, but this is what I came up with.
Japanese war fan (Wikipedia)
Tessenjutsu (Wikipedia)
Hope I helped!