A bright and early start we made our way to a Yonsai and above harvest. These fish were owned by Omachi-san based in Saitama. Omachi is very well respected in the koi world and has had countless show winning Koi competing at the highest level. In this pond Omachi had koi up to 90cm Sankes and Showas including those bred by the Sanke breeder we discovered last Spring. A quick and regimented harvest the 21 Koi were harvested within 15 mins or so. These Vets of the Koi world sure know how to get a job done.
Here are a few photos from the harvest.
After the harvest we visited the Sanke breeder. Here we viewed many koi including Sansai and Yonsai Koi. He’s had a very good year again and all of the Koi in the house looked impressive. His Tosai were around 5 months old and were already 25-30cm.
Here we have shortlisted a couple of Koi and will return in the next few days.
Now we began scouting out breeders, seeing what was available, prices and so on. We popped into Izumiya, Torazo, Aoki Masaki, Marudo, Choguro and Marusei including Maruseis new Koi House which we came back to at the end of the day.
A mixed set of results I managed to spot a rather unusual Kumonryu at Choguro hidden in the corner of a pond. Netting and bowling it was really striking and had a small metallic sheen, yet Choguro still labelled it as Kumonryu. On closer inspection it had small spots of Beni throughout the lateral line and around the head. Unfortunately a no go but worth bowling.
Pricing up some larger Purachina and Gin Rin Purachina we bookmarked these to return to as we had to rush to get to Nogami for our appointment.
At Nogami we have four Koi, three now Yonsai and one Gosai. All have stayed at the farm for 2 years now.
Chikara with the help of Chris netted and bowled each Koi. Measuring each one as we went they ranged from 67-73cm. All looking in good condition with full bodies. Very pleased with how these have come on over the last two years. We plan to bring these Koi back to the U.K. this autumn. Below are photos and videos. These can be seen on the website in the Q Collection section. Photos to follow.
Moving swiftly on from Nogami, We drove to Isa.
We’re a big fan of Isa Showa and always look forward to visiting. Here we have one Azukari Koi. Purchased last year as Nisai she measured 55cm. Now 65cm and packing some serious frame. The skin quality has greatly improved with very good fukurin even at this early stage in it’s life. Due to the skin thickening considerably over the summer months the Sumi development wasn’t huge albeit areas lower down the koi showed promising future quality. She now measured 65cm, a great size for Showa at this age. Highly recommended to keep another year as Azukari yet we’re in two minds whether or not to ship her back to the U.K to give the Sumi a helping hand. Photos to follow.
Leaving Isa our last stop of the day was back to Marusei. Marusei is one of, if not the biggest breeder in Japan. In numbers comes a huge range of variety and also quality. With over two hundred mud ponds throughout Niigata you can imagine how many Koi there are to view here.
The main Koi house AKA the warehouse is always full of people found around the world. People choosing Koi for under £50 to tens of thousands of pounds all under one roof. Marusei has recently built a new Koi house, which really is state of the art as far as Japanese Koi houses go. Large ponds, and of course large koi. These are the cream of the crop with numerous variety’s up to a meter long. We have arranged to visit here again in the coming days to select Koi. On the wish list are some larger specimen Koi including Karashigoi, Kigoi, Chagoi and keeping an eye out for any special Go Sanke.
In the morning we head to Hoshikin, then onto Oofuchi and Hosokai.
