Today we have a lot of travelling to do so it was an early start, and a late finish! Starting at Kazuto and Hiroi in the morning, down to Nagoshi Koi Farm 2 hour drive away, and then a 4 hour drive to Nagoya where Narita Koi Farm is situated..
The day begins!
Having made our appointment at Kazuto a few days ago it was time to select Tosai Kohaku to bring back to the UK. We selected from a pond of around 250 koi, we ended up with 9 beautiful Kohaku. All with great bodies, intricate patterns and typical Kazuto rich beni. In the pond there was also 3 extremely nice Doitsu Ochiba, we couldn't resist! Kazuto had one spawning this year of Doitsu Ochiba and it worked out very well, he has been working on oyagoi for his Doitsu Ochiba for a number of years, safe to say he's cracked it! Next year he will hopefully get 2-3 successful spawnings.
Among the Kohaku we picked there are a handful of great contenders for baby champion on the UK show scene. Very excited to get these back to the UK and individually photograph these. Very pleased to have selected these from one of Kazuto’s top Tosai ponds.
I almost forgot to mention a cracker of a Tancho Showa!
Our next stop was Hiroi Conias, back in Autumn we picked a unique Gin Rin Sanke to stay over winter and spend summer 2016 in the mud ponds. It had over wintered very well with new signs of sumi cropping up throughout the koi. The koi has been off the food all winter and it’s body has remained powerful, maintaining it’s presence.
It was time to leave Niigata, it was definitely another memorable visit to the area. Strengthening relationships with the breeders and meeting new ones, we’re already looking forward to Autumn!
Hopped in the car, made it onto the highway and arrived at Nagoshi Koi Farm some 2 hours later. Nagoshi Koi Farm is in the Toyama prefecture right on the coast, west of Niigata. Many koi on offer here with a large range of Tosai sizes. We didn’t spend a huge amount of time here as we then had a 4 hour drive to Nagoya which is where we set up base for the night. A 6am start, arrived into Nagoya at 9pm!
Tomorrow, the one and only Narita Koi Farm!
