A fresh cold morning here in Nagaoka, Niigata.
Up first was a quick visit to Dainichi Koi farm to view our Azukari koi purchased last Spring at the auction. Our two Nisai, one Showa (57cm) and one Kohaku (55cm) have grown around 15cm each which was a nice surprise. Huge bodies and looking very good. The Showa will most likely stay for one more year, the Kohaku will be shipped home.
Our Sansai Showa is up to 69cm, Sumi is looking even better now from when we saw it in Autumn. This will be staying for at least one more year, going to be a big fish !
Phenomenal place Dainichi, always impressive koi on show.
Next on the list to visit today was Ikarashi Kazuto's Tosai houses to view some of his higher quality harder to get koi. Numerous Kohaku and Sanke ranging from 25-30cm. Will re-visit in a day or two to pick some out. All of these koi have excellent patterns, and great body shapes. A few baby champion contenders in here.
Before lunch we stopped off at Kaneko, at first glance there wasn't a huge amount of koi that took our fancy. Having a sit down and coffee with Kaneko-san he did hint towards some koi being kept for this years mud ponds. We had a final look around and one pond we noticed was heated and covered in insulation, peeled back the covers and it was his tategoi! Kaneko-San allowed us to select 10 special koi, all certified and coming back to the UK. Real gems.
After our delicious Ramen lunch we headed back into the mountains. Kazuto and Yagenji Koi Farms were on the agenda.
At Ikarashi Koi Farm we visited their famous Koi house in Mushigame. Here we have a Sansai Kohaku that was selected last April as Nisai. The skin quality is exceptional on this koi that really has to be admired in the flesh, the thickness and lustre to the skin is stunning. Fantastic Kazuto-style body conformation, wonderfully thick and proportionate throughout the koi.
Just around the corner from Kazuto is Yagenji Koi Farm, here we have a Yonsai Gin Rin Benigoi. Yagenji's Benigoi are right up there with the very best, the depth of colour and vibrancy isn't often seen in Benigoi. Yagenji has many fine examples of varying sizes. We purchased this koi early this year, so it was the first time we had seen it in the flesh. Very impressed to say the least.
