Today was going to be a quiet day due to the Koi Show taking place. So only a short post this time!
This morning we went back to Odakan... for a 3rd time in two days. Making a handful of new selections and finalising the ones we wanted. We now had to go hunt down Odakan who had to be at the show ground early this morning to judge the koi show. Still nothing confirmed but we’re confident in making the purchases, first we had to negotiate a slightly better deal.
Sneak peak at the females we're after with Maruboshi and his wife helping us locate particular Koi at Odakan.
At the show we caught up with him and arranged to discuss a price for the 24 Koi.
Wandering around the Koi Show the judges were still in full swing. The Japanese koi shows are so quick and efficient, each size and class are sorted on arrival. All of the bags have one koi in. This makes judging very easy. Albeit there are still over 1,800 to get through !
This show works slightly differently to others. They choose a Grand Champion A which is Go Sanke, then there is a Grand Champion B for Non Go Sanke classes. These two Koi are then put to a vote. Head to head Grand Champion A came out on top.
The Overall Grand Champion
Showa
Bred by Isa
Handled by Narita Koi Farm and Nakamori
Grand Champion B and the runner up
Gin Rin Showa
Bred by Dainichi
Handled by Narita Koi Farm.
The judges then started to judge the Gold Silver and Bronze awards for each variety and size. These will then go up for the major awards along with other special awards for best in variety etc.
As the show is now ran by the Shinkokai association, all breeders that are members have to bring koi to the show and enter them into the Dream Koi Exhibition. With many vats of koi for sale I eyed up a few Koi to get quoted on. In particular one special Goshiki from Kanno. It was strange that there was not a certifate for this koi yet there was certificates for the others in the vat.
Managing to find out information about the Koi. It turns out it wasn’t even for sale. It was a parent fish that Kanno wanted to show people. Typical Japanese logic for you! For sale but not for sale.
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Moving on from the show we went for lunch in the nearby mall. Then hit the road to the Koide region, Murata and Kobayashi Koi Farms.
The cheesy grin of Murata is always a welcome sight, he never stops smiling! Viewing various ponds in various fish houses he was nearly sold out of Koi. Apart from some of his top pieces. In true Murata tradition he had prepared a few bowls of Koi for us to view. All Jumbo Tosai around 45cm. Yes… Only Tosai.
A handful of truly special specimens. The only one I really had my eyes on made my eyes water when I heard the price. I knew straight away this was a no go, even with a bit of negotiation. Even if he halved the price I would have said no!
Not wanting to waste his time we politely said goodbye.
For the rest of the day we drove around again scouting out numerous breeders for special Tosai and Nisai.
Taking the drive back to Ojiya and Nagaoka we visited Kobayashi, Marusada, Mano, Kaneko, Izumiya, and Hiroi. With nothing of interest we got back to the hotel and spent time doing much needed admin!
Tomorrow, hopefully sorting out Odakan finally, Ikarashi Toshinobu, and visiting the Koi Show.
Fingers crossed luck is on our side tomorrow for koi, and prizes!
