Had a shock this morning when the agent handed me a list of what I had bought, im really running out of money and still have 5 days to go! The agent then asked when do I leave, I said tommorrow, she laughed and said you very funny Gary, I didnt have the heart to say it wasnt a joke! So out we headed to visit Tananka, here he had all sorts of varietys but his speciality is gin rin showa, male shinoda gin rin parent and dianichi female. Tanaka won best gin rin 35cm at the last ojiya show. When I asked if he was showing again he said yes and preceded to bowl 3 excellant gin rin showa, he pointed to one and said number one, and asked I we could buy it, the price wasnt too bad, so I thought get the price on the next two and save a bit of money (english thinking)!, the price came back and was 3 times the price, totally dumbfounded I had to ask why, he replied these two were more finished so easier to sell (japanese thinking) while the number one will be much better in the future but much harder to sell. Well I understood what he was saying and said id like to purchase the cheaper one and grow it on in the mud pond, he said yes and I was very pleased as he doesnt normally offer this. We then moved on to what he said were cheaper grade fish and we bought a bowl of shusui, midorigoi, gin rin hajiro, gin shiro utsuri, kin ki utsuri, showa, kin showa, the showa is for someone who has emailed me and asked for a showa so I hope you like it (bullit), if this is his cheaper koi then we will doing a fair bit of buisness with him in the future. Then off to Sekiguchi the showa breeder, I have heard alot about this guy and have bought his jumbo tosai before and have always been very pleased with the koi, but have never visited the farm. Well was I in for a shock, being a lover of showa I lost my breath when I went in the nisai house, outstanding quality and very good size for nisai, cannot recomend this farms quality enough, but after asking two prices I knew I was out of my depth somewhat. Looking around I found one showa and really thought it was very attractive and had a great head pattern, I had to ask the price and was very surprised, and even more surprised when they said yes to growing the koi on. Size now 40cm, expected next year 53-55, happy days..........................somewhat dazed from finding two koi in one day to grow on we went then to another breeder which I wont discuss for a day or two as im thinking about a very serious little shiro utsuri and chagoi. As these breeders where a long way off by the time we got to ojiya there was time for a quick look at marahiro who had harvested again, this guy has some serious gin rin kohaku, and then it was off to uncle hirasawa for coffee and a chat about the finer points of nishikoi and life in general, actually thats a load of rubbish but I cant really say what the conversation was about on a public blog, but through the translator he had us in fits of laughter and was a perfect end to another perfect day.

One thing I will say, there is a box of very special little fish for people who want something to grow on, ill explain more later...........