Hi all , its been a hell of a week , only really came out to hand select some tosai and top up on larger koi we sold during the winter . But as you may have gathered from the blog that plan soon went out of the window .The problem is , as i koi dealer you obviously need stock , and sometimes when a breeder has the right koi at the right price, then you so times cant help yourself , whether you need them or not ! This is kind of my lame excuse im making to explain  the day i had today .It all started off when we met Marasaka at his tosai sharp at nine am with a view to hand select tosai . The pond he offered had obviously been well selected through already so i decieded to pass and get the breeder to make us some special boxes up . As we were near to Hirasawa the agent asked if i wanted to visit , i said no at first as i diddnt need aything there , he then replied at least say hello and have a coffee . Its sounded fair enough in prnciple , but you know where this is going ! When we arrived , it was very busy , but we still managed to have a chat and coffee .We looked around the farm , it never ceases to amaze me how big this breeder is , and how many koi he has , we guessed at the endponds my have had 1000 s of sansai and yonsai of very good koi . Any wa i was being quite restrained , untill i menioned that i might need a few koi especally somes sanke . He took us to a nisai pond where there seemed to be a nice mix of everyting ,includng sme larger non go sanke , price seemed good , untill mentioned discount on two box three box , i was off , all plans scuppred ! Four chagois andkarashigoi and a ki matsuba  around 55-60cm sansai , diddt ask the sex as i thought it might insult him , but had a peak andthe all looked female . Next we bowled some nice hi utsuri around 40cm , a doitsu white mukashi ogon , stunningly clean , loads of nisai sanke where then bowled , and some very nice larger examples includng a vry nice 70cm shiro utsuri , some better 60cm sanke , so many fish were purchased that it took us through lunch tme and into the afternon .  Plese note that today thelck of sleep and jet lag finally took its toll and i couldnt even see thecamera let alone take  decent pic , so please dont judge these koi by price and and pics ,com see them in them in person .I think i have some videos , but that my have to wait untll mjy return to the uk as time is short , once again i apologies about the pics . One of our customers wanted a showa to be left in the mudponds this summer , and of course with the sucess of his showa this year , only one place to go .....Maruhiro! Soon arrivng at the farm we had the customers showa in  bowl , along with another that looked similer in style to the one i had shipped in theAutumn , this had done very well in the mudpond , so bing its youngersibling it wasnt a difficuly choice ! A mal tancho showa was thn bought along with a sansai showa around 6o cm , once again the pics d thekoi no justicso please wait untll the video is on line , or come and see them your self . Some more nisai were selcted and i was feeling so rough i decieded time for bed, got back just after four , and slept til; 7is . So although a great for koi  , not one for my photography , added to that and the jet lag , this sticky keboard which makes the blog twice as long to produce , not so good for me , so if you hear no more from me , im in bed ill o given up wth this pc !!!! LOL ! Looking forward to some hand selecting tosai , and appointments with the breeders who have koi of ours which we diddnt see harvested in the Autumn .Pcs to follow soon ......ish