Today we started off with a visit to Otsuka , havnt been here for a while , as we are trying to build up good relations with fewer breeders , its not that we don't want to visit lots of breeders , it makes more economical sense , to spend more money at fewer breeders , and get better prices . So once we have done that , we then visit any one else if we have the time available . So not having seen any asagi , we decided to visit Otsuka . He like lot of others , was almost out of nisai , and the asagi wernt of the quality we were looking for . In the main pond he did have some high quality , but I mean these were real high quality , so good in fact I knew not to ask lol ! The sansai had some nice karashigoi / kigoi , but these were way bigger than I was looking for.
As we had some time , we ventured up the mountain towards Mushigame , to visit a new breeder to me , Oyaji . He works at another full time job , so he is difficult to get an appointment with , so we thought that we would visit , check the koi out , and then ring him to see if he was about. As we pulled into the farm , the breeder pulled right in behind us , it seems that he has retired now , and spending more time with the koi , so we were pretty lucky there ! On entering the farm I was shocked to see so many very high quality gin matsuba , I mean literally dozens , and all high quality . In amoung them were kohaku and showa , we asked the prices , and I thought that's ok , my Japanese told me the kohaku were twice the price of the Matsuba , that's great I thought , didn't want them anyway ! Wrong , it was the other way round , the matsuba were twice the price of the kohaku , and they wernt bad . I struggled to believe this , until I started to bowl them up , evefry one was a stunner , and I soon had a bowlful of these silver beautys ! A long discussion then started about breeding matsuba , as ive always known , most breeders get their gin matsuba , from Kujkau spawnings , but he actually has gin matsuba parents . He then took us to the tosai house , and showed us his tategoi , he also had showa bred from Dainichi parents , and they looked very good . We ordered some of his tosai , said our thanks , and promised to come back in the Autumn . I have to take a little time out to say , this guy was a real gentle man , nothing was too much trouble , spoke about his fish with a passion , and made you feel very welcome , and he had a great corgi dog that followed you all round the fish house , and barked when you stopped making a fuss of him .
Matsuba ogons , around 35cm , show quality !
While we were at the back of Mushigame , we drove round to Yamaju to look at the nisai there . Once again the quality wasn't so good and he had very little left . The main pond was a different story , shusui , asagi and doitsu ochiba of very high quality . Some of the biggest Shusui ive seen in a long time . Staying in Mushigame we popped into Sakai Yamamatsu , where the son showed us round , even Sakai was getting low on koi . The son showed us some tosai sanke , only around 16cm , seriously stunning , but not for sale until March . As we have agents out here all year round , im hoping we can get a price on them !
Last night , I posted the videos of hi utsuri from Marusie , the interest them was unbelievable , so I returned there before lunch , and selected another 12 . This time it wasn't so easy , there were so many nets in the pond with sold koi in , it was hard to see let alone catch up the hi ursuri , but we persevered , and soon had a bowl to chose from .
Hi utsuri 25-30cm
After a late lunch , we decided to visit our mate Maruhiro , as we pulled into the farm , it was good to see his smiling face . He looked tired and had been very busy , he is one of the only breeders , along with his father and brother , who always seem to have excessive stocks of nisai . Once again it was a good move to visit at this time , he had been to his other facility , and brought some very high quality nisai in . Mauhiro really does try his hardest to appeal to everyone , his nisai range from 25cm right up to 57cm , and has many , many varietys . I explained that we were looking for some much better quality nisai , and he bought out some examples to showa us , mainly showa , one kohaku I think , and I bought others from another pond . I have many customers asking for better quality showa , so this was great news , and they were all smaller sizes 30-40cm , which so many people want . He then went to the bigger ponds , and brought two more showa , this time bigger , 40cm and another near 50 cm , the large one had a five step pattern and looked stunning . Again very high quality , and both female . This was a great way to end the day , and almost end the week . Tomorrow we will visit Abe san , to see the kohaku I left out there last year , and was harvested after I left in the autumn , and may be look at some more kohaku , goshiki , sanke and showa . Then return to Maruhiro to re measure 4 koi going to the mud ponds . So last time for a purchase , if theres anything you want me to find .
Nice quality showas , ki utssuri and a gin rin kohaku , 30-35cm .
Very high grade nisa showa 35-40cm approx. .
High grade showa and kohkau 35-50cm approx. .