Today I was leaving for Tokyo , for an over night stay and an early flight back to the UK , so I just wanted to see a couple of breeders before I left . Last year , I left a small nisai kohaku with a breeder we call Abe san . Although breeding from brood stock such as SFF and Dainichi , he doesn’t like growing on koi too fast . So the nisai I left in October 2015 was around 32cm , amd wasn’t harvested by the time I left Japan last October , so I was keen to see it , It was placed in a bowl and I was very happy , skin quality was good , and although the kohaku was believed to be male , it had a really good shape . We then selected a few nisai around 30cm , to travel in the box with the sansai which was now around 40-45cm .

Nisai from Abe san around 30cm

Male kohaku from Abe san , around 45cm and sansai

Next stop was Kase again , some paperwork had to be delivered so we went for a second visit . Kase has now virtually sold out of nisai , with some sansai and older koi still available , and even some of his tosai have now sold out . From here it was a couple of minutes drive to Ozumi . Famous for his ogons and metalics , goshiki and gin rin asagi . There where lots of koi still for sale here , but the nisai quality was low , but the larger and older koi were very high quality , with some stunning varietys on show .

We then travelled to Nagaoka train station , where our agents next customer was waiting to be picked up , and then went on to Maruhiro to have a last look through his koi . A lot of the koi we purchased from him yesterday , sold very quickly , so I went through the better grade ponds to find some more of his showa . After a while I had a bowl full of them , and soon picked what I considered to be the better ones , Hinori san took one look at what I had left behind in the bowl after I had selected , and pointed and said another box , I laughed and said no thanks , there not as good , so he said ok not so high price , and quickly picked another 8 at a reduced price . I always like finishing at Marihiro koi farm , it kind of completes the week and always feels the right thing to do . I said my good byes , and then it was a quick stop for lunch at Gustos , and then took a local train back to Nagaoka , to get the bullet train back to Tokyo . The company who ships our fish offered to pay for a taxi , but I insisted on trying the train . 15 minutes and four stops , and I was in Nagaoka , waiting for the bullet train . No traffic due to afternoon rush hour and snow , easy peasy and think ill be letting the train take the strain next time . As I write this , im now on the bullet train rushing towards Tokyo at an outrageous speed . Its been another very successful week , and ill son be in the hotel updating the website , as usual in a few hours , id like to thank you for taking the time out to read this blog . I hope you enjoyed reading it , and join us again on our next trip , all the best …………………………Gary

Maruhiro nisai

Eight more nisai from Maruhiro , I was in such a rush , I forgot the video for these 8 . So im afraid it back to my awful pics !

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