Today was all about a mopping up operation , going round trying to find bits and pieces , may be find a few orders that we haddnt completed . First thing this morning we got another email from a hobbiest in the uk asking about a certain Kujaku at Hosakai , in fact i had now two emails about the same fish , not having a printer here i emailed the agent who turned up an hour later with photo in hand and a first thing appointment with Hosakai koi farm As we arrived thier was already a few in there so we waited and the young breeder shouted out , oooo Gary san , slim size , come in come in , I laughed as i had so many times before as the breeders had commented on my wieght loss all week . They all seemed intereasted so i can know rattle off 75kg down in Japanese quicker than i can in english ! We asked some prices and looked for the kujaku , he saw the picture and he laughed and asked where we had seen it , i said it was an email from the uk and he laughed , i got the impression that i wasnt the first this week .He took us to the pond and pointed , this koi i tought was gonna be around 50-60cm when he gave us the price , to my shock and horror it was more like under 40 , i studied the koi for a long time and couldnt see the value in the koi in my mind , so iasked the customers travelling with me , Heather is a ZNA judge and a Bkks judge , we both agreed it was a very pretty fish .I think this will sell to a hobbyist that enjoys this sort of size koi , but not to a serious uk hobbyiest who wants a big Kujaku with all the qualitys that come with such a high price tag . With this in mind we decieded to buy some nisai that i had orders for . Three female kujaku , two ogons , tancho showa `and two ogons . As i had struggled to find enough koi to make a box up , i was very happy as a few were pre ordered , Then we noticed the best kujaku has a bent head , this was bad as i now feared id have to return all the koi which not only does my head in , the breeder kind of hates it as well . Looking round i gave him a budget for a sansai and he showed me many koi that i diddnt like , i pointed to a doitsu ochiba and he said more expensive , so i gave him my best puppy dog eyes and he said ok ok Gary san but please put one nisai back for safe packing , very happpy with that idea as the Ochiba was the first koi that jumped out at me in the first place and i thought it to be too expensive ., so another result , 50cn and female . As we started out back to Ojiya a small rodent ran across the road and the agent said its a young beaver , to which someone said ( ill not mention the name ) is it a beaver , if so thats why there arnt many trees around here , the car fell silent as every one looked round , we were surrounded by tree laden mountains as far as the eye could see in every direction , every one fell about laughing with this poor person now doomed to be ridiculed for the next 24 hours , including why did the beaver cross the road , to get to the trees on the other side !This kind of summed up the week , we had certainly bought some serious koi this week , but had a great time doing it . Due to a late start as it was saturday , by the time we reached Ojiya it was nearly time for our lunch , egg sandwhich and today i pushed the boat out and had a creme caramal , which five minutes later i tried to eat as we were driving and realised i forgot a spoon so every one in the car was treated to the sound of me slurping it out of the pack doing my best to sound like a Japanese person eating noodle soup . We then were going to Yamazaki as i had to sort out the paperwork on a shiro utsuri that we had featured on the blog , someone from the uk had emailed me so we bought the koi over the phone , Yamazaki called and said dont worry if its just for that , the agent can come and do it after you leave , that was good as Maruhiro had called and said he was back from the harvest and we had our usual azukari buiness to sort out . These are koi that are to be left with the breeder and returned to the mudponds for more growth and development . On arrival Hinori san started bowling koi at prices that where way out of my budget , but still way cheaper than we had seen elswwhere . Two that caught our eyes were both sansai showas .One was very nice but very expensive , the other was very intereasting , the beni was very thick but still soft .The thing that attracted me the most was the sashi on the head , it was very very good quality indeed , all of us noticed it straight away , he said "koi shows two years , sumi down sumi down " This koi was also expensive so we needed time to think .So i started to bowl all sorts of koi and was struggling to find the quality i like here .Hinori san said somthing to the agent , he translated as being dont buy that , you dont want it , buy what you want /need .He was right , i couldnt buy what i wanted so was settling for a box of koi way below what i have been buying all week . He took me to another pond and started bowling up nisai between 40 and 50 cm , and they were a nice quality and only two to a box which made then expensive with the shipping althought the price in Japan was very good indeed , when he was told this he laughed and said "no shipping , azukari !! " My god this bloke is such a good salesman you dont even realise it untill its too late . With 7 koi in a bowl he asked if i wanted to buy all , i laughed and called him a crazy Japanese monkey , on which he laughed so much he nearly fell in the pond , which gave us all a chuckle .He then asked us which was the four best and we went through them and for once we all agreed on which four was the best , i really mean it , the breeder , the agent , me and both customers .Bloody hell if this wasnt an omen nothing was !!!!!! Hinori san started going in about us being friends , not when we are negotiating we are not and i laughed , he didnt .He walked off , i thought oops gone too far , but he picked up a net and caught a very nice nisai gin rin ochiba , placed it in the bowl and said if you buy all , this is the price .........., i was gobsmacked , the agent nearly fell in the pond in shock , i bit his hand off and started taking photographs and set about measuring the fish , i heard laughing behind me and turned around to find his sidekick using the tape measure to size the fish , we had left the measuring bowl at the other facility . Please dont get me wrong , this farm is a very serious koi farm indeed , every year , the quality gets higher and higher and id go as far to say he will be a very big player in the future of the Japanese koi industry , but you dont have to take it serious , in fact just go there , have fun , and buy koi , isnt that what its all about ???? After much hand shaking and promising to buy and sell many koi over the coming years , i couldnt stop thinking about the other two showas , in fact i had to look at the one with the great sashi again so i could find some excuse for not buying it , i couldnt so i did , another gentlemans agreement , more hand shakes and that was it , no more koi today i promised myself , this time i really meant it ! We left to go and see our old friends Yagenji and had a last coffee and to say good bye and come down the mountains to the hotel for the last time . Ill add my usual thoughts and views later on as i need to finish the website before bed ! Id like to take this opertunity to congratulate myself on the worst set of photos i think ive ever taken , in order .......................First six pictures are the new nisai 30-40cm at Hosakai , and then the next is the doitsu ochiba , sansai and around 50cm ( female ) this is a cracking koi bred from a female doitsu karishigoi hence the stunning colours that the picture certainly hasnt captured , The next six are the koi that im leaving at Maruhiro koi farm , if i dont sell any from these pics ull understand the koi are way better than they look and some have mucus after going into the colder water from harvesting , first nisai gin rin ochiba , nisai kohaku from senske bloodline , nisai sanke from sadazo bloodline that in no way looks as bad as the pic implys , nisai gin rin kohaku , nisai showa , sansai showa that has all the qualitys of being a great fish in the future . Couple of pics of the crazy gang october 2012 . Last but not least , an intereasting sanke i found at Yagenji , yonsai and 66cm approx , stunning skin quality and brilliant for showing , id have love to have bought this as the price was very resonable , but i really have bought too many koi , so if i sell loads before i return ill make a call and she will be mine ! If anyone else is intereasted in this koi , please contact me .....................Gary PS also still have alot of Maruhiro nisai to go on the webste of virtually dozens of varietys , this will have to wait untill i get home now , these will all be bewrween £195 and £295 , with a few bigger chagoi , soragoi and ochiba and gin rins as well in the nisai c section , sorry just too much work to get done before i get to bed