July, 2009

As detailed before, Shimizu-san breeds his own Koi - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/466.

This year he spawned 6 sets, 3 Sanke and 1 each of Showa, Kohaku and Goshiki.  That production level puts him equal to many of the smaller breeders in Niigata.  Last year he produced from 10 sets, that put's him up with many household names you see on this blog!

Shimizu-san's objective of breeding Koi is simple, he wants to produce the best Koi he possibly can, and take the highest prizes he possibly can.  He is in the incredibly fortunate position of not needing to keep volumes of Koi to balance the books, he wants to keep just the best, it's his hobby.  Anyone jealous?

Our visit was timed to co-incide with a group of fellow hobbyists visiting to have a 'culling day'.  Because of the hot humid weather Shimizu-san had cancelled that the day before we arrived, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, we had a whole day to kill before travelling the 500km back to Niigata.

We viewed the concrete ponds - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/464 - and then visited the mudponds - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/466 - this is Shimizu-san's daily routine.  We wandered around and Shimizu-san fired up the autofeeders on 'manual' to check the fry.  Whilst myself and Rene were at one end of the mudponds looking for a good vantage point to photograph them some people arrived.  Minutes later Shimizu-san had donned waders, black dress trousers and shirt beneath, and was wading into a pond with drag net.  Perhaps the cull was back on?

We headed to the pond being netted, still a little none the wiser as to what was happening.  One of the things you'll find in Japan is that things go on around you all the time and you're not quite sure why.  Lot's of things happen like clockwork.  Other times 'the boss' knows what is happening and others seemingly follow.

It transpired that someone was coming to collect a couple of bags of fry, this pond contained some of Shimizu-san's Sanke rejects.  It was interesting, many of what were netted would have been around Shousuke-san's edamame had I been at Shintaro culling, others would have gone back to the mud pond, no question.

At 11am we went for lunch!

After the culling had been cancelled Rene's prediction for the day turned out to be exactly right, sashimi restaurant for lunch, go back feed the Koi, have a nap, go to yakiniku (Korean BBQ) followed by some beers and karaoke in a snack bar.

Now, neither sashimi nor yakiniku fill me with joy it has to be said however I'm under instruction from Yoshi that I need to indulge more in the Japanese cuisine and the experience that is having a Japanese meal together.

During this meal, which was to last 5 hours, and I ate more raw fish than I'd ever eaten in the rest of my visits to Japan!  It was a fascinating 5 hours, coupled to the 2 in the yakiniku in the evening.

Below I'll share some more info that was gleaned from Shimizu-san.

About Shimizu-san

I don't know for sure but Shimizu-san is, I guess, in his early 60's.  This put's him a whole generation behind the likes of Masao Kato or Nobuo Takigawa.

He first discovered Nishikigoi around 35 years ago, serious boom time for the industry, purchasing Koi from local breeders/dealers.

His first visit to Niigata was 30 years ago, ever since he's been there multiple times each year.  Presently he visits around 6 times per year, staying for the whole of October!  Apparently there are 2 rooms in Izumiya Ryokan that have western style beds as opposed to tatami mats and futons.  They are his private rooms!  I know which rooms I'll be requesting should I ever stay there!

In Japan it is normal that the eldest son inherits the family business.  Many will be familiar with the story of Toshio Sakai being the younger brother and heading off to Isawa to create his own fortune.  Shimizu-san likewise was the younger brother, he started his own constuction company aged 25. It's success is obvious.

He is now effectively retired (although visits the company daily) and Koi, along with his bonsai, is his life.

There is no question that Shimizu-san is Nishikigoi to the core, he entered the hobby when it was perhaps a status thing.  Today he lives and breathes them in a way few others do.

About Niigata 

Shimizu-san has a mountainside in Shiga Prefecture with a mud pond complex, he could effectively extend this to limitless size should he desire I guess.  But, why does he have 4 mud ponds in Niigata, why does he go to the effort of moving 100 or so Koi 500km every spring and autumn, 90% of which are now actually Koi he has produced himself?!?

His answer was simple, 'water and mud!'.  He is in no doubt that the mountains of 'Yamakoshi' offer enormous benefits to Koi.  This echoed exactly what Torazo had said to me when we released tosai (ake-nisai) a few months back.  Many people probably don't realise the number of Koi that are transported to Niigata from all over Japan in order that they can spend the summer in mud ponds.

Shimizu-san's collection of Koi consists of Koi that were either produced in Niigata or from his own parents, most of which are Niigata Koi.  To him Niigata is a special, he doesn't want to go and buy elsewhere, Niigata has been his hunting ground for 30 years. 

Connections with Kanno Koi Farm

It was back in November 2007 when early one morning myself, Alan Archer and his father David headed to the breakfast spot with our 7-11 breakfast.  As we reached it we could see a kei truck around a mud pond that was above us.  We headed to see what was happening.  This was my first encounter with Kanno Koi Farm, or Hirasawa as the sign on the old house actually states.  Hiroshi Hirasawa and his son were netting a pond of nisai Goshiki and they duly invited us back to their Koi house in Mushigame.

Those Goshiki seriously impressed me, I stated that they were perhaps the best Goshiki in Niigata.  Never had I ever heard of Kanno Koi Farm.  Since we've met a number of times, at shows, Maruju, Ikarashi, or around the mudponds in Mushigame.

You may be wondering where this is heading!  Kanno actually look after Shimitsu-san's Niigata mud ponds.  I mentioned that Shimitsu-san bred Goshiki, they are from Kanno lines.

Shimitsu-san told us a story about how he and Hirasawa-san had visited Masao Kato in order to buy several Koi, one being a Shintaro Sanke.  On visiting Hirasawa-san was struck by a large Goshiki.  That Koi was purchased and became a vital part of Kanno's oyagoi, and also the oyagoi of Matsunosuke and Ikarashi Kazuto Goshiki.

Who can produce an All Japan Grand Champion in Niigata?

With the 2010 show being held in Niigata - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/463 - I think there are lots of people hoping that a Koi bred in Niigata will take the GC prize.

I had a conversation a few weeks ago which basically ended with, 'maybe Dainichi will get lucky'.  I was interested to know Shimitsu-san's thoughts on where a possible All Japan GC could come from these days in Niigata.  He was somewhat more positive.  He suggested that Marudo (no surprise), Marusei, Isa, were all capable of producing a Koi that could win.  I don't think his list was exhaustive, they were just examples.

I've been writing this post over several days, they were so many things discussed, I'll probably update over the next day or so, and also add some pics of interest.

I caught up with Saito-san this afternoon hoping he'd have some info about events at this weekend's Nagaoka Matsuri.  Unfortunately all he had was the programme for the firework display.  Following a quick chat and chance to eat some of Hiromi-san's home grown corn on the cob - delicious - I decided to head down to Nagaoka Civic Office in the hope of finding a clear timetable of events.  Alas I had little joy, hopefully I'll be able to decipher some more info from the website, www.nagaokamatsuri.com.

Today was dry, warm and bright, in contrast to the last few days.  As such I headed back up to Yamakoshi and popped into Maruju.

The fry awaiting culling are always held in a 3m show vat.  It was teaming with what looked like Goshiki, although different in appearance to those of last week - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/459.  'Goshiki?', I enquired.  'Budo Goromo', Yasu replied.

I wrote about Maruju's Budo Goromo last year, something which caused a little controversy in some quarters - http://yamakoshi.blogspot.com/2008/10/maruju-budo-goromo.html

I took a look over Shigeo-san's shoulder, immediately he said 'dozou', as he had yesterday, pointing this time at Shigeyoshi's empty seat.  'Wakaranai', I protested, meaning I don't understand.  'Daijoubu, Kohaku onaji!', he stated, meaning no problem, it's just like Kohaku.  As you'll see from the pics below, there is an element of truth about that but it's certainly not that simple!  'Mo chotto', I said, suggesting I wanted to watch a little longer.  He sorted through a couple more net fulls at which point I scooped some out of the bowl containing the keepers.  As ever, there are some that are completely obvious as 'keepers', there are obvious rejects, it's the ones in the middle that are hardest to understand.  'Wakatta?', Shigeo-san asked, meaning 'now you understand?', and pointed again at the empty seat.  This episode had lasted just 3 or 4 minutes and he wanted me to help, I suggested he was crazy, again, 'Daijoubu' he stated.

The first few shots below show random selections from the keepers.  I think you'll understand why they could, at this stage, be mistaken for Goshiki.

These pics below show a few that I picked out.  I think you'll understand what I mean by the fact they are obvious 'keepers'.

We barely scratched the surface of these fry, the show vat was still bulging and Shigeyoshi advised that an equal amount are still in a holding net in the mud pond.

A large part of Shimizu-san's hobby is now the breeding of his own Koi.  We left the Koi houses to visit his mud ponds which, as you can see below, are equally if not more impressive than the Koi houses!

The netted ponds contain this years fry.  This year Shimizu-san has spawned 3 sets of Sanke and one each of Kohaku, Showa and Goshiki, a total of 6. Last year his production was 10 sets! 

The uncovered ponds contain nisai and oyagoi.

Shimizu-san is looking to produce just a tiny number of tategoi, many thousands of the fry he produces are given away to friends through the culling process which is extremely heavy.

As well as his mud ponds in Shiga Prefecture Shimizu-san also rents 4 mud ponds in Niigata, 1 in Mushigame and 3 in the mountains above Muikamachi, the same area as Masao Kato has his ponds.

The one below is his pond in Mushigame photographed from the road between the Nagashima filling station and Mushigame.  This pond actually caught my attention last year when I drove past it, it contained a very impressive selection of 2 year old Koi.

I've not looked in it closely this year and when I took this picture on Sunday the rain made it impossible to see its contents clearly.

We shared some very interesting conversation throughout the weekend, I'll provide some more info in part 3.

On arriving at Shimizu-san's premises you could easily be mistaken for thinking you were arriving at the Koi houses of a high end Koi dealer or breeder, if they were they'd be the neatest and tidyist premises I'd ever visited!  They are not though, Shimizu-san is just a hobbyist, a hobbyist at the highest level of the game.  I'll give some more general information about him in another post, concentrating on his facilities in this.

There are in fact 3 Koi houses, the pic below shows the main 2.  You can just see a 3rd to the right, it contains smaller ponds and is older than the 2 you see below which house his main concrete display ponds.

This is the largest of the ponds, in the house to the left in the picture above and photographed from the 'office' area which you can see at the front.  It's actually just a room with one comfy chair in which Shimitsu-san can relax and watch the Koi, a small low table and some cushions, numerous trophies, magazines and books.  Home to Shimizu-san during the daytime in the winter when he's taking a break from attending the Koi.

This pond is 500tons, 110,000 UK gallons.  It used to be 600tons but was reduced in size when the filtration you can see at the far end and below was added.

The added filtration consists of 3 stepped submerged beds containing that highly fashionable filter medium called gravel!!  You can see an 'open' UV light suspended over each of the beds as is common in Japan.

This large tower unit was not running but as I understand it is more an aeration tower than for filtration. 

There were several large aerators running in the pond and levels of varying current, the water movement was significant.

The pond only had around 10 residents which for varying reasons hadn't been moved to his mudponds in Niigata, more of which later, for growing.  My previous connections with a few of these were soon to become apparent.

The large Ogon below, 110cm in size!, had been at last year's ZNA All Japan Show where it took Jumbo B Champion.

The Hi-Utsuri, photographed at the show, took Jumbo A Champion, it's 97cm.

Both Koi had occupied the same vat before judging had taken place and caused quite a stir, I remembered them well.  Both Koi were produced by Marusei Koi Farm.  Shimizu-san explained that last October Marusei had called him asking him to enter both Koi in the show.  He declined saying that they were too difficult for him to move, this is why they are still here and not in the mud in Niigata.  Marusei sent his staff down to Shiga, a 1000km round trip, just to pick these 2 Koi up and take them to the show!

Between the 2 Koi houses are the 4 pressurised filtration units you can see below.  The 2 on the left continue to serve the Koi house detailed above.  They are the original filtration units prior to the gravel beds being installed.  Shimizu-san stated that they are no longer required but as they are there they are still used.  The 2 on the right service the ponds detailed below.

The right hand Koi house contains 3 ponds.  The largest is 300tons, 66,000 UK gallons.  I'm not sure of the size of the 2 smaller ponds but as you can see, they aren't small either!

Currently this pond is holding some Koi for a friend, including a large Doitsu Karashigoi from Konishi Koi Farm.  The more I see these the more they impress me!

The 3 tier filtration is the same as the 500 ton pond.

I think the word mindlowing comes to mind.  It was almost like the first time I saw the 1500 ton pond at Momotaro.  Remember, the largest of these ponds is just 1/3rd of the size of that enormous pond and this is for 1 hobbyists collection.

Shimizu-san was apologetic that there was little to see and repeatedly asked me to revisit in October when the ponds would be 'ippai', meaning full.

You just try stopping me!