December, 2009

Understandably October was largely dominated by one thing - harvests, or ikeage as they are known. 

My first harvest was in fact a tosai harvest as Devin brought in his Kohaku tosai on 5th October.

Harvest season 'proper' got underway on 10th October with the harvest of sansai at Isa Koi Farm.

This particular Showa was my personal favourite of those harvested that day, it was sold within a couple of days.

On 11th October the Maruju Goshiki that I detailed in the May update was harvested from the mud pond.  Whilst the sumi had receeded somewhat the beni was clean still.  Shigeyoshi Tanaka declared the Koi their number one sansai tategoi Goshiki.

On the 12th October Isa harvested their jumbo Koi, always a great spectacle.

One breeder whose harvests particularly impressed this year was Hiroi Koi Farm.  The pics below of some of their nisai, taken on 12th October.

On 14th October I made my first visit to Hosokai Koi Farm where Masaru Hosokai bowled several Koi for photographing for us including this very nice 56cm sansai Sanke.

On 15th October Shintaro harvested the first of the 2 ponds containing nisai Showa, the Showa I'd followed so closely through 2008 and into 2009.

The first pictured below is that that can be seen being released in the May review post, it was my 2nd favourite tosai when released and was my favourite nisai harvested.

The Showa below was also harvested.  This Koi is special to me as I have pictures of it at just a few cm long and 4 months old. 

On the following day the children from a school in Nagaoka, the same one that Kosuke and Kensuke Saito had attended after the 2004 earthquake, visited to observe another Shintaro harvest as part of an educational trip.  They were certainly very enthusiastic and keen to get some hands on action!

The 17th October saw a harvest I'd been anticipating all summer take place, the harvest of the best Torazo sansai, those you can see being released in the April review.  Included in the harvest was this Kohaku, a Koi which I absolutely adore and one you can see as a tosai in the February review post.  This Koi is not presently for sale, Tsuyoshi san keeping it to grow as tategoi.  I look forward to following it's progress.

Anyone that has visited Isa Koi Farm will likely have met Hide Hirasawa who is staff there.  Some may not be aware that he also breeds Koi of his own, primarily Doitsu, as well as raising some Isa Showa.

This is an interesting example of his Doitsu Showa harvest mid October, 35cm nisai.

For those looking for something a little unusual then a good place to stop is Otsuka Koi Farm.  Perhaps most famous for Asagi, including the Gyakumi 'reverse' Asagi they have developed, they also produce Goshiki Sanke, Goshiki Showa and Kage Utsuri, one of the few places you can find such Koi.  The first pic shows the best Goshiki Showa available from the October harvests, the second picture an example of the Gyakumi Asagi.

On the 21st October I was invited to attended the harvest of what is perhaps the most beautiful mud pond I know containing Ikarashi Kazuto's jumbo Koi.

It contained just 19 Koi in excess of 80cm.

No one can ever forget the terrible tragedy that devastated the Yamakoshi region on 23rd October 2004 in the shape of the Chuetsu earthquake.  The picture below showing balloons being released at the 5th anniversary commemoration at Yamakoshi Branch Office.

The 24th October saw another very memorable harvest take place, the Torazo jumbo harvest. Below Tsuyoshi san lifting one of the jumbo Kohaku from the pond, a task they make look so simple.

This particular Kohaku below was to go on and take the Grand Champion prize at the Ojiya Koi Show the following day.

On the same day, the 25th October, Nogami was to take the Grand Champion prize at the Nagaoka Show with the Maruten Kohaku pictured below.

I'm fortunate to have excellent relationships with a number of breeders, 2 I've got to know better over the last 12 months are the Ishihara brothers, Daisuke and Toshinori, better known as Yagenji.  They produce some truly excellent Koi.  On a visit in October they asked if it was possible for me to photograph some of their Koi for them, something I of course was happy to oblige.  A few of the examples that they bowled.

The number 1 yonsai Kohaku, 70cm, amazingly still for sale!

This Kohaku, again yonsai, was very imposing.  Whilst the shiroji was a little yellow Toshinori was sure it will be much better next year.  I'll look forward to seeing it that's for sure!

An awesome October was to draw to a close in style with the Niigata Nogyosai Show which took place on the weekend of 31st October/1st November.

The Grand Champion prize was taken by this 83cm Dainichi Kohaku.

August was dominated by festivals and ongoing culling of this year's fry.

The weather wasn't perhaps as glorious as 2008, the rain clouds made for some nice pictures though, the one below taken on 7th August.

The Maruju Goshiki continued to develop, these below photographed on 9th August.

On the 14th August I spent the day with Devin Swanson and encountered his Marudo Kohaku fry for the first time.  The picture below some of the keepers from the first cull when they were just 3 weeks or so old.

On the 16th August the Bon festival was held in Mushigame, a festival to honours the spirits of deceased ancestors.  Centrepiece of the festival is the Bon Odori dance pictured below.

On 17th August the Mushigame Rinyu Club held their Ta Agari Hinpyoukai, a show for this year's tosai, the Maruten Showa below, offspring of a Yamamatsu female and Yagenji male,  taking the Grand Champion prize.

On the 19th August the Tanaka family held their annual Bon Festival barbecue which included locally caught Ayu.

The 22nd - 24th August saw the 3 day Ojiya Matsuri take place, a very enjoyable weekend, some pictures of the action below.

The Koshi Hikari rice continued to grow, that below pictured at the end of August.

On 29th August the festival in the small village of Wakatochi, home to Hosokai Koi Farm, took place including an impressive fire dance display and firework display.

June got underway with more sleepless nights as spawning continued all over Niigata.

In the early hours of 2nd June I met up with Mitsunori Isa and Hide Hirasawa as they undertook spawnings with the new male oyagoi Isa Koi Farm had purchased, a Koi which had taken th 80bu male Kokugyo award at the 2009 All Japan Show.  It's the Koi second from bottom in the picture below.

Another late night was to follow on the 5th/6th June as Shintaro spawned 5 sets of oyagoi in 1 evening, all by 1.30am!  The picture below some of the resultant eggs, who knows what they'll produce over the coming years.

Two days later the eggs of the Sanke were placed in nets in the fry pond which would be their home for the rest of the summer.  The exact process varies from breeder to breeder.

The Showa fry were watched in the Koi house in order Kuroko selection (the black fry) could take place before they were released into their mud pond on 12th June.

As June wore on the temperatures started to soar into the 30's.

A couple of pictures taken on 26th June which must have been the hottest day of the year so far.

Earlier on that same day I'd joined Rob from Ornafish to select some Showa jumbo tosai at Marudo.  I was pleased to later  hear that my favourite was awarded the best tategoi at the NVN Koi Show in August.

On returning home from the Wakagoi Show in Kyushu spring had truly arrived in Yamakoshi, almost all the snow had gone, the roads were clear, and people could start working on the land again.

The first picture below was taken on 5th April just outside Mushigame.

The picture below was taken the following day from the road that leads to the top of Kanagura Yama from Mushigame.

Another shot taken later that day from Takezawa as the sun set.

This year's cherry blossom, or 'sakura' as it is known in Japan, was particularly spectacular in Ojiya, some shots taken along the Shinano River on 12th April.

On 22nd April the Niigata breeders staged an auction of Koi at Ojiya Gymnasium, results were mixed with some Koi going for bargain prices.  I believe it will take place again this spring although I'm unsure of the date.

To the best of my knowledge Aoki was the first breeder to start spawning in 2009, these fry photographed on 24th April!

On 27th April Nishikigoi no Sato, the 'Koi museum' in Ojiya City, celebrated it's 20th anniversary with a sale of Koi being put on by a number of breeders.

April finished on a real high as I joined Tsuyoshi Kawakami (Torazo) as he released his nisai to their summer mud ponds, an afternoon which also delivered some of my favourite pictures I've taken.