Day 1 at the All Japan Wakagoi Show

I could happily have slept through my 5.30am alarm this morning, the thought of the Wakagoi Show dragged me out of bed.

I really like the Wakagoi Show, this being the 3rd I've attended following 2007 and 2008.  The Koi challenging for GC at the Wakagoi Show are generally 2 or 3 years old, they are things of youthful beauty, they have a different appeal, and feeling, to the jumbo Koi which compete at the other major shows in Japan.  The largest Koi at the Wakagoi are 63cm, for me their ultimate beauty comes at around 75cms, thereafter they 'change'.

Last night buying my ticket took about 20 minutes as I wanted a seat with a power socket for my laptop.  Upon boarding the Shinkansen at Shinagawa station my seat did not have a power socket.  As such I afforded myself some sleep for much of the journey.  The furthest south I'd previously travelled on the Shinkansen was Hiroshima.  It makes the sub 2 hour journey to Nagaoka seem very short.

I arrived in Tosu just after midday.  It seems a strange mix, centred around the station.  Lots of hotels, quite what they are serving I'm unsure, there is no sign of big business or industry.

I made my way across to the show ground which you can see in the pic below.  Things were very quiet, and to be honest never really got frenzied at all, unlike other shows.  I was told last week around 1700 Koi would be entered.

To the right of the pic you can see a bridge across the rail track.  Immediately off the edge of the pic is the Best Western Tosu Hotel, seemingly home for many of the people connected with the show.

Just after I arrived the guys from Niigata in charge of transporting Koi from there arrived.

On the right below is Ryu Mano, son of Izumiya, on the left Hirui San who works for JA.  Others here were Senichi Mano, Marusaka, and Shinoda.  Later those that I believe are the Niigata judges arrived, Mitsunori Isa, Marudo, Nogami, Yamamatsu, Futoshi Mano amongst them.  It's quite strange really, when the shows are in Ojiya, during the early stages I know so many people. Here I knew few.

Hiroshi Mano, left, and Kondo releasing a Kohaku.  This Koi is in my top few, maybe it'll feature tomorrow. Proper pic to follow.

A really interesting Goshiki.  Sadly today everything seemingly conspired against good pics.  No sooner had Koi been released the vats were covered.  Coupled with that the sun was shining brightly, there were strong winds rippling the vats and finally the vats were covered with all manner of leaves and other debris.

I took the pic of this vat card as I really liked the look of this Kohaku, just in case I couldn't get a proper pic of it when it arrived.  This is quite probably my tip for Grand Champion tomorrow.

 Pics of some of the possible contenders to follow.