More Goshiki, but tomorrow it's Showa

By the time I arrived at Maruju today the Kohaku had been duly sorted and they were back to another pond of Goshiki.

I took my seat and started sorting through.  Interestingly a few more of these, from a different parent set, had stronger underlying blue than the previous lot although, overall, it was still very much like selecting through Kohaku.

As we sat going through the fry a couple of men turned up, one with notebook, the other laden down with cameras.  They were a team of journalists from Osaka who'd come to Yamakoshi to write an article about the region.  They were somewhat taken aback to find a gaigin sitting in the middle of Yamakoshi sorting 6 week old Goshiki.  They were amazed to learn that Nishikigoi were so popular in the UK and elsewhere around the world.

To all the breeders that I've blinded by flashlight whilst they were culling I apologise, I now know how you feel.  My culling technique is a little slower than most breeders and, with deliberate pauses, given a good idea of what he was trying to catch I hope he did.

I mentioned yesterday that I can't wait to see how these Goshiki fry develop, how quickly changes, if any, take place.  Speaking to Shigeyoshi at the end of the day he told me they could quite easily carry out a 2nd cull in just 1 weeks time but they don't have time to do so.  It will be 10-15 days before they get round to culling them again.

It's pretty well known now that I'm Showa addicted and tomorrow is the start of Showa culling at Maruju.  Anyone who has a copy of Nishikigoi Mondo can see that Maruju's bloodline preceeds even Dainichi.

Last year Shigeyoshi told me that understanding the line took at least 3 years.  This is year 2, I hope to get to understand it more and more.

I'm not sure how many day's culling of Showa lie ahead but I'll have just the one day, on Friday I head off on a little bit of a tour with Rene son in law of Miyaishi.  Our final destination on Saturday/Sunday will be a hobbyist in Shiga Prefecture called Shimitsu-san, down near Kyoto.  It's pretty exciting for a couple of reasons, firstly I've never driven so far through the Japanese countryside, always by bullet train, secondly Shimitsu-san has, from the pics I've seen, an awesome facility.  Whilst a hobbyist he is also a breeder, i.e. a non commercial breeder.  I understand this weekend is a hobbyist 'culling' get-together.

Should be fun!