Tuesday with A & C - main stop Yamazaki

We headed off this morning, chilly and overcast following a day of glorious weather yesterday, first stop Kase with the hope of hand picking some tosai, despite the fact Kase san had advised that none were available, the tategoi house being 'snowbound'.

Despite our visit Kase san stood firm that no tategoi could be picked through and, with nothing else of interest at the level Jos was looking for we departed, next stop Yamazaki.

First we visited the tosai houses to have a look at the Koi available, Koi we've seen before on Niigata-Nishikigoi.com - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/716.

Jos enquired about whether he could handpick some tosai, Manabu declined and we headed across the road to the new Koi house to look at some nisai.

From left to right, Sandra (Jos's daughter), Jos, Bram Rohan, Marko and, grinning like a Cheshire cat in the background, Manabu san, another of Niigata's great characters amongst the breeder community.

The Koi in question were a bowl of Hariwake and Purachina.  Jos had stated to Manabu san that in his opinion and experience the Purachina from Yamazaki retained their quality longer in Europe than those of Choguro which he feels tend to go 'greyer'.  It was suggested that this is because those have been bred many times over to generate great luster as small Koi, something they cant' sustain.  Alas I've never owned a Purachina so have no experience to comment on personally.

The picture below shows the Koi which Jos decided to purchase, one of which was particularly interesting.

At first glance this may appear to be a little boring, a Koi of 2 halves.

However, on closer inspection you'll see the eyes have perfectly matching yellow rims around the top and it also has matching yellow lips, incredibly unusual.

What is becoming very apparent is that Jos can play a good game when it comes to purchasing Koi.

Having returned to the tosai house Manabu conceded and granted Jos permission to select 5 tosai from one of the ponds, a pond containing many unsorted tategoi.  These Koi would come from 1 single scoop of a net through the pond.

The Kujaku and Kawarigoi on the right hand side had earlier been picked out by Manabu san and were joined by a number of Beni Kumonryu in which Jos was particularly interested.

In the end Jos whittled it down to the following 5 Koi.

Beni Kumonryu are not a variety I'm overly fond of if truth be told, I've always been a fan of Kumonryu however, I long remember seeing my first example in a copy of Practical Fishkeeping magazine well over 20 years ago.  These however were certainly very clean pretty Koi with proper patterns, not the largely red with a few black patches often seen.  The one below was probably my favourite.

Manabu then surprisingly turned around, before the others were returned to the pond, and invited Jos to pick a 6th Koi.  The one at the front in the picture below is one that Jos had really liked apart from one factor, the beni in the pectoral fin.  Manabu explained that he'd rarely known a nisai or older Beni Kumonryu retain this in this manner, normally it shrinks back, as such Jos decided the other positive factors of the Koi made it worth taking a chance.

Jos proceeded to ask about Ochiba Shigure and Karashigoi and Manabu san surprisingly replied that Jos could pick some from another pond, again from a single scoop of the net.  There were some seriously nice Ochiba amongst the hundreds in the single scoop, the pictures below showing a few of I think 11 purchased.

Manabu san cited this Ginrin Ochiba Shigure as being particularly special.

A couple of Doitsu Karashigoi were duly added, along with another Beni Kumonryu, resulting in a box of 20 hand selected tosai, up from 5 that Manabu reluctantly agreed too in the first place.

It was heading well into the afternoon by this point and a quick stop was made at a ramen shop on Route 17 before heading back through Aikawa, the Utogi Tunnel and a stop at Hide Hirasawa's facility, an appointment postponed yesterday - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/node/728.  Whilst taking lunch it started to snow, real heavy snow, something I was sure was over for this winter.

Only a few nisai remain available, not enough for Jos to justify making up a box so it was then up to look at Hide's tosai.  Entirely my fault, unfortunately Hide's blog didn't continue past his first post last year.  You can see some of last year's tosai here - http://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/blog/115.

Jos selected 36 tosai from one of the 'for sale' tanks, unfortunately in the cramped Koi house I wasn't in a position to photograph them.

Hide then agreed that Jos could purchase some Koi from the tategoi ponds situated under the family home although it wouldn't be possible today as they Koi were being fed.  An appointment has been made to return on Thursday meaning we'll have Nogami and Hide, plus other visits no doubt.

From Hide's we headed to Marudo with the prime intention of making arrangements to select tosai later in the week, with those made, and the snow still falling heavily, we headed back home.

Tomorrow Jos has appointments at Oya Koi Farm and Matsunosuke.