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| Welcome to the insight of our
trips to Japan. This year we will be running two
blogs at the same time, the second blog although
less professional than the site one will be up
dated nearly live from Japan, for those who cant
wait for the delay in me sending it to our website
team and then they in turn update the website
(including allowing for time differance). This
year we are hoping that we will have video images
on the Koi for sale pages, and also some video
links on our second blog site.
To view the second blog go
to: http://gatwickkoijapan.spaces.live.com/ |
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Saturday 24thoct - so it ends............
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| This morning I awoke and laying
in bed contenplating the day a head, and suddenly
aware of a feeling that somthing was wrong, a quick
look at the alarm clock confirmed my worst fears,
it was 8.00, and had 5 mins to get ready, breakfast
was already a lost cause! Running out of the hotel
camera in one hand boots in the other I nearly knocked
down the agent coming the other way, lucky he was
running late too! Off to sekiguchi again where there
wasnt a lot of koi as he had been very busy since
we left, some of our group had some yonsai that
had been growing there that they had to photograph
and it was on then to tanaka who had 3 sansai and
yonsai including a 70cm chagoi and a yonsai shiro
utsuri which was an off spring of white tiger (I
believe a fanmous omosaku koi), and a sansai gin
rin showa, I purchased all 3 and then we left. Back
on the motorway towards ojiya we stopped for lunch
at moes burgers and more of that great corn soup.
The afternoon really was a wind down visiting mushigame
for the last time, I felt I just couldnt resist
a last box from yagenji koi farm and again wasnt
disapointed, a box of what I would call doitsu karashigoi,
around 50cm, nisai and all female. The trip was
supposed to last untill tuesday with low funds and
some pressing news from home I managed to get a
flight home earlier so this will probably be my
last entry, so to answer what a lot of people are
asking, was it a good trip and did I achieve all
that I wanted? Yes it was, and hopefully we have
raised the level of quality again this year, we
have left more koi out here than ever and although
not where we want to be, we are certainly heading
in the right direction although I know we still
have a long way to go. I hope you have enjoyed my
ramblings through niigata, if you have and feel
that you are mad enough to join me, ill be returning
to Japn at the begining of feb 2010 to go to the
all japan show and then on to our buying trip, we
visit most breeders and have access to all levels
of quality and sizes of koi so please feel free
to contact us in the shop, once again thanks for
reading ...................Gary |
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| World
exclusive!!! === World exclusive!!! === World
exclusive!!!
Was it an amazing tategoi? a show
winning koi? a record breaking size chagoi? no
even beter, seven hours sleep!!!!! For those of
you who havnt been to Japan you will wonder what
the hell im talking about, for those who have
or know me must understand that I am the king
of the 3am zone, that time when strong alcohol
or a good book or anything will not send you to
sleep, so after falling asleep at the laptop again
last night at 11pm I decieded to call it a day,
you can imagine my surprise when im awoke at 6.15
am, 7 whole hours sleep. I can honestly say I
was ready to take on the world, let alone the
breeders of Niigata. So after a hearty breakfast
I really did feel on top of my game, setting out
to Maradoh I felt really positive and wondered
how I would feel having sleep everyday! Any way
back to the koi, Maradoh is great guy who has
some serious quality, his go sanke is unbelievable
again this year but having filled my boots with
go sanke I decided not waste his time asking prices
and headed straight for the chagois, when I asked
for chagois I think there was a mistake in translation
before I knew it I was looking at 100 chagoi,
mukashi ogon and other varietys all way over 80cm
and some over 90 (and yes before you ask, there
was that many, and I hear he has another hundred
or so out in the mud pond). Feeling a bit embarresed
I asked if he had any smaller, of course he did,
4 chagoi and karashigoi were purchsed around 52-58cm,
female and nisai. Just as we were walking out
he asked if I wanted any yamabuki ogons, nisai
and around 25-30cm, I asked will they grow really
big? the resulting laughter made me feel I said
the funniest joke in japan, someone pointed behind
me, you guessed it, a whole of yamabuki ogons
all the 74 - 85cm. I now had to buy a box just
to make me feel better. A stop at hoshikins to
look at kohaku to leave out in the ponds drew
our first blank as he was mesuring customers koi,
and we didnt want to interupt so we had a walk
across the road to dianichi, no one was there
but we had a look around and it was amazing, the
fish were just incredable, up to mushigame and
to visit masaki, he wasnt in either so I quick
peek at hiroi, sakai and miyatora resulted in
no koi being found, as this may be my last day
I decieded to go back to Yagenji Koi Farm, the
two brothers have to be the nicest guys around,
and I love thier koi and the prices are nice as
well. Today we had been joined by a dutch dealer
who asked for a yonsai to be bowled, and did the
koi make the whole place go still, it was incredable,
the whole package was superb, watch out the people
in europe as this fish is staying in Japan for
a few years yet and will be coming to compete,
a deal was struck and the best fish I have seen
this week was sold. |
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| Today we started off at oofuchi
looking for more unusual varietys, never disapointed
we bought two sansai doitsu hariwakes and a sansai
tancho sanke. Last year I noticed that he was producing
some nicer go sanke, so we bought some and have
to say were very pleased with them, at the time
they had that matsunoske look to them, this year
he even better quality so I purchesed another 3
and a doitsu platinum ogon again all sansai and
female. Curosity got the bettter of me and I had
to ask, he laughed and said you know already, seems
that even ooffuchi can undertsand a little English!
With an added bonus of the female over 90 he said
there is no reason that the off spring cant do the
same, happy days!!!! It was then off to look at
2 fish we had left last year and here the story
gets complicated and I will go into more detail
later. Another curry and rice for lunch and then
off to sakai to look at what we couldnt afford,
amazing harvets with a great gin rin kohaku that
id love to own, but way out of my leauge. Then back
to yagenji, why? why not! These guys bare probably
the nicest people in niigata and always pleased
to see you, so always buying koi from them it was
time to buy a koi for azukari (leave in the mud
ponds) when I mentioned it to the brothers we started
talking about koi from the main pond, our agent
loved a shiro that was bowled, when in the bowl
the skin was excellant and a great body shape, a
price was negotiated which I thought was fair, and
then renogatiated due to the fact that it was her
birthday and she said the new price, it was rude
to say no, one condition, the koi has to be called
"niki " , I can live with that, after
a quick bet on the size (which yagenji won) the
koi was measured at 58cm and will go through 65
next year and then on to 80 in the future. After
having a quick look at yamazaki which hardley had
any stocks, but worth visiting as he had an amzing
sansai showa which was absolutely stunning. Also
a visit to oya koi farm left us wondering what we
had missed as he was low on koi but had a lovley
showa which was too small to pack on its own. Taime
to call it a day and head back to the hotel. |
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| Had a shock this morning when
the agent handed me a list of what I had bought,
im really running out of money and still have
5 days to go! The agent then asked when do I leave,
I said tommorrow, she laughed and said you very
funny Gary, I didnt have the heart to say it wasnt
a joke! So out we headed to visit Tananka, here
he had all sorts of varietys but his speciality
is gin rin showa, male shinoda gin rin parent
and dianichi female. Tanaka won best gin rin 35cm
at the last ojiya show. When I asked if he was
showing again he said yes and preceded to bowl
3 excellant gin rin showa, he pointed to one and
said number one, and asked I we could buy it,
the price wasnt too bad, so I thought get the
price on the next two and save a bit of money
(english thinking)!, the price came back and was
3 times the price, totally dumbfounded I had to
ask why, he replied these two were more finished
so easier to sell (japanese thinking) while the
number one will be much better in the future but
much harder to sell. Well I understood what he
was saying and said id like to purchase the cheaper
one and grow it on in the mud pond, he said yes
and I was very pleased as he doesnt normally offer
this. We then moved on to what he said were cheaper
grade fish and we bought a bowl of shusui, midorigoi,
gin rin hajiro, gin shiro utsuri, kin ki utsuri,
showa, kin showa, the showa is for someone who
has emailed me and asked for a showa so I hope
you like it (bullit), if this is his cheaper koi
then we will doing a fair bit of buisness with
him in the future. Then off to Sekiguchi the showa
breeder, I have heard alot about this guy and
have bought his jumbo tosai before and have always
been very pleased with the koi, but have never
visited the farm. Well was I in for a shock, being
a lover of showa I lost my breath when I went
in the nisai house, outstanding quality and very
good size for nisai, cannot recomend this farms
quality enough, but after asking two prices I
knew I was out of my depth somewhat. Looking around
I found one showa and really thought it was very
attractive and had a great head pattern, I had
to ask the price and was very surprised, and even
more surprised when they said yes to growing the
koi on. Size now 40cm, expected next year 53-55,
happy days..........................somewhat dazed
from finding two koi in one day to grow on we
went then to another breeder which I wont discuss
for a day or two as im thinking about a very serious
little shiro utsuri and chagoi. As these breeders
where a long way off by the time we got to ojiya
there was time for a quick look at marahiro who
had harvested again, this guy has some serious
gin rin kohaku, and then it was off to uncle hirasawa
for coffee and a chat about the finer points of
nishikoi and life in general, actually thats a
load of rubbish but I cant really say what the
conversation was about on a public blog, but through
the translator he had us in fits of laughter and
was a perfect end to another perfect day.
One thing I will say, there is
a box of very special little fish for people who
want something to grow on, ill explain more later........... |
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| Woke up to a wet and dreary day
but I wasnt going to let that get me down. Two customers
wanted a very nice gin rin soragoi, so with that
in mind we headed off to Hosakai round the otherside
of Ojiya, when we arrived the soragoi wearnt quiet
up to what we wanted, so after all recieving about
100 mozzie bites each we were keen to get away,
as we were leaving I noticed an out side pond with
green water and what looked like huge koi in, the
breeder came out and explained just very big fish,
he said around 65cm but we thought bigger so we
bought a large asagi and gin matsuba for a very
resonable price hoping to fullfil a order for two
large koi! A drive round the corner to suda and
I have to say was quiet impressed with the quality
of some of the showa there, aoki next and he was
out so then came an early lunch. A drive back to
mushigame to visit nagashima who had a lovely selection
of showa, very nice guy and good quality koi who
deserves more people going there than he gets. After
an afternoon of breeders being busy or out harvesting
the day looked like just the big fish, everyone
who breeds hi utsuri seemed to be out or not have
harvested yet, frustrating when you have three orders
to find. The agent then suggested we try shinoda,
I like shinodas koi, but over the last few years
the prices have been too high, or the quality has
sold out. This time it was neither and we had two
sansai females, around 50 and 55cm, and also took
advatage and bought 5 nisai of around 40cm in case
the two sansai were just too big for the orders.
As most people know im not a lover of doitsu koi
but I saw some lovely doitsu showa, a very good
price and nice quality so I thought why not, and
for good measure found a very attractive gin rin
hi showa as well. Very happy to be buying this guys
koi again as the quality was good and the prices
good as well. |
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Monday 19th
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| Apologise to those waiting for news
or to read the blog, half way through the work I
fell asleep at the pc and wiped the blog out, thought
id better lay down for a while and stayed there
for five hours! For those who have been out here
you know after a few days you have a day where you
just cant stay awake or fight off the yawns, today
was that day! The day started with a clear sky and
by 9am we were off on the hunt for non go sanke
for orders, just as we got to the mountains I remembered
we hadnt played the lucky cd, with sweet home alanbama
blareing out of the car the signs were looking good.
First stop to Otsuka, where I saw a couple of non
go sanke orders and then disaster struck, saw a
stunningly white gin rin tancho sanke in the sansai
pond I knew I had to have, before you could say
non go sanke it was in the bowl and purchased, but
we needed to make the box up so to make myself feel
better I found a nice ochiba and red eye kigoi,
people had asked for them so that pleased me as
well. A visit to Otsuka is a must he turns up the
most unuasual koi and sometimes can be very good
with the prices. The agent then suggested that we
try Sakai for a quality nisai that a customer had
ordered, I said we wont get much for the budget
there, I thought if we get one koi there ill be
happy, how wrong we were, sakai was explained to
about how the pound was weak and he said no problem
and found a few, I was quiet happy with what he
offerd in a bowl, untill I saw a nidan pattern with
great body and skin and pointed at that, he made
that sound that only the japanese can make, somewhere
between a growl and a grumble and I knew I was in
trouble, not to be detered Ii pushed for the price
and he said it was more expensive, and I think he
must have seen the look on my face and he asked
the agent would we buy more koi today, seeing the
closure of the deal I nodded and he said, same price,
done! While in the farm I saw a very nice pond of
koi, he laughed and said very high quality, gave
me the price and i nearly passed out, they were
only about 35cm -40cm, again my face said it all,
and he said high quality again and grabbed a net
and showed me one. These were very good and before
I knew it I had 3 in the bowl with the idea of may
be purchasing one, he said they were so good we
could buy one and leave it in Japan, then before
I knew it the agent had done a deal for all 3!!!!!!
I said hold on a minute and was duly told to shut
up!!!! (somtimes you have to leave the agent to
do thier job) when the agent came back and gave
me the deal and said buy all three take one for
the mud ponds and two to england, the price was
so good I said ok but can we leave all three, and
sakai said no problem (this is usually a good sign
as the breeders will not give up mud pond space
for fish they believe doesnt have a future) so all
3 were purchased to be grown on. Earlier on I had
seen a pond of nice koi but not of the quality we
had just bought, he gave me a price and I thought
these cant be that good and again how wrong I was,
as he netted a few I couldnt believe that quality
that was there for what I thought was a standard
price. 11 koi later including showa, gin rin showa,
shiro utsuri, sanke gin rin sanke I was one happy
camper. Dinner at Sakai in the form of curry noodles
and we were off on the trail of non go sanke, first
stop at yagenji but they were still out harvesting
but had some stunning 3 year shiros in so we will
be going back, then off to iwashita were there were
some seriously high quality of many many varietys,
having a reputattion for quality and high prices
I asked the price of some sansai and was very pleasently
surprised, but the varietys I was looking for were
not there. Popped in to kawakami, the king off the
non go sanke but there was a large american party
and they seemed to be buying the whole place up
so we moved on. Hirasawa called and said come over
for coffee, so we did on the hope for some higher
quality hi utsuri, but when we got there he had
sold them all! the son came over and said why not
come over and look at my koi, he had some very nice
gin rin kohaku, and a price was agreed, also saw
a stunning gin matsuba which I know a few people
are looking for, and then he said we needed one
more for the box, before I knew it he had a sanke
in the bowl which I had nearly bought a few days
ago, I remembered it was three times the price and
I shook my head, he said no problem same price and
shook my hand and put a can of beer in my pocket,
what a gentleman, you cant argue with a closure
like that!!!!!! As we got in the car the agent asked
if I was happy, and I had to say I was, then the
agent replied not many go sanke though and laughed,
as I joined in laughing my thoughts returned to
last year when the hunt for kujaku became an obsession,
was this going to be the same way for non go sanke
for me .............the hunt for a day of non go
sanke contiunues ................... |
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This is also to be left in Japan
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Happy days - Yamatsu Koi Farm
generations of matsuaoske
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| Today was a busy day in Niigata,
with the famous sakai auction and a show going on
it was always going to be hard finding people around.
The plan for today was to pick up all the non go
sanke orders, as usual the best laid plans..............One
breeder to watch for the future is the son of Hirasawa,
his quality is getting better every year. We started
of with some smaller nisai 30-38cm, many varieys
available and we tried to pick the orders first
but things change as always. The hariwake is reserved
for a customer and just within the budget so two
of us are happy! The breeder then had to leave quickly
to judge the koi show. On our way to mushigame we
deciede to call at marasaka, he was away harvesting
but the agent called him and he was happy to come
back. I really like this place all the family are
very friendly and more to the point his sanke are
old style jimbei blood line. There was a pond with
some nice sansai all female, we bought a very nice
sanke, tancho sanke (sumi is so thick and strong
and he says more will come), a very clean kujaku
with a nice pattern which the father said will grow
over 80 cm, and then lastly a sanke which had secondary
hi on the face but its what Peter Barnes would call
a project, I just liked the big sumi so typical
of jimbei so I thought id buy her anyway and see
what can be done (Pete can you give me a ring, I
need a quick favour............lol) From here it
was on to hiroi and hoping that he had some nice
showa, sadly he diddnt, but we managed to buy 4
more sanke, very thick beuatiful sumi and very good
skin, even though you could see that they had just
been harvested unfortuantley the photos dont show
the skin and colours clearly. One thing that did
surprise me here was that the breeder would not
commit to sexing the nisai, he said to early, guess
thats why he had a few male sansai knocking around.
Then we bowled a fantastic sanke, 60cm female, sansai,
a very good price but again the pound is still not
in our favour so it made it a bit tight, but we
havnt finsihed with the negotiations, steve the
cabby (south london) watch this space I know you
said nisai, but what the hell!!!! Also have the
shiro as well now Steve! Early day as it was sunday
so on the way back we saw hirasawa and said we were
looking for some benigoi and he said we have some,
nisai 50 -55cm, so guess were we are going tommorrow.
So although a quiet day we have seen some bigger
and better fish and made plans for tommorrow, I
know people are keen to see the prices go up on
the sale pages please bare with us im hoping to
start pricing in the next 24 hours. |
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First stop today was Hoshikins, a
very serious kohaku breeder indeed. On this ocasion
we purchased many nisai of varying qualities including
quiet a few three stop kohaku. (so those who asked
please email asap!!!!). After this we looked at
some higher grade nisai with a view to leave out
in Japan, but we havnt made a desicion on whether
to buy or not (video of these included). Then the
day just got better and better, from Hoshikins to
another favourite breeder Yagenji, here there where
many varietys and superb range of quality to fit
all budgets. Three shiro utsuri were purchased from
his better quality ponds for a customer in London,
three to chose from, hows that! Also 3 male and
one female showa just becuase I liked them, very
reasonable prices for nisai, great skin and great
colours. A short drive (about 100 yards) from Yagenji
took us to Sakai, so many koi, so many people! So
we will have to look again later as he is a must
for Sanke and one special sanke we are looking for.
Lunch at the noodle bar and with curried rice again,
I have often wondered if such a small noodle bar
was ever talked about so much all around the world!
Then a flying visit to Kaneco where we looked at
an incredable shiro utsuri for one of the dutch
guys, this really was a special little nisai, skin
to die for and a pattern to match! Now the worrying
part, a chance to go to Torazo to see how the nisai
kohaku I had left out there had faired on its journey
to sansai, I neednt have worried as it looked great,
left out at around 39cm she has grown to 55cm, have
to say ...............very pleased!!!!!!!! Hope
you enjoy the video Graham, and to answer the question
this is coming home! While at Torazo I couldnt let
the chance of picking a few more pass by, male tancho
showa, female sanke and kohaku and also thinking
about two higher grade koi that we have been offered.
After a long day it was decided to head off for
somthing to eat, and a quick phone call to see if
a higher grade tancho showa had been sold at another
breeder that someone else was looking at, good news
is that it hadnt so an appointment was made to go
there sunday morning.
A few of the hoshikin kohaku selected today. |
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Yageni nisai
shiro |
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sansai kohaku that has been grown
on for us at torazo.
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three more nisai from torazo
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Friday 16th
Oct |
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Here we are 22 hours after setting
off from home finally arriving at our hotel in
Ojiya. Only had a few hours before it got dark
so we flew round to see Hirasawa, koi of every
variety and size all over the place but there
was so many people there we will go back tommorrow,
his sons koi are looking very good and we will
be going back there as well. As time was moving
on we popped in to see Miyatora, not many sansai
but plenty of nisai in fact so much so I thought
it would be rude not to pick a box. Nice variety:
sanke, gin rin hi showa, tancho showa, tancho
sakura ogon, tancho beni kikikoryu, beni kikikoryu,
gin rin goshiki and matsuba ogon. This trip the
idea is to look for higher quality go snake but
just couldnt resist the variety. Individual photos
to follow. |
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