Day 5 Oishi Koi Farm

I always look forward to visiting this farm as I can get to choose very high quality Tosai, It is very straight forward for me when i arrived , a chat about what i need a quick coffee and onto the Tosai Houses a short walk along the river from the main Koi house and Office.

After a while these quality Kohaku were chosen and will be on their way back to the UK.

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No13No14No15 No16

Take a look at the left hand Koi in this picture she is now well over 80cm and is quite simply stunning. The video below shows her quality fukurin and body. When you see a koi at this High level it is just mesmerising I could have stood there for hours as she wasnt the biggest in this pond.

The KoHaku below is almost 95cm and is Oishi Koi farms No 1 Oyagoi, i have watched this Koi develop over teh past 5 years and every year she is improving. The bodyis still filling out for a Koi of this size and Masakki Oishi feels that there is more growth to come ! Amazing Koi .

Day 5 Marudo Koi Farm

A superb result was achieved last year at the All England Koi Show with this Marudo Kohaku purchased as an unsexed Tosai in Feb 2016. How many of the Koi below could achieve the same success.

Winning First in Class and Size and Second Overall in Size 4

I arrived at Murodo Koi Farm just after 10am and very quickly the pond i was selecting from was ready , the following Jumbo Tosai Kohaku and one Sanke for a customer was chosen.

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No10   No11

After Marudo Koi Farm is was a brief stop to Nogami Koi Farm to check on a customers Koi that has been left in Japan for the last three years , I have been fortunate to see this Koi many times and have videos and pictures of her development since she was purchased She is doing very well and the growth has been good , the body frame is huge and she has not started to fill out yet , Hisato and Chikara Nogami's opinion is she has a lot more growth to do before the body starts to fill out. Its time for me start again with another Nogami to leave in Japan this will be chosen on my next trip , I am sure the next hobbyist will be equally as happy .

I will also be selecting Jumbo Tosai on my next visit , Hisato Nogami and Chikara San have been very busy judging at the Thailand Koi Show and Hisato San will be at the Philippine Koi Show this weekend again Judging. I suppose when you win a few Grand Champion Prizes in Japan you are very much in demand from all of Asia.  It was arranged that I would be back at Nogami in a few weeks when Hisato will make available some superb Nogami Kohaku.

After lunch it was back to Marusei as its very difficult to resist buying more of his superb Jumbo Koi. Pictures later when i have finished my first day in the South at Oishi Koi farm.

Day 4 Snow Snow and more Snow !!

The drive to Niigata was challenging , it started with clear sky's and no wind too a blizzard and diversions , snow drift and snow ploughs. So the journey took a hour longer than expected. I arrived at The Ojiya Park Hotel at 5pm and was looking forward to the cold wet windy snowy weather that tomorrow would bring. If the weather is bad this is the best place to be!!

First stop was an appointment at Isa Koi Farm for some very high quality Tosai. I buy from Isa every year and i am very fortunate to be able to hand select so many Jumbo Tosai , after a few hours my final decision were the below. With an meeting at Nogami Koi Farm before lunch there was not time to individually photograph the Koi.

Job Done all tosai selected pictures and videoa below.

After a quick lunch in the noodle shop which is a must at least once every visit it was on to Marusei Koi Farm. First job for Hirasawa San was to dig out his Koi house from the several meters of snow that had fallen that winter.

Hirasawa's new snow blower , ready for action !

More on Hirasawa later time to go Koi Hunting , back at the hotel early tonight so hoping to add alot to the blog.

I always spend at least one full day at Hirasawa you need to as there are literally thousands upon thousands of Koi . I always buy non gosanke from here and the nisai and sansai below are superb , all chosen with bodies to grow very big. First i wanted to see what you can achieve with koi from Hirasawa so I checked out his 1 meter Koi , to see so many huge Hi Utsuri , Chagoi , Benigoi , Yamabuki etc was amazing.

These are not as big Yet ! but are heading in the right direction , all Nisai and Sansai and up to 60cm

Sansai Hi Utsuri and Gin Rin Chagoi , all female and superb quality.

The scale reticulation on all of these koi is stunning , three very high qualty Kin Aka Matsuba , Yamabuki , Beni Goi and Chagoi. You can only appreciate the quality of the skin on these Koi if you see them in the flesh , this level of Koi is what makes these trips so rewarding.

Another great day in the mountains , tomorrow I have an appointment with Marudo and Nogami.......

Days 1 and 2 and 3 INC and Maruyama Koi farm

Arrival and Isawa Nishikigoi Centre and Maruyama Koi farm

I arrived at Narita Airport the evening before and was ready for my first day in Isawa visiting Toshio Sakai in the search of some very high quality Sanke. After checking out of my hotel it was a good clear drive through Tokyo, and I arrived at The Isawa Nishikigoi Centre at lunchtime , to be greeted by Toshio and Toshi Sakai. I really enjoy these trips, there is no pressure to buy and plenty of time to discuss the Koi i require . I had two Days at this farm and the afternoon was spent visiting the many Koi houses dotted around Isawa.

There will be more on my purchases at this farm later but i can post these very high quality Sanke and gin rin Chagoi . The Sanke are Female Nisai and very high quality , excellent sumi placement and superb beni. he Gin Rin Chagoi are also female Nisai and do what Chagoi do Grow Very BiG.

 Not much to post after two days you may be thinking but there were alot more Koi bought at INC and you will get to see these Koi in a few weeks. As many of you know I closed my shop and are in the process of relocating , the support from Toshio Sakai regading this has been excellent and you will see alot more high quality INC koi arriving soon.

Day 3  Superb Day at Maruyama Koi Farm

Just 30 minutes drive and I was at Maruyama Koi Farm this farm produces superb Kohaku and Showa and several ponds were prepared for me . The weather was superb ,warm and sunny as it always seems to be in Isawa, with the sight of Mount Fuji in the background is was time to net my first pond of Tosai Kohaku. 

These are some of the koi purchased , i cannot post everything on the blog so if you would like to contact me please do.

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No 18  No 23 No 17

All these Koi are unsexed approximately 30cm and priced at £325 each.

The second pond was again Kohaku this time Jumbo Tosai Guaranteed Females, Maruyama is growing his Koi very big in their first year and his Tosai can now be sexed in February , usually it is April when Female Jumbo Tosai are released.

Ready for my selection , a superb pond of Female Jumbo Tosai Kohaku.

Afer my selection it was time for Futoshi Maruyama to check the sex of the Koi again making sure they were female. Below are some of the female Tosai coming back to the UK

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I will continue day three tomorrow as there were many more Koi purchased at Maruyama including some very high quality Showa...to be continued.

Back on day three now and as soon as i had selected my Female Tosai another pond was netted this one containing Showa , Maruyama's success with Showa reached its highest acolade by winning the All Japan Grand Champion in 2005, These showa were spawned last year and are 9 month old Tosai and approximately 30cm.No

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All the above Showa and Kohaku have the potential to grow very big and have been chosen for the qualities needed not just to grow big but for the Koi to maintain its skin quality and body shape. I am often asked how succesful can the results be with Tosai and the simple answer ,very high as log as you know what you are buying and can accept that not all Tosai make the Grade , that also goes for Nisai , Sansai , Yonsai etc , no koi is without risk so understanding a koi development and what makes a good koi cannot be learnt by books or Facebook , the only way is hands on experience.  Its can be a numbers game the more koi you buy the greater knowledge you gain , if you are open to the challenge of understanding Nishikigoi. The best way to buy Koi is to have patience and be guided by somebody who has the experience and Knowledge gained over many years. Talking to Toshio Sakai ,one of the most respected and famous Koi breeders in Japan over the last few days is invaluable , i gain knowledge ever trip I have , for me its not just buying Koi and selling them it about trying to achieve the success with Koi that we think only money can buy . Can a small Tosai be grown to 85cm and still have quality in its skin body and pattern to mix with the best Koi we see in the UK , the day i dont think that is possible will be a sad day , so look at some of these koi on my blog and see if you can see why i chose them , do i see a superb future in these koi or is it just a sale !

I cant wait to show you what will be arriving from INC in a few weeks time ! , After selecting these beautiful Tosai i wanted to buy some high quality Nisai from Futoshi , somethimg that was discussed with him on my last visit , three quite superb Koi were purchased, When you look at the quality of these Koi it is easy to see why i chose the unsexed tosai earlier.

Three stunning Female Nisai from Maruyama all 55cm. No words needed to describe these koi just check out the videos.

These were my last purchases of the day before the drive to Niigata where my first stop would be Isa Koi Farm