Day 8 Going to Niigata

I Left the hotel very early for the last time to take the 7am flight from Okayama to Haneda. It was only a one hour flight and on arriving was met by Nobuaki and Yasushi two people I first met at the Oishi Koi Farm auction last year, who would be arranging for me to spent more time with some breeders in Niigata to gain better knowledge and to improve my search for very high quality koi during future visits.

On arriving in Niigata it was lunch at a noodles bar then a visit to Izumiya one of the most famous men in Niigata and the current President of the Shinkokai after a good meeting with him and arranging for some Yamabuki at this years harvest it was off to his Tosai house..



















 

It was very good of Senichi Mano to personally select some koi for me and I learnt much about selecting small Tosai

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Next it was to Isa Koi farm a breeder of very high quality Showa.After a drink and a chat he showed me his best Female Oyagoi (parent fish) and gave me some information about his breeding schedule and said he will contact me regarding the best times to arrive during the Harvest.I thanked him for his time and then it was to Shinoda for some tosai that had been arranged for me to select. There were about 200 koi in total and I selected one box.Isa's best Female parent Showa

Shinoda Tosai 

After a busy day it was back to the hotel and straight out for diner. Tonight I would be meeting with Hoshikin, one of the youngest Koi Farm Presidents in Niigata. There was much discussion about Hoshikins koi and a possible visit to England later this year. 

 

One of Hoshikins parent koi 

Hoshikin is very famous amoungst top hobbyists in Japan for producing superb pattened Jumbo Tosai Kohaku with excellent white skin. I was shown some of his tosai that will be going to the mud ponds later this month and was very impressed, he then took me to his main fish house and showed me some of his Oyagoi, you can see the pride he has in these koi and the determination he has to produce better and better koi.

I hope tomorrow brings results as pleasing as today.