October 2010 (24)
This afternoon, Omosako harvested another pond of Nisai. I hope that the pics are of interest. The last three pics are of the best Koi from the mud pond, and is absolutely stunning! Needless to say, I dropped my interest in the other Koi because of my desperation to buy this Koi! She if from the parent 'Kuro Kabuto' The very last photo, is of her when she was Tosai at the time of going into the mudond.
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Well, Thursday, was a long and tiring drive from Matsue to Omosako. I saw three Nisai on Thursday afternoon, that I am contemplating buying.
Today (Friday) is a harvesting day. This morning, a pond full of customers Sansai was harvested, so was an early start for us as this commenced at 8.00am. This afternoon, we will be attending a Nisai harvest with a view to making final decisions on purchases after seeing the newly harvested Koi.
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Well, today was quite a fruitful day...
In order of appearance, the Koi in the photos are as follows...
1) Matsue Tancho, Sansai and 62cm
2) Matsue Nisai Kohaku, 56cm
3) Matsue Nisai Kohaku, 59cm
4) Matsue Nisai Kohaku, 57cm
5) Matsue Nisai Kohaku, 56cm
6) Matsue Nisai Kohaku, 62cm. This one is a very very special one from the parent 'Yumehana'!
7) Matsue Maruten Kohaku, Sansai, and 70cm. We bought her, and sold her to a Chinese client as Nisai. She is now looking fantastic!
I have to dash out for dinner now, but hope to update again later...
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Tomorrow, we head off to Matsue...
Today was quite exciting for me! I saw three Koi now as Sansai. The Maruten is one we have already sold when Nisai, and is now 65cm as Sansai, and simply stunning!
The Sandan is one that I sold as Tosai, and then sold to another client as Nisai. She is now Sansai and some 67cm!
The third Koi is mine, and now 63cm. This Kois pattern and quality is amazing, though skin condition was not so good on the day. This is something that will clean up remarkably easily though, and the underlying skin quality is amazing!
Before leaving Okawa, I went out for lunch, and was presented with a birthday cake by the Okawa (Tanaka-san) family! I will add a pic of this later.
On the afternoon, I hit the road for the 4 hour drive to Hiroshima, for the 18th is my Birthday, and I was going out with Yuuki-san to celebrate making it this far ;-)
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Today was pretty uneventful. I left Matsue at about 9am for a 6 1/2 hour drive down to Okawa Koi Farm.
They had harvested a Nisai mud pond today about an hour away from the farm. The pond is so big, that they took 17 helpers along to help with the harvest, to make a 'human chain' to pass Koi up the dam end of the pond. In the evening, a party was held for the helpers, which was great fun! After that, I went out with Yuji-san and Yoneichi-san for a few drinks, and back to bed.
On the morning of the 16th, I headed up to Matsue city, which was about a 3 hour drive, and one that I always really enjoy, as I know a short cut through the mountains that is just stunning scenery!
I bought one Nisai Kohaku of 58cm from them, and also saw my beautiful Princess of a Koi, now measuring some 71cm as Sansai! I bought this Koi when she was displayed in the 'Yume Ten' (Dream Koi) exhibition at the All Japan Show. The body type of this Kohaku is simply amazing, and as such, she should easily make 90cm in the near future!
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Well, it is now actually the 19th of October at the time of doing my first blog entry, as this is the first day I have had an internet connection!
Anyway, I picked up my car on Friday 15th, and headed up to Takigawa Koi Farm. Not many Koi were harvested, but I did find three very nice Tanchos. They are about 50 ~ 52cm in size, and very good quality.
On the following morning, 400 Nisai were to be harvested, but alas I wouldn't see it, as I was off to Matsue the following morning. This mud pond hadn't been used for a few years because of high nitrate levels caused by the crop growing greenhouses that you can see in the background. But, according to Takigawa-san, the company that owned the greenhouses have cleaned up their act, so hence, he used the pond again this year.
On the evening, I went our for dinner with Takigawa-san, and then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep...
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Well, it's that time of year once again. I am sitting in Schipol airport awaiting my flight to Osaka, Japan. I have no idea what to expect this Autumn, but suffice to say, that I hope that this trip will see the purchase, and sale of many extremely high level Nishikigoi!
Fingers crossed...