On the afternoon of the 2nd, we left Yamatoya Koi Farm, and went to Takigawa Koi Farm. I have to say, that Takigawa-san has the most picturesque mud ponds in all of Japan!!! He is rightly extremely proud of them!
Takigawa-san's mud ponds are decorated with huge stunning granite statues such as this frog shown below.
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On the 3rd, we attended Momotaro's auction. Sorry, it is inappropriate to take photos of the auction, but I am pleased to say, that we managed to get a number of the very best Bentley Kohaku Tosai! I also tried to get the best Nisai Sanke, but due to not having a buyer for her, I stopped bidding at 2.3 million, and she eventually sold for more than double that!!!
Yes, it's that time of year again! Today, we stayed in downtown Hiroshima, as it was my good friend Ueshima-san's birthday (tanjobi). Each year, it is customary for Hiro-san and myself to go out on Ueshima-san's birthday, and also on my birthday in October. This was the strangest of restaurants! It kinda had the feel of a TGI Friday's, but was owned and centred around a wrestler. This restaurant was very noisy, with crazy goings on, for example... if you ordered their special salad, you then had a screaming/chanting affair when it arrived, wereby the waiter would scream out across the restaurant about the virtues of salad for strength, health, etc, and you had to scream a reply to each part whilst punching into the air!
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Though not a buying trip, I did spot the Nidan Kohaku below (the 2nd and 3rd steps are joined on the other side), and bought her. Very nice, and will look much better as she gets bigger!
I bought this Sanke (below) last October. Takigawa-san had her hidden away as his Sanke Kashira. I guess in this instance being the Kashira isn't such a big deal, as he didn't have many good Sanke this year, but this one will be pretty special in the future. Anyway, Takigawa-san is full of regret of selling this one. When I bought her, he didn't want to sell her. But, at that time there was no Sumi on the shoulder of the Koi. Now though, you can see three areas of Sumi coming up at the back of the head and shoulder area. When I bought her, I told Takigawa-san that because of the lineage and sumi traits, I thought it would get some in this area, but he disagreed. Anyway, now he just laughs, saying he made a big mistake this time! I am leaving out for growing, and don't hope to sell her. She isn't too refined right now in the Kiwa, but I think that if left in the mud pond, this will fill in. Watch this space...
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This Tancho (above) of ours is divine! This was Takigawa-san's best one last Autumn, and was being kept hidden away as his Tategoi. He would only let me have one of the three he had, but this is the best!