Today started with an early appointment to Hoshikin again, this time to view the number 1 koi he was willing to sell. For me this is what this trip is about, looking at koi after koi and beginning to understand the merits of all of them. Some being 10’s of pounds, others being thousands. This was though one really special koi. After agreeing to take this koi and number of other were also bowled and another 5 were taken.
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After that we visited Aoki, famous for Goshiki amongst others. One of the hobbyists with us purchased a lovely little example.
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Next visit of the day was to Dainichi tosai house, the pond we were being offered was not considered by Rich to be what his customers would be looking for. Dainichi agreed for us to view another pond later in the week once he has sorted to remove some he considers to be tategoi.
As we had an hour to spare we visited the koi museum in Ojija, all the koi were inside after the winter, all the trees and bushes outside still being framed in wood to protect from the snow.
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After lunch we visiting various breeders to select some koi for growing on, we finally headed into the hills again to visit Jirosuke. One thing that stands out about this place is I will never say my pond is over stocked.
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Ian San
