[Sangreaal]

By now it's pretty obvious what I've named the 73rd choice in the 2008 KoiBito/Omosako Growout Challenge--Mikado. But why did I choose it and what does it mean?

Everyone probably remembers the play, The Mikado, a satirical work by Gilbert and Sullivan, making fun of the British government by turning them Japanese. But that's not why I named this fish that. Instead, I took it from the old Japanese language, which in its simplest form means, "the gate."

This Omosako Shiro Utsuri is my gateway to the knowledge of sumi development, and what it means to be "utsuri." It's the gate to the wild element still extant in koi, and I intend to learn as much as I can from this fish as well as whatever I can glean from the experiences of others in this growout.

Now for a test of my eye, I have done a bit of a future composite of what I think Mikado is going to turn out like (though I haven't quite figured out how to give her the cheeks I think she'll have later on, or the additional bulk. But I will.....eventually. *LOL*)

This is about all the sumi I think will emerge on this Shiro, and it's probably only wishful thinking on my part because the black menkaburi will probably be narrower than this, though it's what I hope for. A very simple yet elegant pattern, I'm hoping also that the shoulders of this fish stay a nice lustrous sumi-free shiroji, and If the pecs (especially the one dark one) pull a nice tidy motoguro, everything should balance well on this fish.

We'll see, won't we?