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Luke, one of the fascinations of History as a subject is that the contemporary writers do not appreciate the importance of what occurs around them because their perspective is established by the history that came before their time. Some, of course, color the history they write to match personal biases as well as their personal historical perspective. The later historians may have the same limitations, but are more likely to be purists ... who really cares what the Scythians did in trading with Persians in 450BC? Even then, one must guard against the individual writer's need to make their work important by exaggerating the relevance of something to an event or trend widely recognized as "important".
With koi we can look back and appreciate that the creation of Showa was a major step in koikeeping and had to involve great challenges to the breeders whose work came together in the first fish deserving of a new varietal name. At the time that trek was started, however, likely nobody thought the spawnings involved were worthy of any note. Just ponds of fry likely no better than any random domestic spawning today (except no metallics). Someone saw something worthy in a tosai or three. It may well have been another breeder decades later who saw what we would recognize as an ancestral Showa. The arcane history of a breed may teach us something about the nature of a fish today, but not likely. It is more likely to teach us about the nature of the people involved in the creative process, which includes the customer whose funds effectively sponsor breeding programs. We will probably never reach "truth", but if we better understand our own sense of appreciation, we come to better understand ourselves and perhaps others.
A few years ago I saw a cheap little fish that I have since wished I had purchased. It was Shusui-like doitsu, with blueish, fading to gray upper dorsal area, solid chestnut brown flanks ... like a thoroughbred horse, and utsuri-like sumi on the abdomen reaching up mid-way toward the lateral line. It was some mutt that looked like a mix of utsuri, shusui and chagoi. But I keep remembering how solid the chestnut brown color was & how the black made made the whole of the fish stand out in a tub. I have not seen that clear and solid a red-brown on a koi since. I did not purchase it because it was a mutt, in a tank of recently harvested junk intended for mass sale to the petshop market. I think the price was $5 for any fish in the tank. I was looking for "good fish". Today I would buy the little piece of "junk" immediately. It might turn out to be trash in short order, but I would enjoy seeing what it became. At the time, my perception was too biased by the goals and standards I had read about. .... The person who kept the ancestral Showa for further development was not so limited in their perception. And, I imagine they had dreams for that fish. It would be curious to know if the dreams of over a century ago were accomplished in the Showa of today. I would like to think so.
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