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First of all thanks to brady for sharing his time and knowledge. A picture can tell a thousand words. Also andrew's learning curve is good to pay attention to as well!
In the years I've kept,raised and bred koi I've learned a few things. My biggest joy is to see someone come to a koi dealer with a book or calendar and point to a finished koi and say something to the effect that he would like one just like the one in the picture. He says this as he's looking over the tosai bin!
Just about every good color variety I know is like the ugly duckling story that turns into the beautiful adult as it matures. If it starts out perfect it has no where else to go but down.
Japanese breeders are not afraid to use color enhancing additives to their food to adjust the color to more desiable saleable products. The tategoi they are raising on do not receive such food.
Different bloodlines show different traits. Brady's pictures and identification is a big help. The original sensuke bloodline was identified by the way the color
cut thru a scale anywhere it felt like. mano-san at Daiinichi was noted for a full scale of color. Breed the two types together and the young would show
color that filled some scales and ran thru where-ever in others on the same koi.
My experience has been to look for a tosai with thick beni as if the creator spray painted it with 4-5 coats of paint. The red must be just as thick in the tail stop as in the shoulder area. As the koi ages it goes from Maki (persimmon) orange to orange red and finally to red with still a tinge of orange. It's too bad the english lanquage is not anywhere as distscriptive as japanese which can go into depth as to the correct red for the particular breeder's koi.
I suggest in your learning curve to look at the most expensive koi that come into your dealers at the various ages. They are expensive for two reasons. Either they have the quality which you can begin to identify or they have a sucker's pattern. The last thing you look for in a quality koi is pattern. one last thing for gosanke. All the colors show their best thru the best white. like an artist's pallet of oils, it's the base color that other colors are added on to that make results you want. All whites are not equal. in finished koi you can find a bright hard white or a bright soft white. Many times you look at a quality tosai and the white looks like 2% milk but you are looking for the opagueness or thickness. This too takes time to develop. remember the breeder is only a portion of the results. He may give 100 % to the effort but if your pond water is 50% your results will fall short of expectation. Even with the best of all worlds the number of world class koi of any variety is limited!
I would have to say my best understanding was going to japan and seeing the tategoi that were being held to grow on. I would see all the ages and also ask to see the parents.If you never have gone for a visit it will be the best education you can get. If a trip overseas is not possible do not make little of some of the domestic breeders who have studied in japan and have top notch breeders from there. We are sorely fortunate to have several good ones here in the US of A and i know of a few up and comers in Australia and the UK!
never stop learning!
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