[Bob Winkler]

I thought there was more sumi on the #1 fish than this picture shows, although that was a point of contention amongst the class. It was in the right places, but markedly absent of finished sumi on the shoulder. Still picked it #1, but if it had had the shoulder sumi would not have been close. I had the advantage of having judged with the Japanese judges the day before all day, so I knew they would consider the lights negating what they would say was the best beni. On this koi. If it had been two days earlier, I might have thought different. Interestingly, I looked at our koi last night under halide lights with a different perspective. On a koi that has the best beni in our pond in sunlight, it looked a lot like what this one did. So it adds even more credibility for me to what the Japanese judges said, even if many others doubted it then.



Many of the koi with more sumi had too much of it for me. No elegance IMHO, if that is the right word. Very messy. That hurt them a bit in my eyes. I picked a different koi as having the best sumi, but the overall best impression for me was #1.



The confirmation on all these koi was very thin. Rod, I have a picture of what was on the board, and will post it later when I get home, if no one else has. The second group had better shape, probably better beni across the board, but we did not get to go that seminar.