Quote:
Originally Posted by JR
Well as I said, you need to have seen that fish in person at the show. The sanke simply dwarfed the Hiroshima kohaku and made it look insignificant. The usual impression a Sakai two, three or four step kohaku leaves is one of a very white, very clean very voluminous kohaku with a bright beni. The sanke overwhelmed this look with a more sophisticated look as I described earlier.
It is also true that the shinkokai had an imaginary bounty reward out there for years for the first breeder that produced a 1 meter gosanke. So there was a lot of excitement on the day of the show when rumors spread that a meter long sanke was being exhibited. I’m sure this influenced the judges a bit?
As to the quality issue, both fish were of quality. The knock on the sanke that showed in some photos was the off white of the ground color in some shots. The shiro was not as white on the sanke as the kohaku. But the quality and uniformity of the colors on a three colored fish vs. a two color fish was good enough to edge out the kohaku. The size impression sealed the deal.
You have to realize that fundamental to the judging of koi is a desire to never overlook exceptional qualities for technically correct fish only. The sanke was a prime example of what the new judging approach was designed for- reward the exceptional.