Quote:
Originally Posted by
PapaBear 
Take Mikes advice and re-read. MOST of what has been said here has been discussion you can learn something from. Learning to sift through the personality clashes is also a valuable part of everyones education, including yours. If you look closely (without bias because you are already upset), you will get a lot out of it that will give you a better understanding of both sides of the discussion about KOI, how they are valued, why they are valued, and by whom.
Many Americans, both hobbiests and breeders, have a taste for longfins and get very defensive because they are frowned upon by Nishikigoi purists. That doesn't change the fact that Koi is a JAPANESE art form that we seek to emulate in our own way, just as Baseball is an American sport that Japan is in love with. You may notice that Japan does not presume to tell us how the game should be played or that we should change the rules in order to accomodate them. The first Japanese player to play for an American team was a Japanese national HERO because it meant that ONE of them had finally arrived at the pinnacle. Maybe, just maybe, one of these days an American breeder will finally make the Japanese big leagues of Koi... but it won't be with a fish he wrote his own rulebook for. Who knows... it could be you
