[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by paladin_k2 Nice pic of an example of what some people view as a Hi Utsuri. Beautiful Hi and gorgeous lacquer black sumi but boatloads of bright shocking white in all the fins. Shinoda-san would commit harikari at the thought. I tend to look at that example of a fish and recognize you say it is a Hi Utsuri but to me it is a Hi Showa hands down. The White dorsal and the predominantly white tail are killer factors for me plus the super well defined motogoru on white pectorals. It just doesnt say Hi Utsuri to me when I see that fish. I know I may be smokin' cocoa rope but for me the fins of an Utsuri must be predominately black against the ground color with very limited presence of clear and/or shiro. I have seen a number of the pseudo utusri's like you show in that picture and recognize they have won awards in some judging circles but for me it shows a flaw in the system to hold up thuse fish as excellent examples of utsuri. They get my votes for outstanding quality fish but I would say they are misclassified on a grand scale due to the same phenotype creep that we see causing the kindai and sanke convergence and confusion. My eye picks it out instantly and does not get past the color flaws that should otherwise exclude the fish from the Utsuri classification. I hope you see my points while I revel at and admire the quality of the colors on the Hi Showa fish.

Paladin
I was getting ready to post below JR and then saw you beat me to it. I definitely agree, Hi Showa. Upon VERY close inspection of the photo, it appears that along the bottom left side you can see some reflective shiroji as well. Great fish, wrong class!!

Mike