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I agree with Paladin - completely. Showa and utsuri are victims of identity theft.
Showa and utsuri were originally defined as black-based fish selected from black fry. The difficulty and low returns incurred in raising black-based koi from black fry contributed to their mystique. The showa breeder garnered a certain amount of respect for taking the more difficult road.
No doubt, today's showa and utsuri impostors which are selected from white fry are better looking koi. No doubt, they are easier and, thus, less expensive to mass produce. No doubt, the lost art of selecting black-based fish from back fry could be resurrected some day if there were a market demand for the product. Nonetheless, I am a little disappointed that we may never know if real black-based fish could have been improved through selection to achieve the flashy colors of the impostor showa and utsuri.
Does anyone know if the old style showa with chalkboard sumi can still be purchased? Where? Have those lines been preserved?
-steve
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