In my opinion, thinking that one has to buy a nisai or older in order to win big at a koi show, while true, is doing a disservice to this hobby. It is almost like buying your koi trophy. In fact, one can hire the best pond builder to build them a state-of-the-art pond, then call Toshio to have him send his best yonsai so that you can win your grand champion trophy. This can be very intimidating for someone who is new to the hobby.
While I reserve this type of competition to those that are more advanced in the hobby than I am, I am content with learning more about successfully raising koi. After all, like what Dick said, I still have to put my child through college.
Perhaps the one thing that attracted me to this hobby was the fact that there are so many facets to this hobby. I have seen people raising koi in 150-gal aquariums to those with 10,000+ gallon ponds that have it all. I have also seen people whose faces gleam with excitement when they buy that $20 koi and those who are not content until they have a $1,000 koi.
I find great enjoyment in learning as much as I can about koi by using lower-grade koi so that one day when I do purchase that nisai or sansai I will be able to know exactly what the breeder saw in that particular koi. I will also know about conformation, depth of color pigmentation, quality and patterns. While I know that Japanese dealers are very high on reputation, I don't want to totally rely on them for pricing. I want to one day be able to look at a koi and its breeder and be able to determine how much it will cost. I find this important especially since koi prices can be very subjective.
I would personally like to hear a talk on tosai selection even though the thought that tosai are not great returns on my investment are starting to sink in. In fact, reality kinda struck when I had to give away 10 of my koi over the past couple of days. However, I believe that they have served their purpose as I have learned lots from them. Now I am more comfortable with higher grade koi as my knowledge in koi selection/change and water management have expanded.