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It's true that breeders and dealers can be quite honorable. But realities of needing to pay the mortgage and feed the kids also frequently presents a conflict of interest. There is also a complicated commission and kick back structure that needs to be supported. So you can have reasonably honorable people caught within a marketing system.
I have also watched a relaxing of the culling system in my time in the hobby. tateshita of course has always been around. But the goal was to uncover the top 200 fish thru ruthless culling and then agressive selection. The cast offs created an entire network of Chiba dealers in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the koi's popularity has subsided in Japan, the entire market is now export based. And that audience will buy almost anything. So I think culling standards have slipped tremendously. And gimmicks like jumbo tosai are evidence of that reality.
I do have faith in the competitive capitalist system however, and if this trend continues, the Chinese will eventually take this lower end market away from the Japanese ( lower land, water and labor costs). But I digress------
You can trust an old style dealer in that the name of the game is to bring along a budding koi kichi through the lower end tosai to the higher end fish via education. This is selling through the education process and it serves the interest of both the hobbyist and the business man. And tosai are the logical place to start from a cost stand point and a development stand point. Ironically, the margins are usually lower on large fish than small fish ( 2 X as opposed to 4- 8 times cost). But the dollars are larger and the business is more manageable and ultimately profitable. Not to mention that the reputation of selling large fish enhances the value of the smaller fish.
So as much as we would like to see and think of the koi business as some zen experience and dealer/hobbyist bonding experience, it is a business and everyone must get paid. I think we forget that sometimes when we tie our loyalities too close to any one dealer? Competition is good for the consumer most of the time ( consumer rights of course can get out of hand and every business person knows that consumers can be down right unreasonable at times)and also creates a need for some level of honesty on the dealer's part. JR
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