| Day 11 – 23 October 2007
When I said in the previous post that we are going to attend a harvest at one of Sakai’s biggest mud ponds, I did not really understand the scale of the operation. This was not a pond, it was a lake. If you had a boat, you could ski on it. There are 600 two year old koi in the “pond” and almost all of them in the 55cm – 65cm range. Over a period of a three days the “pond” has been drained until it was only about a half meter deep. All the koi congregated at this deepest end and the Sakai staff could just walk in and pick up the koi. A crane was used to lift the koi to the waiting trucks with the portable tanks that took the precious cargo back to the greenhouses for sorting and classification.
As I sit and type this report, I am looking at an almost constant stream of very good koi being sorted and classified into three different categories. To quote Kentaro Sakai – “first class”, “business class” and “economy”. The “economy” pond contained some excellent specimens that will easily take some prizes at any South African show. Focusing mostly on the gosanke varieties, Sakai Fish Farm have certainly made history by breeding koi that will appeal to a very wide range of hobbyist, from the person looking for good pond fish to the person that want to enter koi in the All Japan show.
Koibooi spend a lot of time over the last two days talking to the dealer from America. It is very interesting to hear how the perspectives on koi differ depending on the country. I thought that there was only one standard that the Japanese set and everybody adhered to. Not so. The general American koi hobbyist apparently does not have the patience to grow koi on so they are looking for finished koi that can immediately compete in competitions. In South Africa the general koi hobbyist prefer to buy small koi and grow them on. Kobooi have been thinking a lot about this and have come to the conclusion that perhaps this approach is due to the high prices that we pay in SA for high grade koi so the general hobbyist can typically not afford to buy finished or large koi.
Sakai will be the last koi farm that I am visiting as I start my homeward journey tomorrow. It has been a long time since I left and I am glad that I am going home now. The learning curve has been tremendous and many of the koi “rules” that I have been taught in my koi keeping career have been turned upside down by watching how the fathers of the koi industry do things. Salt seem to play an important part in their koi keeping lives so I will re-look at my salt practices. I have also learned how to correctly apply monolith clay and seen how to handle koi. We debated the importance (or not) of pattern, body shape and color at length and whether a Sanke needs sumi on the shoulder or not. We discussed koi breeding and how to cull +-350 000 fish so that you only have 10 000 left and reducing these further to perhaps 500 of the best. I also learned a huge amount about skin quality and what to look for in the different varieties.
What I have come to realize is that it is highly unlikely that I will ever know all there is to know about this intriguing hobby called Nishkigoi.
In the morning I will check out of my hotel and head for Tokyo where I will spend one more night before catching a 10h30am flight back home. Visiting Japan and visiting all the koi farms have been a dream come true and something I would recommend every serious koi hobbyist try at least once. You will be a changed koi keeper when you come back.
This is Koibooi signing off. I hoped you found my ramblings entertaining, even if it only made you think about something else during your working day. |