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Hi Lee,
I think you know where I stand on this topic from our discussion off the board with the Philiipines.
For example let's take a side track for a moment. Sakai of Hiropshima has thier koi raising system automated. Ph,Temp, Feeding etc. they breed thier koi artifically.
momotaro checks his customers koi in his 1500 ton pond close to a dozen times a day. he still breeds koi the natural way thru pairing.
Both of these people are very sucessful! The UK was so far ahead of koi keeping over other countries and a current method evolved from that
that makes thier koi develop very well. when the japanese judges began going to other countries for judging they were impressed with the quality of water and koi.
When you look at the japanese system of endless filtration close to nature or emmulating a natural river I think it comes from the basic
foundation of the culture. Natural. look at thier gardens. you can see the hand of man yet it looks as if the creator allowed it to happen.
I think the koi keeper has to look within his make up and decide which way he will go. Maybe it will be one way or another or maybe a melding of two systems.
When I was studying under Kyoshi Seiki for two years with japanese gardening techniques, he confided in me when he allowed me to prune his garden the next spring " that inside the body of this foreigner is trapped the soul of a japanese." It was the highest compliment i could ever receive.
that said, I think you know which method I believe in and over the past 25 years it has worked for me. So rather than select one size to fit all let me encourage everyone to study both methods and decide for themselves which path they will follow based on what makes sense to them.
What's incredible to me is when I first started this hobby, there was nothing to turn to in the way of information. now thanks to magazines and discussion boards ( like our koi-bito) literally a world of knowledge is available as quick as a mouse click away. incredible really!
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