thinking about shusui

[dick benbow]

Well now that i have two good asagi, I was thinking about looking into a good shusui.

In research I found out they were the first douitsu variety ever developed and the only koi to be developed in Tokyo proper ( as opposed to niigata etc ).

Color varieties include Hi, Hana, pearle, and ki.

I was wondering if anyone else has some experience/expertise in raising and appreciating them.

I showed my wife a picture of a hi shusui I was smitten with and she said it was the ugliest koi she'd ever seen.

help, am I the only one who can see thru the ugly duckling to the beautiful swan
it will become?

[Dan Blatt]

Blue, blue, blue, that's all I ever hear from you......what are you nuts. Someone beat you as a kid? I agree with your wife.....them things are double ugly! You have to get over this obcession you have with low class Japanese varities. God forbid man, you're going to hell in a hand basket. Yuck!!!!

[markgardner]

At least someone in the Benbow household has some sanity

[dick benbow]

Thank-you Mark, at least someone was able to give me some support. You were
referring to me right?

[kiky]

I do have some sympathy for you DickB. I also happenned to like both asagi and shusui, even though not to the 'crazy' level as you! In fact I have one Hosokai asagi in my pond. When I get the chance to photograph her, I will post for you to comment.

[Dan Blatt]

OK...time out...was only joking. Dick put me up to it as he wanted to play a joke on his better half by having someone agree with her. I already got questioned about my comment on another board this morning. Dick...you're just trying to get me in trouble you sly dog. Actually I like shusui....think nice ones are stunning. So there, I'm out of the closet for what it's worth!

[MikeM]

Dick, I always like young Shusui when the blue is bright, but as they age it always seems to turn gray. Then I get fixated on the dorsal scales. If any are out of straight, or size proportion, it drives me nuts. I dislike lateral line scalation, so those get knocked off the list (not to mention the ones with stray scales someplace!) Then, I do not like the red covering the blue ... if it is bad on Asagi, it should be bad on Shusui. ......So, I really like the ones that have none of these failings!



P.S., just to show how perverse I can be, once I saw a leather-style doitsu from a Shusui hatch that was entirely persimmon, except the head was gray and there was a narrow strip of gray along the dorsal. It was a very gracefully shaped male. I thought it was fantastic ....and absolutely awful as a Shusui! I've got no taste.

[Dan Blatt]

Here is a small hi shusui I should have bought. Dick was going to get a small matsakawabake and I was going to this small shusui (about 10 inches). The one he liked was sold...so I passed. Should have just flown it up by itself. Just like the look of it...kinda unusual...with good scalation....was fairly cheap also Oh well..been there, done that before.

[dick benbow]

Dan,
Hope i didn't get you in too much trouble! Thanks for clarifying it! I showed Jo Ann your and Mark's posts but I'll not show her anything else. Want her to be surprised when one shows up at the airport! (lol) I wish you had gotten that little red shusui!
Kiky, will look forward to seeing your Asagi photo. thanks for the offer!
Mike: Over the years I have seen some spectacular koi that appealed to me but because they didn't meet criteria I ignored them. I wish I had them today.
I think if you find a koi that speaks to you, you should get it. I let an all blue
douitsu shusui with perfect bekko spots get away from me and i shouldn't have.
Also a kohaku that had perfect motoaka on the pecs. Both were very pretty koi and quite striking.I know your quite the student on koi varieties. The interesting thing about shusui is that they do lose their blue quickly. But the red does not
dramaticaly change. With Asagi the blue stays permanent, it may get darker with the hardness (GH) of the water and usually the red continues to grow.

[kiky]

Actually Dick, I have a photo of her taken in Jan '04 when she was 18 months old, 42 cm (Born June '02). Now she is more then 60 cm, but don't have her latest photo yet. Here it is......, hope it is quite clear