Mike Snaden..Finally got those showa photos

[l113892]

I think the one pec with motoguro and the other pec with no sumi still have the opportunity to balance out depending on how the sumi comes up/goes down on the fish. The balance has to do with the overall pattern. A mirrir image of motoguro on the pecs is not required.

Mike Pfeffer

[Dan Blatt]

Koifishgirl...to me it depends on how one defines prefection. Many would say there are no perfect koi. I would tend to agree. There is however degrees of perfection..body shape, skin and color quality, pattern and overall appearance and presence. It's more the overall package for me rather than the lack of imperfection.

Although this showa lacks sumi in one pectoral, it cetainly makes up for it in the quality of the white ground, beni, sumi and pattern. Overall it lit my firecracker at one glance...no need to look any longer...I'll take it....and that was from a photo sent from Japan. However someone else may not like it as much as me. That's what makes the hobby fun...we all have different tastes.

Interesting discussion...thanks folks....where's Mike. Still interested in his read vs. sumi coming up on the white ground.

[Bob Hart]

Mike must be back soon, he's just been out in Momo-land again.

[Bern]

It's good points far outweigh it's single demerit.


Nice fish.

rgds
Bern

[dick benbow]

Dan, was interesting about the pec comments huh?


the same way there is a balance in a bonsai, i look for a balance in a koi's pattern. for me a shiro or showa needs to have a strong centering patch of black across the back in the dorsal area.

Several years ago I saw a shintaro showa that had one black pec and one white one that haunts me still. It was bought the day before I got there. Incredible koi!

I wish you'd take KFG's suggestion and enter it in Puget Sound's Show this August. Not alot around that will beat it!

(sure wish I could've gone with you to see Arthur!)

[luke frisbee]

it really doesn't matter what this koi looks like now...this koi is going to be unrecognizable in four years...... black black and more black

now it'll be four years before you can call me wrong.

But right now it looks like a cartoon character...or a caricature of a koi..it looks surreal...i can't put my finger on it for sure...it could be the strange evenness of the colors...or the big eyes, or how sharp the difference is between the colors....

I'd love to have the koi right now because of the oddity....and I would love to watch it become something else...either better or worse...I think better.

[Akai-San]

I will have to agree with Bern, all the good things far outway any inconsistency at this point in time. Everybody knows because this fish is only tosai, expect many many changes to occur in the next 2-5 years. I hear and read stories about totally white or black pec fish that in the 4-6 year range have motoguro develop perfectly...completing the canvas. Great potential in this tosai, I think the sumi will expand and hi will taper back a little, but the balance in the overall presentation is still there (motoguro or not). I'm squinting now trying to picture this fish at 50-60 cm. With a good size body, the shiroji will expand providing an even larger canvas for balancing the koi, I think when the sumi on the head and face link up....ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!

Great Tosai Dan. I think in a few years, you will be REALLY HAPPY!

Aloha.