Who was or still is your mentor in the hobby?

[Regenmeneer]

Some of you are so lucky to have breeders and other very knowledgeable people as a mentor. Unfortunately, I never really had a mentor. In the beginning all the knowledge I acquired was by way of reading magazines and books, and studying koi at dealers and shows.

More recently I have attended judging seminars and I also learned a lott from a dutch forum and of course koi bito forum

If there is anyone willing to be my sensei...............

Regenmeneer

[Bob Winkler]

Too many to mention.....But a partial list....

Kaz Takeda
JR
Peter and Tim Waddington
Toshio Sakai
Shila Winkler (she has the better eye..LOL) Inside Joke
The AKCA judging program
Tom Lansing
Larry Gill
Don Kobashigawa

[Nancy M.]

Here are a few of them..

Andy Moo
Ken Tran
Burt Ballou
Manabu Ogata

[aquitori]

Everyone has some great mentors listed. What other material did youguys us to learn in your journey of Nishikigoi? Mine was the Kuroki book, and the Niigata triology on VHS...

[Mike T]

Would have been lost had it not been for the KoiVet, NI and Koi Bito Boards...Joined the boards in that order...

Aloha! Mike T

[dick benbow]

peter waddington's koi kichi is the best book going

[Maurice]

Well as far as my koi breeding has gone, it has to go to Brett and Brady.

They have been both so 'helpful' and 'unhelpful'!!

They conveyed a message, that it is better to 'learn', than be 'taught'.

I'm doing it on my own and learning everyday.

Thanks guys.

Best regards
Maurice.
Aiming for a BKKS National GC in 2009/2010.
You gota believe in yourself!

[Dale Torok]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike T Would have been lost had it not been for the KoiVet, NI and Koi Bito Boards...Joined the boards in that order... Aloha! Mike T

Ditto for me, Mike. Except that the first forum I found online was Water Gardening Magazine's forum, then KoiVet, NI and Koi Bito in that order.

Several members of the Louisville Koi Club were my first mentors, Charles Phelps, Dick Weidner and Jack O'Daniel. Met another member of the Louisville club after seeing him post some comments on NI, Mike Pfeffer, who has been very generous in sharing koi knowledge with me from the time I was a little grasshopper in this endeavor.

I just noticed as I read back through what I've typed that all 4 of those mentioned above have made trips to Japan through their interest in koi.

Other mentors are almost too numerous to mention because I have taken the time to travel and visit so many of them. Of notable mention.... I spent a great day at Thom Blishoks. What a fantastic, interesting man and arguably one of the most knowledgeable in the hobby. Have made a couple trips down to visit Brady Brandwood and he has been here to visit us. Man! What koi knowledge that guy has accumulated between his ears and in his eyes!

There are so many people in this hobby with an attitude of helping others who are coming up in it. I guess we can all relate to being where the people are who ask us questions now because we were there once ourselves, too.

So thanks Charles and Dick and Jack and Mike and every other Tom, Dick and Harry that I bothered when I didn't know what I was doing and was trying to find out!

Dale

[l113892]

My mentor was Tom Lansing.

More recently I've acquired information from a lot of sources on the internet. I've learned a lot from Jim Reilly. I'd like to spend enough time with Mr. Hirasawa(Marudo) to call him my mentor but I am learning through the fish that I have purchased from Mr. Hirasawa. Each year his fish teach me more and more.

[Bancherd]

[quote=Maurice] that it is better to 'learn', than be 'taught'.

QUOTE]

How true!

Much of the information I have was gathered from posts made by Tom Lansing and JR, thank you!

So far, I learned the most from the overnight death of half of my koi(sixteen of them). It was a humbling experience.