| Stefan: What a nice website you have. I wish I knew your language. I am always impressed by the determination of koikeepers in cold climates. Your son seems to enjoy the digging!
The best Shiro Utsuri are purposefully bred to obtain snow white skin and dense, lacquer black. To get these qualities without having any red pigment is very challenging for the breeder. Oftentimes, Shiro Utsuri have body conformation problems seen in bodies which are disproportionately thin in the back half compared to the front half. Even Omosako's koi have this tendency. It is the few with the highest quality pigments and strong bodies from head to tail that built the Omosako reputation. But there are many other breeders producing Shiro Utsuri and many will produce equally fine specimens from time to time...perhaps not as numerous and perhaps never quite as good as the very best of the best produced by Omosako, but just as good as the many Shiro Utsuri sold by Omosako every year in moderately high volume.
There are also the Showa breeders who, to their regret, experience fading Hi. Just as Sanke breeders produce Shiro Bekko unintentionally, Showa breeders produce Shiro Utsuri. These tend to have smudges of red pigment or secondary Hi or undesirable specks of orange rendering the fish virtually worthless, but there is the occasional rare one that has the near-perfect, strong body of Kohaku-influenced Showa, lacquer Sumi and no trace of red. From photos I have seen, such fish can be very impressive.
However, I have the sense that the whites are not as pure as the whites of the purpose-bred Shiro Utsuri, although often a cleaner white than the Showa siblings. (The "hard" white does not support red pigment well, so a greater tendency toward loss of Hi in those with the purest white it seems??) The whites of the gosanke are a more soft, creamy white that better supports the red pigment of the gosanke, while a snow white contrasts more dramatically with the lacquer black of the best Shiro Utsuri. It is interesting to compare the whites of the koi in a pond of mixed varieties. The white of a good Shiro Utsuri will stand out from the rest, making the whites of Sanke and Kohaku look a tad yellowish. But, I'm rambling....
I would not consider a Sakai-bred Shiro Utsuri less worthy than an Omosako-bred. Both breeders produce a range of quality fish. It is really a matter of appreciating the points of beauty of the individual koi. | 
05-24-2006
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