All Japan Show Grand Champion 2007!!!

[MikeM]

A virtually perfect Showa in terms of body, pigment quality, and finish.

Rationally, I know this is a great Showa. But, she does not capture my imagination. Don't know why. Maybe its the pattern. The uneven motoguro bothers my eye, but that's not what leaves me cold. Maybe it's that the pigment blocks are so well-defined? It's as if she is frozen, rather than fluid? She clearly deserved to win over the others in the top 5. But, I can't imagine how incredible it would be to have her ... literally. I'm just not excited by her.

....I think I've been working too much.

[RayJordan]

Mike,
I saw her in person last year and she is awesome. Hard to capture the presence and impression of power in a shapshot.

[JasPR]

Mike, big fish are never about pattern. That can add to the fish but very rarely takes away from the fish ( unless the fish is too old).

I read several comments on the boards about this fish and all zero in on perceived flaws in pattern. This is a western misunderstanding of what makes:

Baby koi good koi
Juvinile koi good koi
Adult koi good koi

Think about it this way. Do you look for the same physical attributes in German Shepard puppies as you do one year old shepards or five year old shepards? Koi are no different.

And adult koi, of world class quality, will have the BODY of a large carp and the QUALITY of the very best genetics available today. It will have high class complex colors and high class skin. And finally it should have a pattern that makes it unique and a piece of art.

This is VERY different from the high patterned male fish that we buy over here in America.
This is also, in the eye of the breeder, the fish that NEVER got culled and what all his production efforts hopefully lead him to. A very special animal- so to pick at pattern issues gets kinda lost in an animals like these - these are THE best fish in the world.
JR

[MikeM]

JR: Yes, I understand that. I have no argument over the judges' choice. I don't think I've seen a Showa so well finished in all respects. The sumi is like a paint-by-numbers picture it is so even and completely finished. I'd rank her well ahead of the Maruyama Showa from two years ago. But, I find her boring. In person I'm sure the size and full body must give a more powerful effect.

[KoiCop]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori It's funny Don because we were talking about the next GC winner for All-Japan Shinkokai at our roundtable discussion with Kevin(Genki). In that discussion he brought up that the rumor for All-Japan GC was goin to be a Dainichi Showa. 2006 All Japan Wakagoi Show Dainichi Kohak GC 2006 Nyogosai Show Dainichi Showa GC 2007 All Japan Shinkokai GC They have taken 2 of 3 major shows this year, so I would think they are back on the raise as Minoru Mano would want it to be.

Mark Gardner (KoiChat) tipped her for GC before the show, and I remember Ray Jordan hinting the same -- so Kevin was hooked into the same brain waves, eh?

Actually, I think it's pretty darn hard to 'sneak' one under the koi radar and into the AJC!

[Eugeneg]

Rationally, I know this is a great Showa. But, she does not capture my imagination. Don't know why. Maybe its the pattern. The uneven motoguro bothers my eye, but that's not what leaves me cold. Maybe it's that the pigment blocks are so well-defined? It's as if she is frozen, rather than fluid? She clearly deserved to win over the others in the top 5. But, I can't imagine how incredible it would be to have her ... literally. I'm just not excited by her.

Mike
I do not care much for showas but after your remarks gave this one closer study . First of all there is composition in colour putting red on black in a balanced pleasing composition is extremely difficult yet looking from head to tail of the fish it is a real work of art . Then I looked at the balance of the shapes forgetting the colours and again looked and there was a very pleasing black gray and white . You might have to convert to black and white to see this . I am no judge but the judges must have seen this to place this fish first .
As I see it
Regards
Eugene

[mitten]

As a neophyte and half dense what had struck me about this fish was that it was the first time I had seen a fish that I could tell all three colors were ready and finished at the same time. Immediately I thought that this may be its one moment and there may not be another.

Is this impression of mine wrong? Can this finish hold? How would it be done?

[JasPR]

I don't think that is whole answer Eugene? A koi show is part LIVESTOCK show and part ART show. Additionally, judging individual koi is based on rarity. Rarity of traits when compared to the entire range of production out there.
As a live stock show, the judge is first looking for soundness and size as inbreeding tends to reduce fish in size. Second, the breeder judge is looking for a refined fish ( meaning inbred for rare traits) that is part nature but also an impossibility of nature. The tendency for koi is to revert to a more uniform carp appearance. So a hugh bred fish is one that resists reversion to carp phenotype and also 'fights off' the consequences of resisting carp phenoytype- IE small size tendencies.
In this regard this fish expresses power and strength. It is large boned but also a polished nishikigoi ( fancy carp). In addition there is tendency for nishikigoi to LOOSE the refined color traits as they age and get to this size- once again making this a rare fish- especially for the showa variety.
I honestly thought they'd pick the sakai kohaku but I can see how the showa would/could win. Personally I thought it would be second, behind the kohaku as happened when these two same varieties ( different fish of course) competed in the mid nineties for two years in a row. In those competitions, the showa was smaller and lost to the other gosanke each year until the inevitable happened- it showed up one last time and its natural decline in color and volume was very noticeable.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori I guess the rumor that was going around was correct...The rumor was a Showa from Dainichi was goin to win GC, and this was months before the show itself..

This is because the Showa won Nogyosia and Ryunkai GC.

[dizzyfish]

Russ,JR,
How big was the Sakai kohaku?