How to select a ki Utsuri.

[jjkon]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking of adding a Ki Utsuri to my pond but no sure how to select one. Anyone can provide any guidances will be greatly appreciated!

John

[Brutuscz]

Here is how not to select one!!! This is mine. The picture on the left is at 3-4inches. On the right is about 14 inches. Do not pick one with a deep yellow color...it will go over the top and become orange. Pick one with the most pale yellow you can find. As you see...too much sumi. Looked good in the middle pic...then became a speckled crapagoi!!! So....pale yellow..less sumi..you may get a winner.

[MikeM]

I think true yellow in koi is very attractive, but hardly seen outside Yamabuki. Based on my general reading and conversations with Joel Burkhard and Carl Forss, just about the only way to get a decent one is to buy a 3-year old. They are very rare... i.e., expensive.

What Brutuscz has posted is quite typical of what occurs with younger fish. There is another common path ... the yellow becomes dull and a sooty gray sumi covers the fish giving it a sad appearance. Body shape issues are common as well. I have never seen a good one in person.

[Russell Peters]

I have seen great ones in Japan, but you will need to rob a bank to get one.

[dick benbow]

yellow was always my favorite color when I got started some 3 decades ago.
Since everyone was cracy about shows, the three colors had a pecking order
the best white would beat red, the best red would beat yellow....so i watched the abundance of ki-utsuri just gradually fad away to where they are, as Russ said, rare and very expensive. I can still find an occassional Kin-ki utsuri but once you've seen a good ki-utsuri, you'll want no substitute. As ther interest and demand grows someone will begin breeding them again. BTW I have seen many hi-utsuri's, 2 of which still haunt me, the red was that good but couldn't afford them....

Mike M the best yellow there is is a really high class aka mae ki-goi. I looked for one for 3 years some 2 decades ago. She was 7 when I got her thru my dealer after a japanese hobbyist got tired of her. I've had her ever since. I gave her the japanese name for the afterglow of sunset.

[jjkon]

Thanks everyone for the very helpful information and pictures. I think i know what i should look for now.

John

[Auntiesue]

Perhpas a Kin Ki Utsuri would be a better choice. I have one that I dearly love. We have trouble keeping girth on her even though she's a very agressive eater. This photo was taken after she had been indoors for several months so her sumi is washed out some. Once she returns to the natural daylight, she brightens right back up.

[Bern]

The Ki-utsuri was the variety chosen for the ZNA Judges training at the South African (SAKKS) National show in Jo'burg last year.

They had six fish to discuss, five were yellow and the other a deep orange.

The summary given by Hayamasa Ikeda at the end of the session was:-
1. No Shimmies, sumi should be solid and confined to the classic Utsuri pattern.
2. The secondary colour should be even throughout the fish, the colour Yellow vs Orange was less imporant than the consistency of colour. However if equal then the paler the better.

Which is more or less what was said at the beginning of this thread.

rgds BERN

[farne230]

I Love my kin ki utsuri-very large head, massive, interesting habits. I have posted her on previous threads. I encourage you to search one out, mine was three years old (I agree this is a good age no surprises) and look for one with clean sumi pattern. I will try and post mine so you can see what you can get. Pricing was not bad, under 2,000 for a show quality 2 year old.