A show won by a kumonryu? In Japan? Or a ZNA chapter elsewhere in the world?
I say that because kumonryu, one of my favorite non gosanke also, is not usually in the hunt to beat every gosanke in the show?!
At any rate, about judging kumonryu-
It is first the same in that we judge all koi against a standard for the breed AFTER we have judged it for soundness, confirmation, quality, color and pattern. And depending on size and age these categories shift in order or become emphasized based on age/size.
A word about judging- many judges will judge on the old point system. This is reliable and necessary to a degree but it is always at the expense of the all important subjective element of judging. And that can be quite disappointing in terms of honoring unique or special fish that happen not to score high on the point system.
Others judge strictly from the ‘heart’ and judge a fish as a whole creature based on the impression the fish makes on them. That is OK to a degree- and it is true that many folks with a ‘natural’ eye gravitate to judging and are quickly accepted into the program. These are also unfortunately, the people most resistant to future learning and miss details of soundness, confirmation etc.
A judge has to be above all things flexible in attitude. The ‘team’ of judges will usually compensate for the extreme point of view and bring things back to center anyway. The flexibility however, is invaluable as it is what provides for future learning and therefore more enlightened judging.
OK rant over, but I wanted to get that out there so that we can move to kumonryu judging.
Kumonryu are of course, kawarimono class, unless they are not!
You remember when I said that kujaku MUST first and foremost have teri or shine? Well the reason THAT is so important is that kujaku enters the show as one representative of hikari moyo . So by definition, these are shiny fish! If they are not, then they must really be put in kawarimono as a normal skinned koi. This often happens with matsuba by the way , a close relative of kujaku. If it is shiny it goes in hikari and if not, it goes in kawari mono.
Kumonryu is from a known breeding that requires it be in with it’s relatives - karasu goi. But kumonryu can also be ginrin ( yep those few scales can be ginrin), metallic ( I say kawari , most say hikari- moyo ) and kumonryu can be ‘real’ kumonryu, some variation on doitsu karasu types, two colored red kumonryu and now three colored kumonryu. All this means that a great deal of subjectively enters into the decision making . But it should not be ‘judging from the heart’ although it can some times appear that way.
The classic kumonryu is pictured below on the left. It is killer and perfect as a true kumonryu. Yet it is not the most famous kumonryu! The ‘orca’ kumonryu is THE most famous kumonryu. The point being, if we are using the point system, and are ‘orthodox’ in our standard for kumonryu, the first fish wins! If we judge with allowed subjective element, the second fish wins.
I am a koi judge. I LIKE real kumonryu and that is my subjective bias. I believe pattern makes for a good kumonryu just like ‘teri’ makes for a good kujaku. But in the case below I would have to honor the second fish on the right with the win ( just talking pattern here and not confirmation as these are vastly different size fish). I’m running very long so I’ll give someone else a change and then later we can talk about your fish and rank them ----
JR
04-26-2007
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