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Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Ojiya, Niigata, Japan Posts: 496
| Probably today's special moment/experience
Whilst driving through Koguriyama, past the bull fight 'arena', you come to a road which turns into a track around some mud ponds.
On my last visit i'd negotiated the track in a Toyota Yaris and that seemed big. This time i've a Toyota Corolla and it seemed positively huge on the track!!
On starting my journey around the ponds I noticed a pond being harvested and that was my motivation for continuing.
I reached a flat area suitable for parking and decided to proceed on foot.
Upon arriving at the pond I found a lady and gentleman, far from in their first fountain of youth, just completing the first drag of the mudpond, a pond it transpired contained nisai sanke and kohaku with a few kujaku.
These Koi were first bowled and then bagged and the lady carried them to another mud pond which contained a temporary holding net from which they'd be transferred to their truck a short distance away once the netting completed.
They realised that some Koi had evaded capture and promptly pulled the net around the pond again. Anyone that's dragged a pond in this manner knows it's certainly not light work, yet they completed the task with consumate ease.
What struck me as I watched this couple for almost a whole hour was that this was their life. No doubt for maybe 30, 40 or more years, year in year out, they'd come and harvest this mud pond. Of course they see plenty of gaigin around Niigata, had one ever stood watching one of their harvests for an hour?
Throughout the time I watched them everything was taken in their stride, they seemed to be enjoying life, they would laugh with one another, they would talk about the Koi in the bowl, when they needed to re-net the pond - a task which yielded just 6 Koi - there was no sense of frustration, anger or dispair at having to do so.
It was a moment that was a pleasure to be part of, stood on the side of a pond in the hills of Yamakoshi in the glorious sunshine of late summer and early autumn.
Tomorrow I will go and get some prints of the photos that I took and hope that I can find Mr and Mrs Sakazume of Koguriyama and give them to them. Attachments  
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Mark Gardner
Last edited by Brian; 09-04-2008 at 02:03 AM..
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10-10-2007
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