Another showa!! Please comment.

[Erns]

I've just bought this Sakai H showa. 21months old and 55cm and female. Figured I have enough kindai so now for one thats a bit more traditional. I've also been having very good results with Sakai H with development so I thought I'd give one of his showa a go. No idea which parent was involved here.

Why I liked her:
1. Good conformation
2. Nice head and shoulders
3. Very deep hi for a showa
4. Great shiro
5. Sumi quality and developments shows promise.
6. Good pec fins for showa
7. Kiwa seems good at this stage.

Concerns:
1. Simple 2 step pattern?
2. messy sashi in the shoulder.

let me know what you think...

[aquitori]

The conformation looks a bit off from what I see. The overall apperance is stout(could be the angle) the head is a bit short and broad. Besides my concerns with the conformation the quality of the beni, sumi and shiroji looks very good. As far as pattern goes we will wait to see where the rest of the sumi comes up to balance out the rest of the pattern. Nice overall Showa, do you have a better pic with a better angle showing the lines of the fish?

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori The conformation looks a bit off from what I see. The overall apperance is stout(could be the angle) the head is a bit short and broad. Besides my concerns with the conformation the quality of the beni, sumi and shiroji looks very good. As far as pattern goes we will wait to see where the rest of the sumi comes up to balance out the rest of the pattern. Nice overall Showa, do you have a better pic with a better angle showing the lines of the fish?

I've got this one from Oct just after harvesting. She has been with a dealer up to now.

[MikeM]

What a difference a few months can make. Gotta love Showa. Nice koi. Pattern balance will be an issue, but does that matter to you?

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM What a difference a few months can make. Gotta love Showa. Nice koi. Pattern balance will be an issue, but does that matter to you?

I buy them to show them and of course to enjoy them! Pattern is last on my list when considering a koi because it's so hard to get all the other elements in one koi. We had a show this weekend and allthough I did not show there I did the 4 hour drive to go see and to listen to the judges discussion on why they selected certain koi as winner. There was a lovely kohaku of over 75cm with a great pattern but because of messy kiwa the koi got nowhere.

For me (and I'm a bit of a idiot!) the balance lies in 4 pieces on this showa. THere is the two step hi pattern on the front and back. In the middle section there is the heavy sumi on the one side and the clean shiro on the other, also in balance! I doubt whether any judge would agree with me but that's just tough. Maybe we can get a judge to give us her/his opinion on how this showa would do if it had to show right now? I like the clean pattern, sometimes showas can be very 'spotty'!

[aquitori]

Hi Erns, big difference in pics....I had one question in regards to the show you went to. Who was judging? ZNA or Shinkokai?

The thing about this Showa is that it will show well when it exceeds the 75+cm range. Maintain the quality and I think without a doubt that quality will triumph over pattern in the long run.

Keep us up to date on the development....

Tony

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori Hi Erns, big difference in pics....I had one question in regards to the show you went to. Who was judging? ZNA or Shinkokai? The thing about this Showa is that it will show well when it exceeds the 75+cm range. Maintain the quality and I think without a doubt that quality will triumph over pattern in the long run. Keep us up to date on the development.... Tony

ZNA.....

So you are happy with the confirmation after the second pic? I'll take good care of her and keep you updated!

We need to start our own koi development book and print it like some famous expensive red book that I've got! Just give us a few years to track some koi and then we get somebody really famous to talk about the development...and then we sell it!!!

[aquitori]

Quote: Originally Posted by Erns ZNA..... So you are happy with the confirmation after the second pic? I'll take good care of her and keep you updated! We need to start our own koi development book and print it like some famous expensive red book that I've got! Just give us a few years to track some koi and then we get somebody really famous to talk about the development...and then we sell it!!!

ZNA hhhhmmm....I guess it all depends on how messy the kiwa was on the Kohak. Usually when the fish is over a certain size the judges are more forgiving. Sharp kiwa is a sign of strenght in the beni and the quality of it. This past show at Gardena the GC had less than favorable kiwa in my opinion, but the strenght of conformation pushed it ahead.

When I first too a glance at the pic of the Showa was on my widescreen laptop which kinda made the pic wide....The Showa has qualities, I wouldnt mind having it in my pond...

It would nice if this forum had a sub category for "Koi Development" where members can post progression pics of their fish. A book would do nicely too...

[Fukarin]

Erns,

When we purchassed our tosai showa from SFF in april 2006, I thought "what a ugly one", but my boyfriend felt in love with her...so she came to our pond in april 2006, she was then 10 months old and 39 cm in length.
The first photo is from march 2006 and the other one is 7 months later..she is still a ugly duckling

She changed a lot in 2 years, there is more sumi now and it is thicker than in 2006, it will be time that we take another photo from her soon..In my opinion she becomes now more a swan..

I think your showa looks not so "messy" like our showa in 2006....she will be a very pretty lady in the future I'm sure about it..

gr,
Ingrid

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fukarin Erns, When we purchassed our tosai showa from SFF in april 2006, I thought "what a ugly one", but my boyfriend felt in love with her...so she came to our pond in april 2006, she was then 10 months old and 39 cm in length. The first photo is from march 2006 and the other one is 7 months later..she is still a ugly duckling She changed a lot in 2 years, there is more sumi now and it is thicker than in 2006, it will be time that we take another photo from her soon..In my opinion she becomes now more a swan.. I think your showa looks not so "messy" like our showa in 2006....she will be a very pretty lady in the future I'm sure about it.. gr, Ingrid

Ingrid
How big is she now? She is a ugly duckling for now but that is the challenge with showa...too see through it all. I'm looking forward to mine. My one Dainichi showa that I bought in October at 47cm is now over 62cm...she will be 2 in a few months. So I guess with our climate we can really grow big fish fast if we get the right genetics. I'm really excited to see how the SFF showa will do in my pond. I know it's Dainichi bloodline but I'm sure there is something of their own somewhere in the breeding program.