Who else has a passionate weakness for a well marked Utsuri???

[paladin_k2]

I have enough good fish that I certainly really don't need any more but my continuing addiction and weakness seems to be Utsuri.

Sort of like real Belgian Chocolates, I always seem to drawn to look in the puddle that has utsuri in it.

If it is at show or sale and there is a tank with a number of 6 to 12 inch size Utsuri fish I always find myself metciulously evaluating the intensity of the based skin color, the smoothness and definition of the sumi, and then mentally measuring and calculating out the appeal factors and balance of the overal pattern.

Will power usually prevails but only after gazillions of minutes going through the evalution processes.

Then i just have to go have a Kit Kat to fully recover.

I think I have a highly specialized but addictive Utsuri personality.

[KoiCop]

p_k2 . . .

Then you should like Jim North's "Pick the Shiro" thread. Have you seen it? What are your opinions?

http://www.koi-bito.com/forum/genera...ick-shiro.html

[JasPR]

hey Paladin, how about this one? Drooling yet?

[paladin_k2]

Nice drool worthy panda there JasPR.

Here's a itty bitty baby Ki Utsuri that I've been watching from this past year's weaker moments. This fish seems to be a 3 Kit Kat fish on the open ended chocolate bar scale.

This fish is an American fish that came from Casey Lefever in North Carolina.

[JasPR]

Good pattern but not great quality sumi. This is hard variety ( hi and ki utsuri ) to compare to shiro due the higher quality of shiro skin. In a certain sense, shiro has transcended hi and ki utsuri and now carries a different quality. Here is a better look at the depth of sumi in modern shiro. I've also included a show winning hi utsuri that is pretty impressive. I post this for study and not to compete with a very nice domestic you have there-

[paladin_k2]

Nice pic of an example of what some people view as a Hi Utsuri. Beautiful Hi and gorgeous lacquer black sumi but boatloads of bright shocking white in all the fins. Shinoda-san would commit harikari at the thought.

I tend to look at that example of a fish and recognize you say it is a Hi Utsuri but to me it is a Hi Showa hands down. The White dorsal and the predominantly white tail are killer factors for me plus the super well defined motogoru on white pectorals. It just doesnt say Hi Utsuri to me when I see that fish.

I know I may be smokin' cocoa rope but for me the fins of an Utsuri must be predominately black against the ground color with very limited presence of clear and/or shiro. I have seen a number of the pseudo utusri's like you show in that picture and recognize they have won awards in some judging circles but for me it shows a flaw in the system to hold up thuse fish as excellent examples of utsuri. They get my votes for outstanding quality fish but I would say they are misclassified on a grand scale due to the same phenotype creep that we see causing the kindai and sanke convergence and confusion. My eye picks it out instantly and does not get past the color flaws that should otherwise exclude the fish from the Utsuri classification.

I hope you see my points while I revel at and admire the quality of the colors on the Hi Showa fish.

[JasPR]

yes, you have quite an eye! Shinoda though??? The blending of gosanke into utsuri is nothing new and shiro is definite proof of that! This fish won in the All Japan and the ZNA national as a hi utsuri. JR

[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by paladin_k2 Nice pic of an example of what some people view as a Hi Utsuri. Beautiful Hi and gorgeous lacquer black sumi but boatloads of bright shocking white in all the fins. Shinoda-san would commit harikari at the thought. I tend to look at that example of a fish and recognize you say it is a Hi Utsuri but to me it is a Hi Showa hands down. The White dorsal and the predominantly white tail are killer factors for me plus the super well defined motogoru on white pectorals. It just doesnt say Hi Utsuri to me when I see that fish. I know I may be smokin' cocoa rope but for me the fins of an Utsuri must be predominately black against the ground color with very limited presence of clear and/or shiro. I have seen a number of the pseudo utusri's like you show in that picture and recognize they have won awards in some judging circles but for me it shows a flaw in the system to hold up thuse fish as excellent examples of utsuri. They get my votes for outstanding quality fish but I would say they are misclassified on a grand scale due to the same phenotype creep that we see causing the kindai and sanke convergence and confusion. My eye picks it out instantly and does not get past the color flaws that should otherwise exclude the fish from the Utsuri classification. I hope you see my points while I revel at and admire the quality of the colors on the Hi Showa fish.

Paladin
I was getting ready to post below JR and then saw you beat me to it. I definitely agree, Hi Showa. Upon VERY close inspection of the photo, it appears that along the bottom left side you can see some reflective shiroji as well. Great fish, wrong class!!

Mike

[jnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by JasPR hey Paladin, how about this one? Drooling yet?

I know I am!!!!

[JasPR]

Mike! Finnegan warned me about you! LOls . Seriously, I see your point but the fish is a winner as hi utsuri. But if it is going to distract from my point I'll substitute it with another shot of an All Japan winner when I'm done making my point here. Sumi is changing rapidly in shiro as the skin improves and becomes more gosanke in nature. The hi utsuri is being crossed and for some reason is not sacrificing the pattern as much as shiro did. And ki utsuri is noty improved much at all and is still a black based fish with dull sumi and poor yellow coloring. The exception is the ki utsuri with a dilute gene. You can tell this dilute gene from the soft pastel nature of the yellow and the unusual lack of speckling of the sumi- a very rare trait in ki utsuri sumi.
JR