| We followed Shintero into one of his many Units
and I just could not believe the sight that greeted us - nor the
size of the one year old Koi we were then looking at ... from just
10" to anywhere up to 14" or so ... it was a remarkable
sight and having taken a closer look at the quality of the
Shintero Sanke in a bowl I decided that I wished to purchase 100
such pieces from Shintero and we made arrangements to call to hand
select these in the morning ... and we then moved on to the next
breeder which was, if my memory serves me right 'Tanaka' another
very well respected breeder of the Mushigami area of Niigata
Prefecture. Again I was astounded at the shear quality of his Koi
although as time was to tell me - his filter systems, like so many
in Japan, left much to be desired ... In one of Tanaka's tanks I
noticed a fabulous 'Goshiki' with what appeared to be almost
bright red markings and I was wishing that Tanaka was there so
that I could take a closer look at this Koi .. but Peter told me
that we could return in the morning and that Tanaka san would be
there and I could have a better look at it and obtain a price ...
We left Tanaka's and moved on to the next breeder and I can't
for the life of me remember the name of that breeder, but felt
sure that we would be visiting them again the following day as
there was no one around although, like the other breeders we
visited the fish houses were open and unlocked... but there I was
to see some of the finest Koi I have ever seen and there were
literally thousands upon thousands of them to choose from and as
soon as you took a step towards a tank the Koi would swarm up
towards you with the little mouths wide open hoping for some food
... it was indeed a wonderful sight and dealers and collectors in
our country - and others talk about 'Stocking Levels' - well any
such rule in Japan goes straight out of the window ...believe me
...
The next port of call was to visit 'Shintero' probably one of
the most important breeders of Sanke in the whole of Japan .. his
Sanke are known as probably the standard of Sanke now set for
Japan and the rest of the world...
Shintero and his family greeted us on the doorstep as soon as
they realised that Peter san was visiting .. and I was delighted
to meet this man and to be shown round his fish houses by him... I
was astounded at the shear size of his 'Tosai' (one year old's)
they ranged from probably 9" or 10" right up to 14"
and 15" ... Shintero apparently is ruthless when it comes to
'Culling' his Koi ... he does not believe that the smaller growing
Koi should take up valuable water space and eat the special food
he prepares for all his Koi ... so he is constantly culling his
stocks until he his happy that the Koi remaining will grow into
big Koi over a relatively a short space of time ...
Whilst on the face of it and at first look at Shintero Koi ...
one would believe that these enormous stocks of Koi were of a
lower grade - but they would be wrong - Shintero Koi just get
better and better as time marches on ... one has to understand the
ways of Shintero - he never feeds colour enhancing foods to his
stocks and actually mixes his own food specially which he then
feeds to his Koi to achieve the amount of growth he very clearly
does ...
We seemed to spend so much time with Shintero that, as Peter
puts it, 'We are loosing daylight' ... and so we made our way
further up the Mountains and I discovered the homes of many of
Japan's top breeders ... we stopped off next at Yagenji's and we
were greeted by a smashing little dog - it looked something
similar to a Husky or a Chow - but clearly it was a breed of
Japan's own but it had a coat of fur that felt just like the skin
of a Bear .. I could of quite easily taken that back home to
England ... but that's enough of that subject ... we entered a
very nice fish house - so far most certainly the best and cleanest
that we had seen up to this time .. There were, if my memory
serves me correctly, about 9 tanks each containing probably in the
region of 12,000 gallons each ... each tank was stocked with
superb Koi of all varieties, or certainly the most popular ones,
it was hard to find a tank that did not contain at least some of
the finest Koi that we had seen so far ... I was very impressed
with the whole setup of Yagenji and although there was no one
around I put the following days visit high on our agenda when
Peter felt sure that there would be someone around ...
A quick flying visit around some of the other breeders premises
and it was time to be heading back to our Hotel which was about 20
to 25 minutes away by 'Bongo' ....
All in all my first day, or part of it in Japan, had been a
very momentous one... and I am sure that we were all feeling the
strain of the long journey - lack of sleep - and the Mountain
trekking ... we decided to rest up for a couple of hours and
then meet downstairs in the lounge area for each other and then
take off for a bite to eat and drink ....
When we were all ready Peter said he would take us to a small
but friendly bar where we could get something to eat and the way
Peter ranted on about this place all the way there it sounded like
it was going to be alright ... Five minutes walk and we were
entering this bar where we received a very warm welcome from the
Japanese owner who showed us to a vacant table and after ordering
a few drinks decided on a bite to eat ...
The meal was most enjoyable but give me my Roast Beef and
Yorkshire Pudding anytime ... after the meal we had a few more
drinks and then decided to call it a night and made our way back
to the Hotel
DAY 2
Bright and early, or so it seemed, we met each other in the
dining room for a spot of Breakfast .... and clearly all the hotel
staff knew Peter and what was required at his table so after we
had helped ourselves to what ever we wished, in my case I had a
plateful of Corn Flakes - a glass of Fruit Juice - and a spot of
scrambled egg and bacon .. and returned to the table where the
waiter was just fetching out some freshly made toast - and the
slices must have been at least 3/4" thick - I don't think
that I have ever seen such thick slices of toast anywhere in the
world .. then another waiter approached the table carrying some
'Boiled Eggs' just the way Peter liked them so we all tucked into
what ever we liked ....
After breakfast the three of us, Peter, Dennis and myself
climbed aboard the 'Bongo' truck and headed off to the Mountains
once again ... we called in some of those breeders we had visited
the previous day and began to study the quality of the stock in
each tank ... We did not make any purchases at any of these
breeders even though it was certainly my intention to do so before
too long ..instead we headed further up the mountains visiting
'Iregashi' - 'Marusada' - 'Dainichi' - 'Jinbea' - 'Sakai
Yamamatsu' - and quite a few others ... and before we knew
it - it was back to the hotel time ... the second day in Japan
seemed to have passed so very quickly and still I had not bought a
single Koi ...
After the usual rest for an hour or so we met in the lounge
area where we met up with an American couple that had come over to
join Peter's party - they had only just arrived and were from
Philadelphia ... their names were Paulette and Sal... After the
introductions we decided to go for something to eat etc ... So we
walked for a few minutes and came to a German Style restaurant and
found ourselves a table ... after selecting what each of us wanted
from the very varied menu - we chatted about this, that and tuther
whilst the meal was ready - slowly sipping at our beers etc ... I
say slowly sipping but that did not include Peter who was knocking
the Whiskies off as if they were going out of fashion ...
Apparently Sal was one of the USA's leading Cosmetic Surgeon's
whose clientele varied from the very rich and famous to just the
rich ... Peter and I were most interested in this subject and we
argued over which one of us were going to be trained fully in the
art of Breast implantation ! and who was just going to be the
tester of both products before and after !!! I think it was
Peter's undaunted persistence that gained Peter a full
apprenticeship in all the subjects surrounding Breast implantation
and treatments ... I elected to go for the second option of
learning the art of 'Liposuction' which I felt sure would come in
handy when I got back home to the missus ! and I gained the option
on any second hand Liposuction pumps that Sal had either finished
with, or worn out !
After the meal some more drinks were ordered and we all seemed
to be having a jolly time of it ... Then I happened to glance over
in Peter's direction ...and I could swear that he was 'nodding
off' but when he was asked anything he was in there with the
answer .. Then about ten minutes later there was such a 'Crash'
... as Peter fell off his chair and hit the floor !!! spark out !
- Naturally we helped poor drunken Peter back into the sitting
position on the chair and I apologized to the other people in the
restaurant for the unfortunate intrusion .... Of course Peter's
excuse, which was typical of Peter, was - 'I am so tired I just
can't stay awake' ... but we all knew different !... the drunken
sod !
DAY 3
Again after eating a hearty breakfast to see us through the day
we all climbed aboard the 'Bongo' truck and off we shot ... by
this time, it being my third such trip to the breeders - I
jokingly said 'Next left Dennis -just after the next set of
traffic lights ... ' OK said Dennis and turn to the left we did ..
it was not too long before Peter said 'OK Trevor where do we go
next' ... I could only say which way if we were in fact doing the
rounds of the breeders in the order of the two previous days ...
and as my instructions for the next turning was correct then I
felt more comfortable .... We pulled up fist stop at 'Tanaka's and
Tanaka San was there to greet us and to show us around ...
This time I paid particular attention to any Koi that I may wish
to buy - he had some very nice Tosai of Sanke, Showa, and Kohaku
with other varieties mixed in with them ... Having already seen
some others at Yagenji's I decided not to buy any from Tanaka on
this trip ... but I did buy 100 pieces of Chagoi, Suragoi, Ochiba
mix and also 50 pieces of Ki Kin Utsuri (or Showa) and 50 pieces
of Platinum Purachina ... these were the only Koi that I bought in
the entire trip that were not personally selected by hand - there
were so many that it would have possibly taken all day to go
through them and I felt sure that Tanaka San would select nice Koi
for me - and I was right ...
I asked Tanaka San to bowl a magnificent 'Goshiki' that was
freely swimming amongst some rather nice Yamabuki and larger
Chagoi ... It was absolutely super and I could not make up my mind
whether to go for it or not ... but I decide that I would wait to
see if we saw anything better at one of the other breeders that we
were going to visit over the next couple of days ... Sal &
Paulette bought some extremely nice Tosai - Showa and Sanke -
expensive but very, very nice Koi - I think that they decided on
just 10 pieces ...
We then said our farewells to Tanaka and moved on to Shintero
who was expecting us to call as on our previous visit the day
previous I had said that I wished to buy 100 Tosai Sanke from
him.... He greeted us as soon as we arrived and we followed him
into his house - removing, of course, our footwear before we
entered ... we all sat down on the floor, crossed legged, around a
low table ... Shintero's wife then served us with a cup of
tea each and as this was my first taste of Japanese brewed tea I
did not really know what to expect... again a was pleasantly
surprised ... it was not so different to the tea we have back home
...
After an informal chat we made our way across to one of the
fish houses where both Shintero and myself put on some water
proofs - I half expected him to pass me a snorkel or a gas bottle
and mask to go with the attire ... but that did not happen ..
Shintero - large landing net in hand began to net the Koi offering
the catch to me to select from .. any that I selected were then
placed into another empty tank marked up for my stock ... there
were so many that it took possibly an hour to select the 100 Koi
that I had ordered .. But at the tend of it all I was extremely
pleased with the Koi that I had purchased .... even if they had
cost me an arm and a leg .... |
