Day Five

For the first time since I arrived, I was awoken by the sound of my alarm. I had managed to sleep through to 5.00am and hopefully my body clock would be sorted for the rest of the trip.

Today we were off to the Exclusive Breeder which meant a long drive and an early start. It was a bright day as we moved away from Niigata and whilst the snow was still around it was not as thick as in the mountains.

Surely I would be making a purchase of some kind today, as he always seems to offer really good value and you seem to get more koi for your money here without losing out on quality. I have always bought at least one koi on each of my previous visits and my purchase on my first trip in 2003 is still residing in my pond as my largest koi. I was not looking for a big koi, but hopefully there would be something smaller that would catch my eye.

The journey there was uneventful and the weather was definitely warmer when we got there and it was not long before the jacket came off and I was able to enjoy the sunshine in a T shirt. The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was his stunning new house had been completed and looked to be a very high quality build, so business couldn’t be that bad.

The South African dealers were soon very busy selecting koi from the very full Nissai ponds, where I couldn’t see anything that grabbed my eye, so I concentrated my attentions on the Sansai pond. There were a couple of koi that had caught my eye and despite the pond being very well stocked, my eye kept coming back to these koi. When the Nissai selection was completed it was 12.15 and Toru announced that it was time for lunch. Then the breeder interjected and asked if I would like to look at anything in the Sansai pond before we took lunch. More than happy to find out if I could afford either of the koi I had been looking at, I jumped at the chance and had a bowl readied by the pond and the net in my hand in no time at all. I quickly established the positions of my prey and gently manoeuvred the net into position, avoiding the many other high quality koi around them.

Both were bowled within a few minutes and I jumped down to inspect them at close quarters. After giving them a thorough inspection I was satisfied that I would be happy with either if they were within my budget, and Toru started to talk with the breeder pointing out my minor concerns with the fish to the breeder in order to get the best price. After a couple of minutes he took me to one side and told me what they would cost, advising me that it was a very good price and half of what I could expect to pay at some other breeders. I made my decision on what would come home with me and got Toru to inform the breeder. The traditional bows and thank you’s were exchanged and then the cameras came out to get the essential photo’s. The breeder then took the koi away to the sold pond, and I checked the time to find it was just after 12.30 and the whole process had taken only 15 minutes, I don’t like to waste too much time when I’ve seen what I want.

As always on my visits here, the breeder took us for lunch at a local Pizza and Pork restaurant and treated us to an excellent meal. We then went back to his house and found a small truck and a stunning new Porsche sitting outside. It turned out that his furniture designer had arrived with his new tables. On the back of the truck was the most incredible piece of wood, some 4” thick and cut from the length of a large tree trunk, measuring around 8’ long and 4’ wide, and had to be seen to be believed. We all fell in love with it and then found out we would get the pleasure of carrying it inside! It took 7 of us to carry it and we had the problem of having to remove your shoes as you got into the house, which was alright for the Japanese with their slip on shoes and the South Africans with their wellies, but I had on a pair of Goretex walking boots that were laced right up. Anyway we managed it somehow, got the table in and manoeuvred it onto its stands in a gentle manner as possible. Again lots of bows and than you’s and we had the chance to look around a couple of rooms, and noted that he also had a round dining table in his kitchen made from the same wood and was equally breathtaking. Toru had told us that the large table would cost well in excess of 1 million Yen, so it was no surprise the designer was driving round in the new Porsche.

It was then back to the ponds and the dealers now moved in on the sansai pond, having found out that the koi were affordable, and a couple of superb Sanke were selected for a client, one of which had serious potential for the future.

We then moved through to take a look at the Tosai which required that walk between the two show ponds containing his very finest large koi, some belonging to hobbyists and the rest far too expensive for me to even dream of on this trip.

We has a look in the first Tosai pond and the quality looked pretty good and before long the breeder and his wife had netted the pond and set everything up to scoop and select the koi. We were joined in this by a Japanese hobbyist and with two of us on selection duty at a time as well it was very busy. We rotated the selection duties between the three of us whilst Toru and the breeder shared the load in lifting the koi into the selection bowl. We did not finish until last light and had gone through well over 7000 koi to select just 180 or so. These were then sorted into batches under a hand held light so that Toru could photograph them and identify where they were to be shipped. It was seriously dark by the time the sorting had been completed and we did our best to aid the breeder in tidying up before going for a coffee with him whilst Toru and he concluded the business arrangements.

The drive home was the part of the day I had been fearing as it meant a 2 hour plus drive for Toru in the dark and I knew from experience that he would struggle to keep his eyes open and the car on the road and it would be important to keep him alert as much as possible. The first sign that Toru is tired is when he slows down to a crawl and it is vital that the passengers are awake enough to spot the signs and direct him to pull in at the next services. Fortunately we managed that this time, and after a couple of coffee stops we arrived back in Nagaoka. It was now around 9.30 and whilst we had not managed dinner yet, we were all still full enough from the lunch with the breeder that we were happy to head back to our hotels for the night.