Day 8

We checked out of the hotel this morning following breakfast, leaving our luggage with them to be collected later.

First stop this morning was Jirosuke where the dealers stocked up with a variety of average grade but reasonably priced koi. As always there are plenty to choose from, but because of the stocking levels and pond configuration it is not always easy to spot or net the koi you want. We spent a couple of hours there before moving on to take a quick coffee and chat with Torazo where the breeder was quite happy to chat about his plans for the future. He had been approached to sell large numbers of low grade koi to a large dealer and had told them that he only intended to develop and sell better quality koi in the future and all they would get was what was left when the dealers that appreciated better quality koi had finished selecting, which was very refreshing to hear.

We then headed of to Kaneko again, where there was a high grade Shiro Utsuri that Christie had reserved and needed to check in good light before confirming the deal. After checking the koi and finding a nice Kujaku to share it’s box, we were out of there and drove over to see Seki and check out his Nissai. Again we were very efficient and quickly sorted through those available and made up a box load to purchase.

Our next appointment, which was with Marusei aka Seitaro aka Hirasawa, would be our last as time was running out before we needed to head back to town and catch our train, however we had 45 minutes before the breeder would be available, so we found a local café and had a curry lunch. We were back at the breeders at the agreed time but he was nowhere to be seen. We let ourselves in and took a look around at what might be available and noticed some nice Snow Asagis amongst other things, and went back outside to wait. Toru’s phone then went and the breeder was calling to let us know he would be 30 mins late, so we went across to the main facility and looked at the awesome koi in there, including one huge pond with numerous koi of over 80cm and all in great condition including some stunning and perfectly clean Kigoi. Sadly my day was ruined when I wandered past two ponds to satisfy Mushios fantasies. Both were full of Benigoi, with just a few other fish to add the odd dash of colour. There must have been several thousand of them in each pond, and I was starting to feel ill looking at them. I therefore made my way back to ground level and did my best to convince myself that it was just a bad dream. The breeder eventually turned up and some extremely quick business was done with Christie buying the best of the Snow Asagi available.

It was then a dash back to town where Toru handed back the car and I collected the cases from the hotel. The train journey was spent napping and I arrived at the hotel in Narita in the evening. Off to the airport in a bit and I’ll add some photo’s and a summary of my trip when I get home.

Hope you enjoyed the details of my adventure.

Dave