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Dainichi Koi Farm - Creators of Beautiful Nishikigoi
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| Futoshi culling and Shigeru supporting. |
Nishikigoi, Japanese living jewels, attract
Koi hobbyists around the world. There are
people who devote their whole life to breeding
the beautiful Nishikigoi. I would like to
introduce such respectable breeders to readers
of KOI USA Magazine.
Dainichi Koi Farm
Introducing Japanese Nishikigoi breeders
means introducing Japanese representative
breeders. For me to do so, I must begin with
"Dainichi Koi Farm" because it
is Dainichi who actually established the
origin of Japanese Nishikigoi.
Lineage of Dainichi Koi Farm
 The lineages the Dainichi brothers currently
use all originated from the following three
Nishikigoi.
Mr.Minoru Mano, their father, devoted his
life establishing these lines: "Dainichi
Kohaku," "Dainichi Sanshoku"
and "Dainichi Showa." It is not
too much to call them the "treasure"
of the Nishikigoi industry.
It would be impossible for the brothers to
produce more beautiful Nishikigoi, higher
quality Nishikigoi no matter how hard them
try. They are that excellent. I hope that
they produce more of this quality and supply
them around the world.
There is a lot of word involved in Nishikigoi
breeding. More than you could expect. There
are times when you have to work in overwhelming
snow more than 1 meter (or 3.28 ft) in depth
during winter season. You cannot sleep when
you are hatching more than 8 million fries
during the breeding season. You spend every
single day until fall culling them till after
releasing them to mud ponds In the meantime,
you must take care of the bigger Koi, It
is a series of hard work that all 9 staff
members must work morning to night to complete.
But all the Koi hobbyists, all the Dainichi
fans look forward to their breeding Koi with
"high quality" and "full of
charm."
It falls upon you to give them good care
when you obtain Dainichi Kohaku, Dainichi
Sanshoku or Dainichi Showa because it will
be the only Dainichi piece in the world.
And also, please enter them in Koi shows.
The late Mano dedicated his whole life to
complete these lines. His sons inherited
them and breed them carefully. Please share
beauty of Dainichi pieces of Nishikigoi with
many hobbyists.
Body Conformation Distinguishes Koi
of Dainichi
  
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| Skinny Nishikigoi |
When it reaches 70 to 80cm(28"to 32"),
its body conformation is perfect. The
body
is symmetrical and beautiful. The beauty
is the result of its lineage as well
as the
method of raising it.
Please note the Kohaku.
This picture of the Kohaku was taken when
it was 3 years old. In other lineages, it
is usual for a 3 year old Koi to have body
conformation as in this picture. But in Dainichi
Koi Farm, they do not feed 3 to 5 year old
Koi at all from October to April. This way,
they remove all the gained fat during summer.
They intend to make their Nishikigoi skinny
like this picture.(1)
By repeating such absolute fasting during
winters of 2 to 5 years, Nishikigoi of Dainichi
can complete a more prefect beautiful body
conformation when it reaches more than 80cm(32").
But, Nishikigoi from other lineages would
not get the skinny body of Dainichi eve if
they fasted for 7 months. So we can think
that this character of Nishikigoi losing
all the fat during winter is another characteristic
of Dainichi.
More than 80cm a Dainichi would coat at least
5 to 6 million yen ($50,000 to $60,000).
Therefore, the secret of getting good Dainichi
Koi is the get skinny, high quality 3 to
4 year old Nishikigoi.
The second characteristic is skin quality.
Quality in the case of Kohaku means
'hi'
quality and 'shiroji'(white background)quality.
On Koi of Dainichi, 'shiroji' is especially
characterized.
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| Mano brothers picking up a 4-year-old Kohaku.
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Comparing with the other lineages would explain
the difference easily. The 'shiroji' is like
the one of pottery. Also, Fukurin appears
more.
Some may say that Fukurin can be found only
in Ogon variety. But it is not true. Fukurin
appears in Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku and showa,
too. For the beauty of Fukurin, Dainichi
Koi is regarded as a top of Japanese Nishikigoi.
Fukurin is an Important Key Point to
Tell
Quality
Ogon will have very beautiful Fukurin when
it becomes 80 to 85cm(32" to 34").
I think you know well about the Fukurin of
Ogon.
It is true that Fukurin came from Ogon. But
this is not only for Ogon. We can find Fukurin
in Kohaku, Sanke, and Showa variety, too.
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What are they doing? Well..aren't they Futoshi
and Shigeru of Dainichi?? Why
are you digging
there?
I see. This is the back yard of their house.
They must be digging a hole for garbage..or
are they?! |
Fukurin is difficult to tell on 2 to 3 year
old Koi. It will not be clear enough until
Nishikigoi grow as big as 790 to 80cm(28"
to 32").
More than 30 years ago, there were no Kohaku,
Taisho Sanshoku, and Showa over 70cm; there
were only the very large Asagi and Ogon.
Then we noticed the beauty of Fukurin on
these large varieties. This is how the word
Fukurin came about. Because other varieties
like Gosanke wore still small at that time,
we could not see Fukurin on them. This is
why there was some misunderstanding that
"Fukurin' is the word only for Asagi
and Ogon.
But now when Gosanke can grow as big as more
than 70cm, they can have beautiful Fukurin
like this Taisho Sanshoku in the picture.
Ofcourse, not all the Nishikigoi can necessarily
have Fukurin, which is regarded as very high
quality. Fukurin will appear on "hi"
plate as well. But in this case, it appears
beautiful especially the 'shiroji'
A characteristic of Dainichi Sanke is this
beautiful appearance of Fukurin.
Taisho Sanshoku in picture B is only 4 year
lid and 65cm(26")long. Her skin is outstanding.
But the Fukurin has not appeared yet. In
old days, this was the biggest size they
could get. This is why Fukurin was considered
only for Asagi and Ogon.
Secret of Buying Dainichi Kohaku for
Value
Price
When Dainichi Koi are 3 to 5 years old, the
body conformation is very thin and looks
very poor. As this Koi grows, it will get
more flesh on its body and from the beautiful
body.
I have purchased a 20 million Japanese Yen
($200,000) Nishikigoi at Dainichi Koi Farm.
She was a 10 year old Kohaku 80cm (32")long.
She was so beautiful and powerful. Dainichi
Koi will become more beautiful and more powerful
as it grows. It is natural that the price
goes higher as it becomes more beautiful.
It is the charm of Koi hobby to buy high
grade and quality Nishikigoi when it is still
inexpensive. So, as far as Dainichi Koi is
concerned, it is a good chance to buy when
3 to 5 year old Koi looks thin and poor.
This is a little secret of buying good Dainichi
Koi.
Though they are from the same lineage, and
though they are even fro the same parents,
not all of them will become as beautiful
as  their parents. At Dainichi, the hatch more
than 8 million fries every saeason. But by
fall, they only select 3,000 to 4,000 of
the Tosai to keep. Moreover, they select
about 1,000 tategoi to grow. What we see
here are already-severely selected Koi. Out
of these, Mr.Hiroshi Mano and I picked out
this Kohaku.
Her skin is pure white. Since it is only
5 years old and 70cm long, of course we cannot
see Fukurin yet.
Because its body conformation is still thin,
its pattern looks long line. But once it
gets good volume, it will turnout very distinguished
and stable three-step pattern. Especially
with the wide 'shiroji' on its shoulder,
it will be impressionable.
The Process of Nishikigoi becoming
Beautiful
Gives a Great Impression!
When we see beautiful Nishikigoi, we feel
very impressed. Each person's impression
will very. About the showa in picture1,
there
may be many readers who think that
his is
not that beautiful. But I think this
is natural.
Though Nishikigoi is a kind of an art,
there
are many other beautiful artworks like
pictures.
And many of you have seen them. Compared
with these artworks, this Showa is
not that
beautiful.
However, Nishikigoi that were living 200
year ago were just Magoi (black carp.) It
was a series of trial and error and repeated
unlimited times of breeding and culling to
achieve this Showa. They turned the color
of living Magoi to pure white skin and developed
red patterns on the white skin. In addition,
they made truly deep black or 'sumi', totally
different quality and color from that of
we can understand this value more and will
be more impressed with this living artwork.
I would like readers of KOI USA to
see more
Nishikigoi. I would kike you to experience
the process of a not beautiful Nishikigoi
changing to a beautiful one. This experience
will bring you to a deeper, stronger
and
better impression when you come across
a
piece of Meiri(extremely distinguished
Nishikigoi).
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Answer to Question
They were digging t stick a pipe into a bottom
drain, of the pond, to preserve the thawing
water.
At Dainichi Koi Farm, form march to April,
they spend every day in setting up the pipes
to more than 100 ponds. Because the melting
water is very good for Nishikigoi, this is
very important work to do before the snow
is melted. Breeders in Niigata do a lot of
work, that we can never imagine, to produce
beautiful Nishikigoi. |
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