Fantastic first day back

Today was my first day in Yamakoshi for some time. Steve Gibbins of www.koitours.com had a few things planned today that didn't work out, so we headed off to Shintaro together.

Shintaro is a breeder I have always liked, personally and as a koi breeder. As soon as I saw the first tategoi pond, I was impressed - the koi looked massive and of exceptional quality. After watching these koi being fed, we moved to pond I intended to select from, and Saito san netted them all. It wasn't long until I had a bowl of great Kohaku and Sanke. After this we went back to the house for Japanese curry.

After lunch, we went to the other tosai house to sort out some smaller tosai, and took some sample shots for a few trade customers. I also bought some for the shop, I must say, some great koi for the money.

I have a few orders for special koi, one being an 80+ cm Go-Sanke, a show quality Doitsu Showa and Tancho Showa. I thought a quick stop to Isa would provide the goods, Hide Hirasawa (Isa staff) was there who breeds Doitsu Go-Sanke but he is sold out, a deal could not be made on the Tancho Showa, and I didn't feel there was an 80cm koi that the customer would want. It's never easy buying koi in Japan!

Still, its the first day, so I'm not too worried! Here are some koi I bought from Shintaro, all Female Jumbo Tosai. Enjoy!