As I had started off at Maruhoshi and Marudo yesterday, I had not yet called in at Kankeo to check on stocks. 80% of first timers to Niigata will start at Kaneko as their facility is the first 'house hold' name when driving in from Nagaoka. I went to Kaneko first, and was not surprised by the amount of Utsuri and Kujaku, but not quite what I was looking for.
I carried on through Mushigame, giving Claire (translator, note keeper, and girlfriend!) a tour of the area she had not yet seen, all the way to one of my favourite villages, Koguriyama. Hiroi, Masaki and Shinoda were 3 places I called in - I plan to go back to Hiroi to select Tosai later.
I really wanted to see Marudo as they have such a large business, you can buy most varieties from here, in all sizes. I wanted Chagoi, Asagi and other non go sanke koi. Chagoi were sold out, and they didn't breed Asagi last year. I already have their Shusui. Hisashi san remembered I was owed some Tosai, so Keiko san and Claire helped sort out the details, and I was given the 3 Kohaku below, and Hisashi will select the remainder. The koi I wanted to select were all being fed, so Hisashi will select another 35 koi for me. They looked great!
Again, Gibbo was there before me sorting orders for his own customers, so we headed back to Mushigame to find the assorted small tosai we were after. Steve has written many articles lately for the breeders of Niigata, and wanted to drop one in at Kazuto Ikarashi, but he wasn't in. The phone rang and it was Saito san inviting us for tea.
Sat with Saito san, he asked what koi I was looking for and I said Showa. After tea, he decided he would let me pick Showa from a pond that were not for sale yesterday. I picked another 8 koi, all female jumbo tosai.
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