DAY 10 - BEPPU FISH FARM

As I mentioned before,I have a very good relationship with BFF's Takaharu which goes back to when he was one of Sakai's top workers.For the last few years I have been visiting his farm and watching how the quality of his koi is improving dramatically.

Besides his good quality and price,the service he gives is outstanding.

Taka with his brother Nobuhiro and father-wonderful,down to earth people-

Not an easily accesable farm,but well worth the visit-

A nice nisai sanke bought-

Sansai Kohaku bought-

Some show quality 70cm-75cm koi bought by Dream Koi-all sold!

DAY 9-MOMOTARO KOI FARM

After checking ourselves into the Via Inn Hotel in Okayama we all managed to get a good night sleep.

The next day Daisuke picked us up and took us out to his farm.On the way we stopped at his father's coffee shop and classic car showroom-a lot of impessive cars and at last a decent cup of coffee.

From there it was a short ride to the farm-

Spectacular river in front of the farm-

His famous 1500 ton pond-

He used to keep all his jumbo koi in this pond,but now it is mainly used to grow on nisai and sansai and the jumbos are kept in 80 ton ponds-easier to manage.
Koi in 1500 ton-

Jumbo tosai from Spring Auction being netted-now many over 65cm-

Max from Singapore looking at a few of his customers grow ons-

After selecting koi we went through the sansai Showas we bought at the Auction last month-Max and Daisuke looking on-

We selected a few great koi and now are looking forward to Beppu Koi Farm and finally the ZNA Show on Saturday.

DAY 7+8 - SAKAI FISH FARM

We arrived at Sakai yesterday afternoon.Always very impressive to first time customers.

This morning we spent looking and selecting some stunning nisai and sansai gosanke before have lunch at Sakai's new guest eating facility.After lunch we viewed some of the top koi going to the ZNA Show in Kobe this weekend and also 2 sansai koi selected by Dream Koi for a customer last year that have been invited to enter into the Show on Saturday.

Paul trying out a Japanese bakkie-

Selecting koi in the new green house-

Autunm in front of Sakai's eating house for customers-

Inside their eating house-

Viewing the potential ZNA Champion-97cm and weighs 23kgs,belonging to Felix from Indonesia-

My pic for the next All Japan Champion-won it in 2011,but looking even better now and bigger,97cm!-

Customers Sanke and Kohaku for the ZNA Show this weekend-

Back in Okayama this evening,will visit Momotaro tomorrow.

DAY 7 - OGATA OPEN SALES

With over a thousnd nisai of various grades and varieties to choose from we were promised an exciting day's selection.

Ogata has a very different and fair way of selection.There are 5 graded ponds of koi to select from where the prices are stipulated and the price per koi reduced depending on the number you select.The dealers are divided into 2 groups where the first group selects from half of the pond and the secound from the balance of the koi.The koi are netted and brought up to the side of the pond making viewing and catching very easy.

The 5 different ponds-

Getting ready to select-

Koi in the pond-

Thinus near the sansai pond-

Some of the koi I selected- over 50 koi altogether,the vast majority female-

Day 8 and 9 will be back at Sakai-more gosanke.....

DAY 6 - OGATA AUCTION

After the Ogata 40th Aniversary Party last night there were a couple of "late risers" this morning-but all good!

We got to the Farm early so we could have a good look at the koi before they were Auctioned and at 11am the Auction began.Like any Auction the prices varied considerably,but there were a few very good buys to be had and fun was had by all.

A nuber of vats with all the Auction koi on display-

The most expensive koi on the Auction-beautifil 70cm sansai Dainichi bloodline Showa-

Once the Auction was over we were keen to see what will be on offer at Open Sales tomorrow.A board with pictures of Sansai-

Some our group viewing the sansai-

The ponds with the nisai in to be sold-more than 1000 pieces-mixed varieties and prices-looking forward to tomorrow!

DAY 5 - OGATA KOI FARM

Arrived yesterday evening in Kurume.Went through to Ogata Koi Farm this morning.There were a lot of European customers here today-mainly Germans-with a lot of the Asians/Japanese dealers arriving tomorrow for the Auction.

They were mainly selecting through the sansai today,but Manabu Ogata allowed me to select 10 pieces from his bigger nisai pond after the customers had left.I was happy with the quality/size/price and it was nice to be able to go through and ensure the koi were female.

At the same time I had a look at the Auction koi which were all together in one pond.

Auction Koi:-

Nisai bought today:-

Gin Benigoi- 53cm -

Gin Matsuba -59cm.

Gin Showa 49cm -

Yamabuki Ogon 60cm-

Hi Utsuri 54cm -

Mukashi Ogon 59cm -

Shiro Utsuri 50cm -

Shusui 55cm-

Showa 54cm -

Shusui 56cm -

Tomorrow afternoon I am really looking forward to my 3 customers arriving from South africa.There will be a big party tomorrow evening before the Auction on Sunday-fortunatly the Auction only starts at 11am-Japan time-so they should have recovered from "jet lag" by then.

DAY 4 -BEPPU KOI FARM

Beppu Koi Farm is a small farm in Matsuyama owned by the family of a friend of mine Takaharu.Takaharu was a top employee of Sakai Farm for 8 years and still holds very good standing at Sakai-he actually sold them one of their breeding females-Shining Star.

This year he invited me to attend the harvest of their jumbo koi-it was a good oppertunity to pay him a visit and see what his big koi looked like this year and what kind of prices he was charging.

Some of his jumbos are bred by him-with Sakai parents- and the others are koi bought from Sakai and grown on.

We ended up harvesting 2 ponds.The first being the jumbos and the next his Sansai Yamabuki ogons-he does amazing lemon yamabuki ogons!

By the time we got to the pond the level had already been lowered considerably and a lot of the koi could be seen swimming around.

As the level dropped,they started to "herd" the koi towards the deep end of the pond-by the outlet.

Once they were all there then they put a net around the koi and brought them to the bank.Then the koi were put into kiddies swimming pools and then loaded into a plastic container.

A crane then lifted the box up to the truck where they were loaded into a vat.

Once the truck was back at the farm the koi were individually bowled,measured,photographed and recorded.

Some of the koi:-

An 87cm Yamabuki-

 Amazing fukurin-

Two great Sankes-80cm and 76cm.

 80cm Kohaku-

 89cm Sanke-not for sale,parent koi-

76cm Kohaku-

 85cm Sanke-

 87cm Sanke-

Finally harvested his Sansai Yamabuki pond-all came out well over 70cm!

After spending a great  day with Takaharu and his family,I flew off to Fukuoka and Ogata Koi Farm for their Open Sales and Auction.