Koi is a Carp?
Koi is a Carp of a Different Color – From the time I first saw one in a back yard garden in San Francisco, I always thought koi were cool – and they are so calm -- as one might expect from a carp. The perfect Zen pet.
I also knew some were prized – a friend of mine once told me about going to a house in Asia (as I recall it was in Japan), where a thick Plexiglas sheet served as the front-room floor over an immense lighted koi pond beneath. In it were over $2 million worth of koi. (There’s a imbalance-of-trade story in here, I’m sure.)
One day when I was at Jolly Lane nursery in Rapid City, I noticed they had a demonstration koi pond in the sales area to show off their backyard pond-building expertise. I took my camera in on a subsequent visit and took the photos.
I thought I should do a little blurb on koi, and here’s a tiny (I mean eensy tiny) fraction of what I found. Koi (kois?) is (are?) huge enterprise.
The Scoop on Koi -- From “Things Asian” May 9, 2008.
"I look at a Picasso and I say it's a child's painting... but people will pay hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for it. For Asians, koi is like living art... it's like poetry in motion," said Richard Tan, chairman of the committee that organized the First Asia Cup Koi Show in Singapore this month. Tan is an oil industry executive who keeps koi for a hobby. His grand champion could fetch 10-15 million yen (95,000-143,000 US dollars) at current market prices, or even more, industry experts said.
Out of 500,000 koi bred in a farm, only around 50 are selected for competition after two years, while the rest are sold to hobbyists at affordable prices, Tan said.
How to Talk Koi -- Different specimens command top dollar (www.koi.com). “The Tancho is the official flag of Japan and represents the "RISING SUN". This MAGNIFICENT Tancho Kohaku comes from Hoshikin of Niigata, one of Japan's TOP Kohaku breeders. This Spotlight specimen is of show quality with her perfectly round scarlet red maruten (red circle) centered in the middle of her head. Being only two years of age, her already large body is rated a perfect "10" in conformation having a large head, broad shoulders and thick tail joint. This big girl is completely covered in a blanket of pure snow white silky skin giving the extreme contrast of her fiery red tancho against the pure white background.”
Whatever. They are fun to photograph.
&)
A Prized Rising Sun Koi (Tancho Kohaku)
Brian
text and photos copyright GoinMobyle, LLC 2009
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