Kinki District Show 2013,Kashihara

摘要

Judging a koi show in Japan is a very valuable experience. It is rare to be presented with such an array of top quality and jumbo koi, particularly Go-Sanke (Kohaku, Sanke & Showa). This year I attended the Kinki District show, held in the grounds ofthe magnificent Kashihara Jingu Shrine, is a medium sized, one-day event, this year attracting 420 koi entries of which 47 were 80 bu and over. Of these 37 were Kohaku or Sanke; these two varieties dominating the show on this occasion, comprising 66% ofall entries to the15 show sizes (15 bu - >80 bu). This is an interesting difference to shows in Australia where almost all varieties of koi are fairly evenly represented, due to two main reasons. Firstly, because koi imports are banned, it is very important to prevent varieties from dying out. Once lost, it is very difficult to re-create a line of koi. Secondly, because breeding excellent Kohakuand Sanke is a particularly difficult task when water space resources are severely limited, as they are in Australia. The third Go-Sanke variety Showa, with the possible very early cull of the black fry, requires far less space to raise.