Well that did not suprise me one little bit……after a long day yesterday and finally arriving at our destination, which will become our home for the duration of this trip (Station Hotel),we were still in time to quickly nip out for something to eat and drink, then followed by a relatively early night 12ish approx, so no real suprises when i am sat here typing this wide a wake again at 4am…..! it generally takes us a few days to set our body clocks to Japan time.
So today we will visit the Okawa Koi farm, a fabulous family run farm which the two brothers Yuji and Yoniechi Tanaka run and own , over the many years we have been going to this farm we have managed to build up a very good relationship indeed with the brothers which has subsequently then enabled us to select some super quality Koi from them over the years to suit many different budgets.
Athough this farm is primarily (Go-Sanke) …Sanke, Kohaku, Showa, they also breed fabulous quality Shiro Utsuri and Gin Rin Shiro Utsuri, which as many of you now know we were instrumental in introducing these to the uk many years ago now. Over the years we have had so much success with the Shiro from Okawa along with so many customers also, they are now considered, and rightly so right up there with the very best in Japan for Shiro Utsuri and now even considered a go to farm for this variety alone side their Sanke and Kohaku, they also now are producing many really top quality Showa which are just getting better year in year out now to the point we now expect to see these available every year……
Along side the varieties i have spoken about above, we must not forget that they also produce one of the very best Karashigoi available anywhere in Japan now, another variety that has just become so popular nowadays.
Every year they also have available a few other varieties ,although not in vast numbers generally very good quality and over the years we have managed to select some superb Goshiki, Assagi, Saragoi, etc and this year Kujaku from them two of which we purchased in Autumn that went on to gain awards at the fukuoka Koi show, so you never exactly know exactly what might or might not be available all you can do is hopefully go there and select the best of what we see………
Yuji the younger brother will be picking us up from the hotel this morning at 9am, so lets see how the day unfolds and what we can get selected…….so hopefully more to follow later…..
Well today was an very interesting day and overall very successful, we managed to select many superb Tosai and Jumbo Tosai,every time we come to Japan as i have said previously you just never quite know what you will be purchasing or seeing, but we are very happy, over the years Okawa Koi farm has always been so good for us, and this visit was no different today purchasing some super Shiro Utsuri,Kohaku,Sanke, we also bought some absolutely stunning quality Ki Kisui a variety Okawa is now breeding for the first time, and wow these are nice trust me best we have ever purchased we will upload pics and videos as soon as we can,
Today we were also very lucky,and privileged to have been able to select some super quality Koi from Okawa Tategoi ponds, this is not easy and takes a good relationship with any breeder to be offered this opportunity, so we went through his top 2 Tategoi ponds of Shiro Utsuri and selected 14 pieces both normal and Gin Rin,these are of the very highest quality so not cheap but for those that want the very best Tosai available,after selecting these we were then allowed to go through 2 more ponds where we selected some absolutely stunning go-sanke of the very highest quality,after this we were then shown some very high quality Nisai males, which those that know me i will always purchase when i have the chance as these offer a way to have a very high quality Koi at a fraction of the price of a similar female, so over all a great days selecting at Okawa was completed when we spent the whole evening out with the family and what a super family to be so lucky to spend time with its an absolute privilege to be able to……….even if this did lead to me have just a few to many Saki with Yuji San……….
Very good quality Shiro Utsuri.
VHQ Kikusui and Kohaku.
Very good quality Shiro Utsuri
VHQ Jumbo Tosai Karashigoi.Gin Rin Showa,Doitsu Sanke and Kikusui.
VHQ Doitsu Sanke.
High quality Jumbo Tosai Sanke.
VHQ Sanke and Kohaku selected from Okawa Tategoi pond.
VHQ Nisai Males.
Super clean and white Platinum Ogons Nisai Males 2 x normal 1 x Gin Rin..
Yamabuki Ogons Nisai Male super clean examples.
Two smaller Okawa FemaleNisai really nice quality