Our Japan Trip - 2003
I am
writing this article to encourage other koi kichi’s that have been considering
a trip to Japan. Yes, the trip is somewhat expensive and requires a lot of
travel. However, if you enjoy adventure and new experiences – Japan is a
fantastic place to visit. We have discovered that there is much more to do and
see in Japan than koi. Although I will admit that the koi adventures are more
than enough reason for the journey.
We wanted to see more than koi on our second visit to
Japan. We spent two days in Kyoto, three days in Tokyo (including one day at the
All Japan Show), one day in Nikko, and two days in Isawa. Martha and I flew to
Tokyo, Narita Airport and took the Narita Express train to Tokyo and transferred
to the bullet train to Kyoto. It was 8:00 pm on Tuesday, January the 21st
and after about 28 total hours of traveling we checked into the Kyoto Westin
Miyako Hotel. This is a beautiful western style hotel perched on a hill above
Kyoto. Kyoto is situated in a valley and surrounded on three sides by mountains.
It is the oldest city in Japan. Kyoto is also considered the cultural center and
soul of Japan. It is home to over 1,000 religious temples and shrines, 36
universities, and many of the most famous temples, gardens, restaurants,
museums, theatres and shops in Japan. Kyoto was the first capital of Japan and
original home to the Emperors and Shoguns. It is 60% parks and ancient forests
and a world historical preservation site. We were really glad we listened to
several friends’ and went to Kyoto. Luckily we were here during the off-season
and had the place almost to ourselves.
Many younger Japanese study English for several years
in school. Since Kyoto is such a popular tourist destination we found many
Japanese that could communicate with us or were willing to find someone that
could speak English. Japan is one of the friendliest places I have ever
traveled. Everyone was very patient in helping us with directions or ordering a
meal, shopping, etc.
We hired an English speaking guide one afternoon to take us to some of the most
famous Kyoto sights. We went to the Shogun's castle, (Yes, the same Shogun
that was featured in the book/movie) and several Shinto shrines and Buddhist
temples. One of the most famous temples was over 800 years old and had 1000 life
size standing gold leafed covered Buddha statures in the largest wooden building
in the world. This temple is 120 meters long and 50 meters wide. Something made
me count just to be sure and wouldn’t you know it I discovered there were only
997 statues. What kind of a scam were they trying to pull? Finally they admitted
that there were three statures out on loan to museums around the world. I think
they assigned a guard to follow us for the rest of our visit. Originally an
annual national archery contest was held at this temple of 997 Buddha’s.
Arrows were shot the length of the building (120 meters) into a small target.
The record from the 15th century still holds today with more than
15,000 arrows shot by a single archer with more than 8,000 hitting the small
target 120 meters away between sunrise and sunset. I started to question the
math of 15,000 arrows shot during say a twelve hour day. That would require an
arrow every 3 seconds but Martha gave me one of her shut the heck up
stares. I decided that I could live with the myth. Today this is still the site
of an annual archer contest every spring that is entered by hundreds of 20 year
old women. It is concerned a rite of passage into womanhood. Many young men
climb Mt. Fuji as a similar rite of passage into manhood. But, that is another
story.
Ray & Martha Jordan at the Shogun’s Castle in Kyoto, Japan
Martha learned that Kyoto is a tax and duty free zone. Martha is an enthusiastic
shopper. We visited several craft centers and watched local craftsmen making
beautiful pottery, dishware, jewelry, woodprints, and all kinds of original art.
Martha decided on a beautiful wood print and a classic Japanese vase. I asked in
several antique kimono shops for a kimono with a nishikigoi pattern. One shop
owner went in the back of his store and found a beautiful black antique kimono
with a gold embroidered scene of a carp fighting it’s way up a waterfall. You
may know that this is a traditional depiction of perseverance’s victory over
hardship. Antique kimono’s (usually about 100 years old) are one of the really
great bargains we found in Japan. Maybe they have a different idea of how old an
antique should be.
We have not had a problem finding restaurants and food we
enjoy in Japan. One night in Kyoto we went to a tempura restaurant for dinner.
The dining area was tiny maybe twelve feet square. No one spoke English but we
managed to order the seafood tempura dinner from an “English” menu. We were
served just about every kind of seafood you can imagine. Many vegetables served
in Japan were unidentifiable to us. Everything was cooked right in front of you
and served steaming hot with great flair and ceremony. In Japan
you often are served a large number and variety of dishes at each meal - luckily
in small portions. We loved 90% of what was served!
OK, I did mess up a few times. I thought a bowl of
sauce placed in front of me was my soup. The waitress quickly showed me that it
was a sauce for dipping tempura. Actually, I liked it better than the soup later
in the meal. Later I was caught dipping seafood into the vegetable sauce and
visa versa. Apparently this is considered really bad form. Our waitress made it
her personal responsibility to watch me very closely. I finally started pausing
before dipping something into a sauce until she nodded yes or no. We really had
a wonderful time. Dessert was a very delicious creamy orange pudding that was
served inside a real orange. Our waitress looked worn out by the time we left
but she was smiling and gracious as she walked us out to a cab holding an
umbrella over us to keep the rain off. There is no truth to the rumor that this
restaurant is now “Japanese only.”
We took the train back to Tokyo. Megumi Yoshida
picked us up Saturday morning and drove us to the 35th Annual All
Japan Show. We were stunned and amazed by the number, size, variety, and quality
of koi entered. Over 3,200 koi were entered in this year’s show. You name it -
we saw it. The Grand Champion was a beautiful kuhaku. She was 34 inches long and
had incredible translucent shine to her skin. We were told her owner purchased
her from the Hiroi Koi farm in Hiroshima when she was two years old for $80,000.
That turned out to be a bargain as the owner has already declined to sell her
for many times that amount. She is very young for a Grand Champion and only six
years old. Most Grand Champions are between 8-14 years old because it usually
takes that long to grow large enough to be eligible to win the top prizes. It
was felt this koi might win many more Grand Champion titles before she is
retired.
2003 All Japan Show Grand Champion
The All Japan Show is held in Tokyo each January and
is the national show run by the Japanese Koi dealers association. You must be a
“koi professional” either a dealer or a breeder to belong to this
association. Dealers or breeders must enter all koi however most koi entered
belong to hobbyists. Dealers/Breeders can and do enter koi that they own
themselves. However it is considered bad form for a dealer or a breeder to win
awards away from their customers. Entry fees run from about $80 for a smallest
koi up to $800 for the jumbos. A quick calculation added up to something like at
minimum $1,500,000 in entrant fees for this show. Imagine what the total value
of the koi entered in this show might be? Approximately ½ of all koi entered
receive at least a 2nd place trophy. The eighty or so judges, are all
professional dealers or breeders. They can award 2nd place to as many
as 50% but usually it is more like 30% of the koi entered in each group. It
depends on the overall quality of koi in the group being judged. The competition
is so intense that many koi (over 2,000 in the show we attended) still did not
receive any award.
Megumi Yoshida and Martha with one of my koi
registration cards
We had left three koi growing in Japan on our first
koi buying trip two years earlier. We had hoped one of them might be ready to
enter in the show. However, one had developed a deformed jaw from an infection
and would not be allowed in a show. The other two were still unfinished and not
ready to enter in this year’s show. I asked Megumi to find us a koi to buy and
enter in the show so we would feel more like part of the event. At this show the
koi are judged on Friday before it opens to the public viewing on Saturday. We
were very pleased with the beautiful maruten kindai showa that Mr. Yoshida had
bought for us. We were also really happy to learn it had won a 2nd
place trophy in the 60 cm Showa class.
2nd place Kindai Showa – 60cm
Next we saw Nobu Hiroi who is a 3rd generation
Niigata koi breeder that Mr. Yoshida brought to one of our recent club’s
annual spring koi sale’s. Nobu led us up to the first place tanks to show us
one of his baby koi, a beautiful gin rin goshiki that had won first place. Then
he showed us that the koi had been entered in our name. Every koi has a
laminated registration card with the owners name and photo attached to the tank.
Over the tank hung a large sign with the winner’s names. Ray Jordan was the
one thing I could read on the sign. Guess what? Nobu told us that if we wanted
to buy the koi he would be willing to sell it to us.
Now we had two koi entered in the show. Then Hajime
Sakuma who is another friend of ours and a breeder from took us to see two of
his baby koi that had won 2nd place trophies. Guess what? the
registration cards and photos had my name on them. And yes, we could buy the
baby kohaku and showa if we wanted. I suddenly remembered why the Japanese are
the best sales people in the world. However having some of the best products is
also an advantage. We just couldn’t pass up these two beautiful baby koi so we
bought them as well. I was hoping that no one else had entered koi in our name,
as we planned to go shopping in Isawa after the show and select one or two koi
for ourselves.
2nd place showa – 15 cm
So due to no skill
whatever on our part we ended up with four koi entered in the show and four
trophies. We visited with quite a few koi people that we knew from the U.S. and
elsewhere. We also enjoyed talking with many of the Japanese koi breeders that
we have met over the years that fortunately did not enter koi in our name. I
spent most of that day taking photos of koi. I concentrated on the top winners
and the really unusual koi of which there were a lot. My favorite koi was a
Tancho with beautiful white skin and a large black stripe that ran the entire
length of the back of the koi. It was certainly unique but, what the heck was
it.
What the
heck is this Koi?
I took about 800
photos at the koi show. I was sure glad I had extra memory cards and batteries
for my digital camera. Getting good koi photo’s is a challenge at this show.
You will want a good camera with a polarizing lens to reduce glare and use flash
to bring out the true koi colors. I should have also brought a large collapsible
photographers shade as well. The glare from the overhead lights was terrible and
it was very, very difficult to get decent koi photos especially of the smaller
koi. That evening Megumi took us and Nobu, and his father Kuniyasu Hiroi, out to
a celebration dinner. All in all it was quite a very special day.
The next day we took a train to Nikko Park. The Nikko area
is very famous for it’s cluster of shrines and temples. When we got to Nikko
it was a beautiful sunny day bright but cold with snow piled everywhere. The
entire area is covered with huge ancient cypress trees. Nikko is known as having
the most ornate and decorative temples and shrines in Japan. Many of the
structures date back to the seventh century. Several Shoguns’s made this area
the site of their summer palaces and some are buried here in beautiful
mausoleums.
Carving on temple in Nikko of the
Perfect Life (“Three Monkeys”)
Our last day in Tokyo we went sightseeing and shopping in the Ginza, which is an
upscale Tokyo shopping district. Martha wanted to go to Mikimoto’s, which is
the originator of Japanese cultured pearls. Mikimoto’s founder developed the
technique of growing cultured pearls and the top floor was an interesting pearl
museum. Did you know that the Japanese are great sales persons? Our koi shopping
budget was dropping quickly and we have not started shopping for koi yet.
The next day Megumi drove us to Isawa. On the way out
of town we stopped at his koi shop, Nishikigoi Yoshida and visited with his
family. If you are ever in Tokyo be sure to call Megumi and arrange a trip to
his store. His phone # is 042-573-4158. It is well worth the trip. On the drive
to Isawa we passed close to Mt. Fuji which was completely covered in snow and
looked like a sparkling volcano shinning under the bright clear sunny morning.
What appeared to be smoke from its peak was actually snow blowing off the top of
the mountain from the high winds aloft.
Mt. Fuji as seen from the Isawa hiway
Our first stop in Isawa was at Hajime Sakuma. His
whole family was there to greet us and thank us for showing Hajime a good time
when he visited us in Texas the year before. They had recently bought an old
fabric warehouse and discovered a bunch of antique silk kimonos all more than
100 years old. Sakuma’s mother asked Martha to choose a kimono for herself.
They had dozens and insisted Martha look at them all before she selected one.
She chose a beautiful black kimono with a maple leaf pattern. Then they asked me
to pick one. When we left they gave us a large bag that we later discovered had
three kimonos. Martha had looked at a green one and considered it before
selecting the black one and they had included it as well. The generosity of
these people is humbling.
Sakuma took us to see the koi we had bought and left
to grow two years earlier. We could not believe how much our kohaku had grown.
She is four year’s old and 29 inches long. We decided to name her KiYoko in
honor of Hajime’s mother. We were also shown Hajime’s best koi and they were
spectacular. We had decided before the trip that we wanted to look for
two or three year old Sanke’s or Showa’s. Sakuma’s best stock were
Kohaku and Gin Rin varieties so we decided to pass this time.
Ki-Yoko 4 yr. old Sakuma Kohaku purchased as
two year old
Next we went to the Hiroi Carp Farm and
looked at their koi. In particular they are famous for Goshiki, Gin Rin Goshiki,
and doitsu Ochiba Shigure. They also breed kigoi.
Hajime had arranged for us to stay at a traditional
Japanese inn. It turned out to be a famous spa built over a natural mineral hot
spring. Normally this place would be way out of our price range but we received
a big discount because of a friend of Hajime. Our room was actually a suite and
had both Japanese and western style sitting areas. There were small gardens and
flowers everywhere. Yes, there was a koi pond. As we sat in the bar before
dinner we noticed that many pretty young women were arriving in small groups of
2-4. They dressed in western style women’s suits but exactly alike and in the
same color outfits. We asked Hajime about them and were told they were
"party girls" hired by guests to make "party" during dinner
and afterwards. No, we didn’t have any party girls unless you count Martha.
A fantastic dinner was served in a private dining room. It took several hours
and had at least twelve courses. I tried everything and 90%+ was delicious. We
could hear a lot of "partying" in the other dining rooms as we left
After dinner Martha & I were taken to a large private spa/bathing area. It
had an attached dressing room and a huge inner bathing room in carved granite
and wood accents. The inner bath area was filled with steam much like a sauna.
There were two baths one was hot and one was very, very hot. The largest bath
was like a small shallow swimming pool. The mineral water was flowing right
through the bath and overflowed over the edge into a drain in the floor to
maintain a constant temperature. It was very relaxing and we slept like
“boiled” babies afterwards.
The next morning we had an appointment with Toshio
Sakai. Toshio is one of the most successful koi breeders in the world. His koi
have won more Grand Champions in the All Japan Shows than any other breeder. I
have heard him called “The Master.” Toshio loves to give
impromptu koi seminars and he wanted to show us some of his very best koi. He is
the inventor of the matsunosuke sanke bloodline. This is the blood line used by
every serious sanke breeder in Japan. His sankes have the best quality sumi
(black) markings you can imagine. The sumi on his best sankes looks like wet
shiny lacquer paint. Oh, he also has some of the nicest Khaki’s you can find
anywhere as well. He calmly netted and placed his best Sanke and his best Kohaku
in huge tubs so we could see and photograph them better. These two jumbo koi
were incredible. The Sanke is 92 cm and the Kohaku was 87 cm. Toshio hopes they
will be future All Japan Show Grand Champions. When I thought of the value of
these fish and the damage that could happen if they jumped out of their tubs I
got very nervous. I didn’t want to be the cause of something happening to
those koi so after a few photos we asked they quickly be placed back into their
special ponds.
We were ready to do some serious sanke shopping. I
spotted a two year old sanke in one pond and it was netted and placed in a tub.
This koi was easily the most beautiful small sanke that I had ever seen. I
figured no way we could afford this one. I was correct. Toshio told us it was
his best two year old koi and in a much, much, higher price range than we had
stated when we started looking at koi. We tried to find out the price but never
did. Later Megumi estimated that it would take at minimum $50,000 to buy that
koi as a two year old. Your guess
is as good as mine what she will cost as a four or five year old. That is if she
doesn’t get damaged or her gorgeous colors do not fade or some other calamity
occur while she is growing.
We asked if he had something similar to this dream
sanke. We hoped she had a sister we might be able to afford. Tashio started
searching for another sanke and within a few minutes we had found our new pet.
She is a beautiful two year old sanke and clearly a sister to his best two year
old. Our newest purchase has a inazuma red pattern and tsubo sumi (black
markings on the white background) beginning to develop in a very interesting
pattern. Have you heard that the Japanese are really good sales people. Toshio
is a master koi salesman! We had just about shot the rest of our koi budget but
we were very happy.
Toshio Sakai
and the Jordan’s with their new Sanke
Sakai Nisai Sanke’s – Guess which one was many
times more expensive!
Next we went to Maruyama. We had bought a three year
old kohaku here two years ago and left her to grow. We were very pleased to see
that she had grown well and was looking great.
70 cm 5 yr. old Maruyama Kohaku
Maruyama is well known for Kohaku’s and Showas. He
had lots of really nice Kohaku’s but we already had two large kohaku’s to
ship home and we were hoping for a small showa. But we didn’t find the showa
that we were looking for.
The last breeder we visited was Yamamoto who breeds
old style showas and Hi Utsuri’s. Yamamoto built his koi farm ponds above
ground over a hot spring and this maintains his water temperature with out
having to move his fish into a koi house for the winter like most other
breeders. However that means shopping outdoors. We walked on top of a high
narrow concrete wall looking at hundreds of old style showa’s. The wind was
freezing and after a short time it began to snow. We surrendered to the elements
and this turned out to be a short visit. If
you like old style Showa’s with heavy red and black patterns this is a place
to visit on a warmer day.
We definitely will go back to Japan. Next time we
plan to go in the fall at koi harvest time. If you want to travel to an exotic
and beautiful country, see the world’s best koi, and experience a wonderful
and hospitable culture I urge you to go to Japan. But don’t forget the
Japanese are very good sales people – take lot’s of money.