Dainichi - Koiphen Breeder Seminar I

[Carl]

Good evening Koiphen! Tonight we begin the first Koiphen Breeder Seminar featuring Dainichi. This is intended to be a group project and we encourage everyone to participate. We have an outline of the issues we would like to cover and we hope you will help us to do so. As the discussion progresses, I will go back to the beginning posts and add information, where appropriate, so that the first “page” of the thread will cover the salient facts. Please feel free to contribute any photos that are relevant to the breeder. Even if we do not use your contributions in the first page, your contributions will remain part of the thread. While the first page of the thread will contain narrative, your questions, responses and anecdotes will make the thread richer.

Tonight you will notice that we have some introductory material provided by Kodama Koi Farm. They have been kind enough to give us permission to reprint their material, and may be participating more directly in future seminars.

We hope you enjoy this event and look forward to doing this again in the near future.

[Carl]

I. Introduction

Dainichi Koi Farm - Creators of Beautiful Nishikigoi

Reprinted With Permission of Kodama Koi Farm

Dainichi Koi Farm is probably one of the most known breeders in the world. Because of its quality and body, everybody would like to have at least one nice Koi from Dainichi.

Futoshi Mano, who has taken over the great assets (parents Koi) from his fatehr, the late Mano, works hard to produce higher quality Nishikigoi.



Dainichi Koi Farm

Introducing Japanese Nishikigoi breeders means introducing Japanese representative breeders. For me to do so, I must begin with "Dainichi Koi Farm" because it is Dainichi who actually established the origin of Japanese Nishikigoi.



Futoshi culling and
Shigeru supporting.


Lineage of Dainichi Koi Farm

The lineages the Dainichi brothers currently use all originated from the following three Nishikigoi. Mr.Minoru Mano, their father, devoted his life establishing these lines: "Dainichi Kohaku," "Dainichi Sanshoku" and "Dainichi Showa." It is not too much to call them the "treasure" of the Nishikigoi industry.




It would be impossible for the brothers to produce more beautiful Nishikigoi, higher quality Nishikigoi no matter how hard them try. They are that excellent. I hope that they produce more of this quality and supply them around the world.


There is a lot of work involved in Nishikigoi breeding. More than you could expect. There are times when you have to work in overwhelming snow more than 1 meter (or 3.28 ft) in depth during winter season. You cannot sleep when you are hatching more than 8 million fries during the breeding season. You spend every single day until fall culling them till after releasing them to mud ponds In the meantime, you must take care of the bigger Koi, It is a series of hard work that all 9 staff members must work morning to night to complete. But all the Koi hobbyists, all the Dainichi fans look forward to their breeding Koi with "high quality" and "full of charm."

It falls upon you to give them good care when you obtain Dainichi Kohaku, Dainichi Sanshoku or Dainichi Showa because it will be the only Dainichi piece in the world. And also, please enter them in Koi shows. The late Mano dedicated his whole life to complete these lines. His sons inherited them and breed them carefully. Please share beauty of Dainichi pieces of Nishikigoi with many hobbyists.

Body Conformation Distinguishes Koi of Dainichi
Skinny Nishikigoi


When it reaches 70 to 80cm(28"to 32"), its body conformation is perfect. The body is symmetrical and beautiful. The beauty is the result of its lineage as well as the method of raising it.

Please note the Kohaku. This picture of the Kohaku was taken when it was 3 years old. In other lineages, it is usual for a 3 year old Koi to have body conformation as in this picture. But in Dainichi Koi Farm, they do not feed 3 to 5 year old Koi at all from October to April. This way, they remove all the gained fat during summer. They intend to make their Nishikigoi skinny like this picture.




By repeating such absolute fasting during winters of 2 to 5 years, Nishikigoi of Dainichi can complete a more prefect beautiful body conformation when it reaches more than 80cm(32"). But, Nishikigoi from other lineages would not get the skinny body of Dainichi eve if they fasted for 7 months. So we can think that this character of Nishikigoi losing all the fat during winter is another characteristic of Dainichi.

More than 80cm a Dainichi would coat at least 5 to 6 million yen ($50,000 to $60,000). Therefore, the secret of getting good Dainichi Koi is the get skinny, high quality 3 to 4 year old Nishikigoi.
The second characteristic is skin quality. Quality in the case of Kohaku means 'hi' quality and 'shiroji'(white background)quality. On Koi of Dainichi, 'shiroji' is especially characterized.

Comparing with the other lineages would explain the difference easily. The 'shiroji' is like the one of pottery. Also, Fukurin appears more.
Some may say that Fukurin can be found only in Ogon variety. But it is not true. Fukurin appears in Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku and showa, too. For the beauty of Fukurin, Dainichi Koi is regarded as a top of Japanese Nishikigoi.


Mano brothers picking up a
4-year-old Kohaku.



Fukurin is an Important Key Point to Tell Quality


Ogon will have very beautiful Fukurin when it becomes 80 to 85cm(32" to 34"). I think you know well about the Fukurin of Ogon. It is true that Fukurin came from Ogon. But this is not only for Ogon. We can find Fukurin in Kohaku, Sanke, and Showa variety, too. Fukurin is difficult to tell on 2 to 3 year old Koi. It will not be clear enough until Nishikigoi grow as big as 790 to 80cm(28" to 32").

More than 30 years ago, there were no Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku, and Showa over 70cm; there were only the very large Asagi and Ogon. Then we noticed the beauty of Fukurin on these large varieties. This is how the word Fukurin came about. Because other varieties like Gosanke were still small at that time, we could not see Fukurin on them. This is why there was some misunderstanding that "Fukurin' is the word only for Asagi and Ogon.
But now when Gosanke can grow as big as more than 70cm, they can have beautiful Fukurin like this Taisho Sanshoku in the picture. Of course, not all the Nishikigoi can necessarily have Fukurin, which is regarded as very high quality. Fukurin will appear on "hi" plate as well. But in this case, it appears beautiful especially the 'shiroji'

A characteristic of Dainichi Sanke is this beautiful appearance of Fukurin.
Taisho Sanshoku in picture B is only 4 year old and 65cm(26")long. Her skin is outstanding. But the Fukurin has not appeared yet. In old days, this was the biggest size they could get. This is why Fukurin was considered only for Asagi and Ogon.


Secret of Buying Dainichi Kohaku for Value Price


When Dainichi Koi are 3 to 5 years old, the body conformation is very thin and looks very poor. As this Koi grows, it will get more flesh on its body and from the beautiful body. I have purchased a 20 million Japanese Yen ($200,000) Nishikigoi at Dainichi Koi Farm. She was a 10 year old Kohaku 80cm (32")long. She was so beautiful and powerful. Dainichi Koi will become more beautiful and more powerful as it grows. It is natural that the price goes higher as it becomes more beautiful.



It is the charm of Koi hobby to buy high grade and quality Nishikigoi when it is still inexpensive. So, as far as Dainichi Koi is concerned, it is a good chance to buy when 3 to 5 year old Koi looks thin and poor. This is a little secret of buying good Dainichi Koi.

Though they are from the same lineage, and though they are even from the same parents, not all of them will become as beautiful as their parents. At Dainichi, they hatch more than 8 million fries every season. But by fall, they only select 3,000 to 4,000 of the Tosai to keep. Moreover, they select about 1,000 tategoi to grow. What we see here are already-severely selected Koi. Out of these, Mr.Hiroshi Mano and I picked out this Kohaku.

Her skin is pure white. Since it is only 5 years old and 70cm long, of course we cannot see Fukurin yet.

Because its body conformation is still thin, its pattern looks long line. But once it gets good volume, it will turnout very distinguished and stable three-step pattern. Especially with the wide 'shiroji' on its shoulder, it will be impressionable.

The Process of Nishikigoi becoming Beautiful Gives a Great Impression!

When we see beautiful Nishikigoi, we feel very impressed. Each person's impression will very. About the showa in picture1, there may be many readers who think that his is not that beautiful. But I think this is natural. Though Nishikigoi is a kind of an art, there are many other beautiful artworks like pictures. And many of you have seen them. Compared with these artworks, this Showa is not that beautiful.

However, Nishikigoi that were living 200 year ago were just Magoi (black carp.) It was a series of trial and error and repeated unlimited times of breeding and culling to achieve this Showa. They turned the color of living Magoi to pure white skin and developed red patterns on the white skin. In addition, they made truly deep black or 'sumi', totally different quality and color from that of we can understand this value more and will be more impressed with this living artwork.

=============================================


Current Facilities

"The Dainichi facility is tested monthly for several virus' by the Japanese government and has never been infected with KHV, SVC, or any of the other deadly viral pathogens. They had good biosecurity in place prior to the problems coming to the forefront."

Brett Rowley

[Carl]

II. History

Founder and current proprietors.

Minoru Mano, the founder of Dainichi Koi Farm, died in 1998. His sons names are Futoshi, Hiroshi, and Shigeru. Hiroshi is in charge of the newly opened branch at Toyota city, Aichi prefecture.




Development of Facilities

Earthquake damage.

[Carl]

III. Koi

Development and Characteristics of signature koi

Kohaku

"The defining characterisitic of Dainichi kohaku for me is the maruzome of the trailing edges of the hi plates.

Maruzome refers to the scalloped appearance of the back edges of each step where the hi color tends to follow along the lines of the scales themnselves. This as opposed to kamisore where the trailing edge of each hi step cuts across each scale for a straight edge appearance rather than a scalloped one."

Brett Rowley
http://koiphen.com/forums/showpost.p...4&postcount=13

"What are the characteristics - good white and good thick beni, quite a slim body."

Dr. J.I. Phillips
http://koiphen.com/forums/showpost.p...7&postcount=10

Showa


Sanke

The Matsunosuke and Dainichi Sanke are well regarded by the koi hobbyist. Both have excellent growth characteristics. Both have a good, though differently shaped body and clear, well colored skin, with deep hi and dense sumi. Matsunosuke Sanke tend to finish at about five years or older, but retain their peak quality for much longer than many bloodlines. Dainichi breeds an excellent Sanke and Kohaku. They have has strong and graceful lines. They mature early and have an excellent skin quality.

McGilly, Kate. KOI Appreciation: The First Step. The Crowood Press, Limited

[Carl]

IV. Photos of Facilities

[Carl]

V. Photos of Champions


Here are two All-Japan Show Grand Champions, the first bred by the father, the second bred by the sons.

Here is the famous Inazuma "lightning pattern" showa that won Grand Champion of the 1990 All Japan Shinkokai Show.

The second photo is the recent 2007 Grand Champion, 90 cm and just about perfect. Credit for this nice photo should go to Tim Waddington (I added the yellow text).

[Carl]

VI. Photos of Member's Dainichi Koi

[Leekinneykoi]

I think all the members with the info. in their heads or where to get it are away right now Carl . Great start though, this will be fun for many of us to learn from .

[Ronin-Koi]

I'll post this easier contribution then sit back and learn from those with more experience.

Here are two All-Japan Show Grand Champions, the first bred by the father, the second bred by the sons.

Here is the famous Inazuma "lightning pattern" showa that won Grand Champion of the 1990 All Japan Shinkokai Show.

The second photo is the recent 2007 Grand Champion, 90 cm and just about perfect. Credit for this nice photo should go to Tim Waddington (I added the yellow text).

- Wayne, really appreciating the history of Dainichi... lots more to learn.

[Carl]

The Matsunosuke and Dainichi Sanke are well regarded by the koi hobbyist. Both have excellent growth characteristics. Both have a good, though differently shaped body and clear, well colored skin, with deep hi and dense sumi. Matsunosuke Sanke tend to finish at about five years or older, but retain their peak quality for much longer than many bloodlines. Dainichi breeds an excellent Sanke and Kohaku. They have has strong and graceful lines. They mature early and have an excellent skin quality.

McGilly, Kate. KOI Appreciation: The First Step. The Crowood Press, Limited

[janemm]

Here are pictures of my Dainichi tosai showas from last September at about 9-10". Sorry I don't have better or more current photos. Additional sumi has come up on both and the beni on the kindai has filled in nicely.

They were purchased in June '06 from Eastern Nishikigoi here in SoCal. Lucky enough to be there when they were being unbagged I don't think theyre getting in any Dainichi tosai this year.

Jane

[Brian Drake]

Carl...great start.

[Andrewn15]

Great post Carl.
I enjoyed it very much.
more please.
Andrew

[Carl]

Here are pictures of my Dainichi tosai showas from last September at about 9-10". Sorry I don't have better or more current photos. Additional sumi has come up on both and the beni on the kindai has filled in nicely.

Jane

Jane,

Would you mind telling us where you purchased these koi? I presume you bought them in September? When I go back and fill in the section for "members' koi," it would be neat to have that info, but only if you feel comfortable providing it.

[koiross]

Here are my Dainichi Kohaku.....sorry guess not....because...
koiross, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
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[dick benbow]

My fondest remebrances of daiinich koi farms came while on a trip with peter waddington. Instead of pulling up with all the buses and hordes of potential buyers, we quietly drove to an off location greenhouse that peter explained was one of his dainich's tategoi houses. Our group consisted of 4 hobbyists, 2 from america, 1 from canada, and one from the UK. For several hrs we had many wonderful koi bowled and several nice koi purchased. His kohaku and
Showa were incredible. I was most impressed with the soft white. This was at a time when all believed that with the death of Mano, his son's could never replicate what their father had begun. The examples of koi we saw dispelled that in a hurry and history has proven that daiinich is alive and well. We were hosted by the second son , who spoke excellent english. sorry for the ramblings, if we could invite brett to tell stories, that's the american breeder that knows the "boys" as well as anyone. Many of his top breeders and imported koi for sale are from daiinichi. When you look at today's top breeders more than a handful of the best interned under mano-san. Nogami is a classic example......

[Brian Drake]

Here are a few photos of the "old Glass Palace". They used to live right to the left of the koi operation. I remember having lunch in that house twice and the hospitality of Mr. Mano and his wife and three sons was amazing...that was over 10 years ago...there is a video I think I have somewhere wher a japanese news station interviewed Mano about the koi industry...I will have to dig that up...another time many years ago I was told it is ok to ask to bowl a koi...so I did on a fantastic kohaku to see it and ask the price...they did and they thought I had bought it...my mistake and I huddled with my koi group and explained that we won't ask to bowl unless we are 100% sure we are going to buy that particluar koi. A lesson learned there.

Another time we were there on the first famous Kato mudpond tour with Mr. Kato and Dr. Tsai hosting and helping...one of my friends wanted a Dainichi Showa and we had one of the brothers net and bowl this huge GC style Showa...expensive koi. So we huddled and talked about the price...we then talked to Dr. Tsai of Taiwan and he talked to the head brother and the price was sliced in half...OMG story. Bought...incredible. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. That was impressive and kind.

They now have a new facility that only sells higher end koi...and they are using the old glass palace as a holding facilty and now locked...last time I was there in Dec.

[Carl]

Here are a few photos of the "old Glass Palace". They used to live right to the left of the koi operation. I remember having lunch in that house twice and the hospitality of Mr. Mano and his wife and three sons was amazing...that was over 10 years ago...there is a video I think I have somewhere wher a japanese news station interviewed Mano about the koi industry...I will have to dig that up...another time many years ago I was told it is ok to ask to bowl a koi...so I did on a fantastic kohaku to see it and ask the price...they did and they thought I had bought it...my mistake and I huddled with my koi group and explained that we won't ask to bowl unless we are 100% sure we are going to buy that particluar koi. A lesson learned there.

Another time we were there on the first famous Kato mudpond tour with Mr. Kato and Dr. Tsai hosting and helping...one of my friends wanted a Dainichi Showa and we had one of the brothers net and bowl this huge GC style Showa...expensive koi. So we huddled and talked about the price...we then talked to Dr. Tsai of Taiwan and he talked to the head brother and the price was sliced in half...OMG story. Bought...incredible. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. That was impressive and kind.

They now have a new facility that only sells higher end koi...and they are using the old glass palace as a holding facilty and now locked...last time I was there in Dec.

Brian

Didn't this facility suffer significant damage during the earthquake?

[Brian Drake]

I saw a bit when we drove by in Dec. The house also looked damaged...they are both located very close to the running river a few feet away from these buildings.

[Carl]

I found this:

" While they lost a lot of fish they had their famous bloodline & brood stock in ponds up in the mountains. This was very fortunate for the Mano family in that all of the parent fish survived this tragedy. Although they took a catastrophic hit they are already in the process of rebuilding."

MOTO-KARA KOI ZNA CLUB
January 2005 Meeting Minutes
Submitted by: Dot Wilbanks, Vice President

http://www.mkk-zna.com/january.html