Page 28 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 5

with some staying weeks and months at a time in the
A group of Japanese Koi takes over the family business. They even continued to
breeders back in 1948 do Koi during the Second World War, Kawakami san
taken after judging. His
Grandfather was the Head was told that in that time food for people was in very
Judge of this Yamakoshi short supply but his family managed to sell rice so that
Koi Show and is on the far they could buy silkworm pupae to feed their Koi.
left of the picture.
Kawakami san showed me a fantastic black and white
picture of a group of Japanese Koi breeders back in
1948 taken after judging a Koi show back then. His
Grandfather was the Head Judge of this Yamakoshi Koi
Show and is on the far left of the picture.
Kawakami san was born in 1959 and as a young boy
growing-up he had helped his Father with their Koi
business, which was now both breeding and
wholesaling. The main variety they bred back then were
Sanke, and his Father’s Koi were becoming well known
locally in the area and throughout Japan. To begin with
Kawakami san did not enjoy working with Koi, it wasn’t
until he had finished high school at the age of 18 that he
came into the business. Again like his Father before him
he was the number one son and was obliged to come
into the business and work with Koi, he even studied
fish farming. When growing up he can remember many
people staying at his home and asking his Father to
show them around the breeders and help buy Koi for
them, back then his house was full of Japanese buyers,
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autumn. During his Father’s time many people bought
the Torazo bloodline and their bloodline is responsible
for the development of many breeders’ Koi in Japan.
Kawakami san really enjoyed going around the
mountains and looking for Koi and buying Tosai and then
growing them on and selling them. Back then the idea of
finding what we call ‘Tategoi’ today did not really exist
and over the next 15 to 20 years Kawakami san excelled
in being able to find quality Tosai from other breeders
and grow them on and sell them for a good profit. His
reputation was such that the Japanese buyers who
came to his home would buy most of the Koi he had
selected for himself, which lead to him finding and
buying even more Koi. From this experience, as a young
man, would in later years be a huge help to him when he
started breeding and selecting his own Koi.
Back in those days all their Koi were kept outside, they
had ponds made of block concrete around their house
and in the mountains they had mud ponds, but also
ponds made in wood. For at least 10 to 15 years before
they built their first Koi house they would take their Tosai
About 90% of the Koi to Yuzawa, which today is about a 40-minute drive from
Kawakami san breeds are Ojiya. Here they had ponds and warm water and
Kohaku, above is a pond therefore the Koi could survive the colder weather better.
of his Jumbo Koi.
Even doing this though was hard and they would lose
many Koi. So his Father decided to build their first Koi
house at their home, it meant they could look after the
Koi better and they could keep more Koi. Kawakami san
was about 18-years-old when they built this.
By the time he was 21-years-old his Father was passing
the running of the business over to him bit by bit. He
was around 27-years-old when he can remember seeing
foreigners for the first time. One of these was Peter
Waddington with a Japanese man called ‘Takanashi’
who then worked for Kamihata Fish Industries. He said
he was not surprised to see foreigners come to buy Koi
and it may well be that because from a young age so
many people came to their house for Koi that it just
seemed like a natural development.
It was also round this time again when he was 27 that he
built his second Koi house which is now his Tosai Koi
house and also rebuilt the first Koi house that his Father
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