Page 73 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 5

body had, so I dismissed it and went on to look for time I’d got that message but I thought I might have
other contenders. That flaw put it out of contention for already photo’d it, along with another club member’s
me. On Saturday I had the chance to look at this Koi Koi; that of Lee Manning’s. While there was a bit of doubt
again, a bit closer this time and the flaw that took my about James’s Koi I had no doubt I’d located Lee’s.
eye turned out to be caused by several scales being
The following day, Friday, my plan was to have lunch
missing. The guanine effect that scales give to the lustre
with my former colleagues and then make my way to the
was the reason for the blemish. There was talk that it
showground in the evening when judging was over.
had been caused deliberately to tighten up the Kiwa of
However, I succumbed to alcohol and never made it to
a Beni Dan on the shoulder. Another suggestion was
the show.
that they had removed some rogue Beni. I wasn’t
interested in such speculation, for me a skin fault was The next day was the start of the ZNA seminars and
enough to ignore it in favour of the Kohaku. after registration the first task of their day is their
Assistant Certified Judges exam which left me free to
Johan had managed to see a few others on Mark’s
walk around the show and see the results. I was
short-list but had settled for the same three that I had
accompanied this time by several ZNA judges which
seen. On Friday he was able to boast that not only had
included a contingent of South Africans. But once we
he seen them he’d put them in the right order.
were in the show area we separated. They went off to
My search for further GC candidates yielded nothing. see the winners and I went to the admin area where all
Those other Koi that Mark had short-listed were out of the winners were listed. From the data there I was
bounds for me, and nothing else I saw in the 90bu size quickly able to find the vat numbers of any winning Koi
compared with the Kohaku. So when I left that day I entered by Bob, James and Lee. From the list I also saw
wasn’t confident that I’d chosen the GC, just confident that Peter Lewis a regular exhibitor at the South East Koi
that I’d chosen the best of those that I had seen. I’d Club’s All England Koi Show had won prizes too.
learned while I was there that the Kohaku was owned
I had correctly located Lee’s Kohaku but had missed
by Zhi Cheng Pan, a Chinese hobbyist whose house I
James’s. The Showa that I had photographed had some
had visited 3 times who is a friend of a friend.
similarities with his but it was smaller. I learned from the
Kohaku owned by
On the subject of friends; Bob Robson a UK hobbyist data that James had also had a winning Kohaku in the
Kohaku owned by James Fermnor.
Lee Manning. had asked me to look out for a Koi that he had in the show too.
show. He told me that it was a small Koi but not how
Bob’s Koi was a different story altogether. Through the
small. However, the AJNPA show layout is easy to
power of the internet I had learned on Friday that it had
understand so I went to the rows where the smaller Koi
been awarded a Tsubaki prize. There is one Tsubaki prize
are displayed and planned to start small and work up.
for each of the 17 sizes in the show. These are one of
But when I got there all the vats were empty. At the
the Group-prizes that are awarded to Koi after the major
AJNPA they judge the small Koi in individual bags.
award winning Koi and the Best in Size awards are
These were laid out in there sizes in any free spaces
removed. The Tsubaki group includes: Doitsu, Hikari
dotted around the show. Eventually I found the smaller
Moyo, Koromo, Kumonryu and Tancho. The other
sizes and sought out the Hikari Moyos. They were easy
‘Group-prizes’ are the Botan, Miyabi and Sakura
to locate and so was Bob’s Koi. It shone. One of the key
awards. These Group-prizes are higher awards than the
elements of all Hikari classes is lustre and this Koi had
incorrectly named ‘Best in Variety’ awards and any Koi
it. It outshone its peers and I had no qualms that it
chosen for one is excluded from being a best in variety.
would win its class. I wasn’t to be disappointed.
I tried to photo this Koi in its Winner’s Vat on the
James Fermor, a club-mate from England had texted
Saturday but it was too skittish. It had calmed down by
me and asked me to look out for his Koi. I’d left by the
72 73