STEVE GIBBINS
Adult Champion
Grand Champion
Both koi were impressive examples from Sakai Fish Farm in Hiroshima, with one being a Sanke and the other a Kohaku. As Fujio Oomo later agreed, the choice for each judge really was down to personal preference as there was little to choose between them. The final votes supported this opinion with the Kohaku receiving 22 votes to be crowned Grand Champion. The Sanke just missed out with 19 votes and was therefore awarded Adult Champion.
With the two major awards decided the majority of the day was then taken up with the rest of the judging – there were many awards that needed to be agreed. The koi are classified within 19 varieties and 12 size categories with the smallest being 12bu (koi up to 12cm in size) and the largest being 63bu (koi between 58cm and 63cm). Each team of judges was allocated various size categories, and had to award Kokugyo prizes (best in size), Sakura prizes (best in size excluding Go-sanke or Shiro Utsuri), plus best in variety awards, along with many second and third places. Each year there are also some additional prizes awarded to categories such as most unique koi and best tategoi etc. In addition to the Grand Champion and Adult Champion there are two additional
major awards of Young Champion and Baby Champion, which are selected from the Kokugyo winners.
Once all the Kokugyo awards had been decided the koi were then moved to allow the remaining overall awards to be selected, by judging the koi alongside each other. The Adult Champion was selected from the four Kokugyo awards in the 48bu to 63bu sizes, although in reality this prize is often decided during judging of the Grand Champion, as was the case on this occasion. The Young Champion was selected from the four Kokugyo awards in the 28bu to 43bu sizes, and finally the Baby Champion was selected from the four remaining Kokugyo awards in the 12bu to 23bu sizes. This left three Kokugyo awards unallocated. However the judges had already selected an additional koi in each of the sizes, allowing the runner up to be promoted to Kokugyo.
It is not until this process is complete that the major award winners can be moved into their individual display vats at the front of the showground, something which is common to Japanese shows. This allows all of the overall champions, Best in Variety, Kokugyo and Sakura award winning koi to be presented individually to visitors.
Both koi were impressive examples from Sakai Fish Farm in Hiroshima…
AUGUST 2010 55
Baby Champion
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