TIM WADDINGTON The Japan experience
Tim Waddington gives a glimpse of life for a Japanese breeder who, he says, must have one of the hardest jobs in the world…
About the author:
Tim Waddington has been involved in the koi industry for around 20 years. Having visited Japan over 30 times, he has an excellent relationship with Niigata breeders and a great insight into what they do, and how they do it. Tim hopes this series of articles will help people understand what goes on over in Japan, and how these koi breeders get the finished product into our ponds.
V
isiting Japan to look at and buy koi is an experience all koi keepers should have at least once in their lives. To actually see and understand
what exactly goes on in Japan is an experience that will allow many of the factors involved in successfully keeping koi to slot together and make a great deal more sense. The Yamakoshi area looks very old and is
very traditionally Japanese. The koi breeders are farmers just like their close relations, the rice farmers. Two ways of life which to this day go hand in hand in the region. In fact Niigata rice is one of the finest available, and is exported all over the world. Today in Yamakoshi you will see mud ponds and rice paddies side by side up in the mountains. The same theory applies to both – the better the mud, the better the growth, the better the final product.
the quiet time The start of the year is a ‘quiet’ time for some
breeders. Their tosai are swimming in a nice 25°C temperature in the tosai houses. These are special buildings that are away from their main selling houses, sometimes many miles away. Some breeders have more than one
tosai house, some have more than ten. The young koi are cared for very well, and
are checked more than once throughout the day. The newer generation of breeders have auto feeders, though they still keep a check on the koi, whereas the old style breeders will visit up to four times a day to feed and scrutinise the koi. They often scoop a few out from the second best pond and add them to the best pond.
Culling happens all the time with these
breeders. Some breeders will even net a pond of 1000 tosai because they had a one second fleeting glance of a ‘maybe’ Tategoi. The snow at the start of the year is very deep in the area, with snowfalls of up to two metres per night not unheard of. But the great thing is when you go in the morning the roads are always clear and easily accessible to all who are up there, minus a few side tracks up or down to the mudpond trails. Mind you, you’d be crazy to attempt these in perfect weather, never mind two metres of snow! A couple of times I have walked in the snow to be told to ‘STOP!’ because of a hidden sheer drop ahead! January and February are for some breeders still busy months believe it or not and even with all the snow some koi are still left out in mudponds all winter. It is old style
The Yamakoshi a rea looks very old and is very traditionally Japanese
JULY 2010 45
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