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Article
March/April 2003
Origin of Taisho
Sanke —Jinbei
Sanke
by Mamoru Kodama
Sadazo Sanke, Torazo Sanke and Jinbei Sanke are all established
brands that appeared about 30 to 50 years ago. These three
brands had a tremendous influence on the various bloodlines
that are currently bred. They are the origin of what beautiful
and excellent Taisho Sanke are now.
Among the three brands, Sadazo Sanke
and Torazo Sanke have disappeared. “Jinbei Sanke” is the only bloodline
that remains pure. At this time, I would like to introduce
the “Jinbei Sanke.”
Jinbei Sanke
Mr. Hajime Watanabe breeds this variety at Kawaguchi town
of Kita Uonuma, Niigata. His Jinbei Sanke is a well known
brand name of the Nishikigoi industry and is very famous.
The Jinbei Koi Farm was founded in 1935, about 70 years
ago. Jinbei Sanke appeared about 1957 to 1958, after 22
years of its founding.
Mr. Watanabe crossed Sadazo Sanke that he purchased from
Izumiya with his own-bred Sanke that had outstanding sumi
quality. This is how this variety was born. The pair or origin
of Jinbei Sanke is seen in picture 1. The left one is a female
and the right one is a male. All Jinbei Sanke have originated
from this pair, and the bloodline has been passed to the
present Jinbei Sanke.
The character of Jinbei Sanke lies in
the pursuit of sumi quality. Please look at picture 2.
The sumi on its shoulder,
back and trunk are truly black. The powerful and lacquer
sumi should be a model of Taisho Sanke. The combination of
this female and the male, which also had strong sumi, makes
the characteristic “sumi” of Jinbei Sanke possible.
And for developing its quality, they have completely avoided
crossing the Jinbei line with others and have kept the purest
bloodline.
The representative Jinbei Sanke is the koi in picture 4
(on the next page). This koi won Mature Champion at the All
Japan Combined Nishikigoi Show in 1996. A large sumi on the
shoulder finished this koi wonderfully. The right side of
the body has a corresponding sumi to the one on the shoulder.
This is an ideal Taisho Sanke. This is a big goal for Sanke
breeders as well as the very masterpiece that represents
Jinbei Koi Farm. Parents that produced this kind of high
quality Sanke are seen in picture 3.
The koi in the upper-left corner is the female parent. A
lacquer and distinguished sumi sit on the pure white skin.
Because it has been used as a parent, the hi pattern is almost
gone. However, we can presume the excellent quality of white,
red and black from here.
Koi in picture 5 (next page) are sisters and brothers of
the champion Sanke (as seen in picture 4). They are all two
years old and born from the pair in picture 3. Koi in picture
7 (page 39) is also a sister of the champion. It is three
years old now. Take a close look at the koi in picture 7.
The body is big and thick. The hi is very red and the sumi
is lacquer. The hi, sumi and shiroji (white ground) are the
characteristics of Jinbei. This Koi Farm has been passed
over to the third generation, Mr. Kazumi Watanabe (picture
6). He works hard to breed high-quality Jinbei Sanke. I interviewed
him about how to buy them.
Kodama:
First, please tell us about Jinbei Sanke.
Watanabe:
The characteristic of Jinbei Sanke is still in its sumi.
As seen in picture 4, large sumi appear powerfully at important
places. Small sumi was popular once before. I still think
that Sanke must have large sumi in a good balance with the
hi pattern. Taisho Sanke tends to have larger sumi than any
other variety.
Kodama:
When does the sumi come out?
Watanabe:
Jinbei Sanke has large sumi on tosai (one-year old). But
many koi lose large sumi before we know it, while we are
keeping them on the farm. In spite of this, there is some
sumi that stays. Jinbei Sanke has really good sumi. The koi
in picture 5 are two-year olds. They have had their sumi
since tosai. By this age, sumi becomes stable and will not
disappear. As koi grow up, sumi will gradually finish bold
and big.
The existing large sumi at the age of three or four is what
did not disappear during the process of becoming a two-year-old
from a tosai. The koi in picture 4, for example, already
had large sumi since it was small. A characteristic of Jinbei
is that large sumi appear on tosai.
But sumi has a very little chance of
disappearing when we keep Jinbei tosai in a concrete pond.
Therefore, when koi
hobbyists buy a two-year-old koi or even tosai, I recommend
they should buy the ones that have large and finished sumi.
Even when sumi sink as shita-zumi (shita-zumi is sumi underneath
shiroji–white ground), you must not overlook them because
they will also gradually come up and finish as koi grows
to a three- or four-year-old. In Jinbei Sanke, Shita-zumi
will almost never disappear. Therefore, we have to look at
a total design including Shita-zumi.
Kodama:
It is important that koi grow big in Nishikigoi world. What
do you think of it?
Watanabe:
I do not think it is important that koi grow big. I rather
consider body conformation and quality the most importance.
Jinbei Sanke has already proven that it can grow up to 90
cm (36?) from the past results. In other words, I am not
trying to make big koi because Jinbei Sanke itself is the
bloodline that already had quality in becoming big.
Kodama:
Then how can we see the "quality” of Jinbei?
Watanabe:
The appearance of Jinbei Sanke is almost the same as other
bloodlines except that tosai and two-year-old Jinbei Sanke
have relatively larger sumi. Therefore, when one buys Jinbei
Sanke, it is important that it be a real Jinbei Sanke. "Real
fine quality" of Jinbei comes only from pairs as in
picture 3. We have more than 100 candidates to be parents.
But not many pairs can breed really fine offspring among
them. It is difficult to discover such a pair.
Other breeders have taken koi from us and crossbred them
with koi of other bloodlines, and they sell them as Jinbei
Sanke. Although these koi may look similar, after they grow
big, they will not be good. So, please buy pure Jinbei Sanke.
The key to buying Jinbei Sanke is to buy offspring from
the pair in picture 3. Even if koi from this pair become
bad by temporarily entering an environmentally bad pond,
when water quality improves, the koi will return to its original
good koi. I think you can keep koi with belief and confidence.
Anyway, please buy our koi from reliable dealers who can
guarantee them to be pure Jinbei Sanke.
Kodama: Thank you very much for your presence today.
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