Article

November/December 2004

In Niigata, Marujyu Koi Farm at Mushigame, Sakazume Koi Farm in Oguriyama and Takano Koi Farm, which I introduce here, all breed the Budogoromo variety.

Takano Koi Farm was originally known as an excellent Goshiki breeder. He has focused on Budogoromo beginning 4 to 5 years ago and has now established the brand of “Budogoromo of Takano.”

I visited Takano Koi Farm this time.

Kodama:
Your Budogoromo are beautiful. They are winning popularity in the US as they do in Japan. Would you share with us how this began?
Takano:
It all started 10 years ago (1994). There was one breeder who produced such beautiful Aigoromo. I bought fry that had just hatched at his place. At the time, I specialized in Goshiki, but I wanted “parents of Aigoromo.”And that is why I got and raised those fry.

 

Mr. Yoshio Takano (age 60) scoops Koi in front of his house. He has 40-year career in Koi business.

Kodama:
Why did you want to raise Aigoromo?
Takano:
As you know, the bloodlines of Goshiki and Aigoromo are very close to each other. So I thought I could use Koromo to improve the Goshiki variety.

*pic2 Budogoromo won in the class of Kawari at All Japan Nishikigoi Show.

Kodama: I see.
Takano:
While I raised those fry carefully for about 3 years, I noticed there were some koi that had a very deep purple color. That was 7 years ago. I found it very interesting. I knew something new could come out of these koi. So instead of crossing them with Goshiki, I selected male and female who had the deepest black kind of purple to cross.

Kodama:
I see. Offspring of those darkish Aigoromo are the beginning of “Takano Budogoromo.”
Takano:
Yes. I entered one of the excellent offspring in the All Japan Nishikigoi Show. It won in the class of Kawari. Picture 2 is the koi. It is a beautiful koi with pure white. It never looks Aigoromo. So I entered it in the class of Kawari.

*pic3Typical appearance of Aigoromo. Mr. Takano obtained the fry that were born from this kind of Koromo.

Kodama’s explanation
We can understand that Budogoromo came from Aigoromo from his talk. (This is the same for Budogoromo from Marujyu and Sakazume Koi Farms.)

At first, while breeding Aigoromo like picture 3, some come out with strong black pigments by accident. Then, by crossing those Koi, Koi (4) appear. Please look at picture 5. This is Mr. Takano's pond for the 2 years. They all came from the same parents. But as their ancestors is Aigoromo, even though they are sisters and brothers, you see many variations in colors. Koi A has very deep purple while Koi B looks completely Aigoromo.

*pic4 He found Koi that has strong black pigments among the fry and used them as parents. (This one does not have the picture. It simply has a drawing)

Out of them, once again, we select and cross koi that have deeper purple to increase the ratio of Budogoromo breeding.

*pic5 Koi that has very different character from Aigoromo (Pic 3) was produced.

It is also noteworthy that it took Mr. Takano 10 years until he got the high reputation of “Takano Budogoromo.”

Kodama:
Now, please share your expertise a little bit more. Is it difficult to breed Budogoromo?
Takano:
If you have a good set of parents, it is not that difficult. But when other breeders are trying to breed Budogoromo, because the variety development is still ongoing, it is probably a little difficult to produce the same quality as mine. For example, Kohaku has already been perfected as a variety. So if you bring a parental koi of Dainichi Kohaku, you can still produce the same level Kohaku. In the case of Budogoromo, on the other hand, there are gaps between the best grade parents and the following grade parents. We have the best grade parents. Even though other breeders got parents from us, they are all lower grade. With lower grade parents, you cannot breed good koi.

Kodama:
I see. Because the variety is not perfectly stabilized, the gap is greater between the top grade parents and the secondary grade parents. How many “top grade parents”do you have?
Takano:
I have 4 pairs. The rest are the secondary grade.

Kodama:
Can’t you breed excellent quality out of the second grades?
Takano:
You can breed koi, but I do not think you can breed better ones than mine.

Ponds for fry. He maintains 20 of them every day all by himself.

Kodama:
I see. How many fry do you raise every year?
Takano:
I have 20 ponds somewhere from 1800 square foot to 7200 square foot. I release 10,000 to 20,000 fry there and harvest about 6000 in autumn.

Kodama:
In other words, you release about 300,000 and harvest only 6000. What is the value of the most excellent Tosai out of the 6000?
Takano:
A dealer pays 100,000 yen for the best koi.

Kodama:
The quality must be really excellent if the wholesale price is 100,000 yen. Is the quality like picture 1?
Takano:
I think so. I am not sure of the retail value, but dealers in Japan value my koi at least for the price.

2004/6/22 I had a chance to observe 15 days old fry. This pond has 20000 fry.

Kodama:
What is the point to look for in your baby Budogoromo?
Takano:
It is its shiroji (white skin.) The skin ground is important to enhance the purple in Budogoromo. The shiroji needs to be pure white and also contains a little bluish coloration as in picture 1. And it is best that the core of the head has a little bit of shita zumi.

Kodama:
How about patterns? Hi plates under the pattern sometimes fade suddenly.

Takano:
This variety is still in the developing process from Aigoromo. At this point, zi zumi rides on hi plates of Aigoromo and we select the ones who have deeper ai zumi. In other words, there are 2 layers. As you look at picture 1 closely, you can tell there is a hi plate underneath the ai zumi. This is why only hi could fade away. My goal is to blend the hi plate and ai zumi completely.

Kodama:
I see. Then, it will not happen any more that only hi underneath disappear. I understand your goal in Budogoromo well. All the koi dealers and hobbyists look forward to you accomplishing the goal.Thank you for your time today.