Momotaro Nisai Mako Showa Harvest - Autumn 2009
Being based in Okayama has definite benefits when it comes to getting the scoop on harvests at Momotaro Koi Farm. Today Koibito Japan saw the one pond harvested of the Nisai from the 2008 spawning of Mako Showa, Momotaro's much talked about Showa line of koi...
Famous for Jumbo and high quality koi, Momotaro Koi Farm is home to large selection of some of the biggest and best fish in the Koi world...Izumoryu 106 cm Sanke (ZNA Grand Champion 2008), Bentley 98 cm Kohaku (ZNA Grand Champion 2006), to name just a couple. For the last few years Maeda San has been not only producing world beating Kohaku and Sanke, and but also developing his own take on Showa.
Maeda San approaches raising koi with the mantra of, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing well". To that end he is constantly trying to improve on his current lineage of koi. Many of you will already know that since 2004, Momotaro has been working hard to produce his own line of Showa, called Mako Showa. Usually, showa are thought of as having strikingly beautiful colouration, but generally lacking in length. To combat this Momotaro has been breeding into their Showa lines the traits of several lines of koi including Matsunosuke Sanke, Izuka Sensuke, Takeda Showa and Dainichi Showa over the last 5 years. The cumulative effect of selective breeding, expert fry selection and attentive rearing is the "Mako Showa". It was the Nisai grown from the 2008 spawning of this lineage that we had the pleasure to see harvested today.
Talking to Daisuke Maeda, (son of the owner Michio Maeda or "Maeda San"), we found out one really intersting fact for our Koibito customers regarding the Mako Showa project. From the 2008 spawning Momotaro Koi Farm kept approximately 300 Tosai to grow on to Nisai. However, from the 2009 spawning, they are trying to hold on to 500-600 Tosai to raise on to Nisai. The main reason for this difference in quantity is not, as some of you may think, that Momotaro is cashing in...not at all. The 2009 Mako Showa spawning produced many more viable fry that the 2008 spawning. Simply put, this year they were fortunate to have so many acceptable fry. These Nisai will surely be appearing at coming Auctions, and also should be on general sale in the coming weeks...
Daisuke said that to date, the 2008 spawning was the most successful, in-terms of quality of Showa produced and also the growth of these quality koi. Now with the Nisai coming out of the murky depths of the Momotaro mudponds, it is clear to see that the Mako Showa project is heading in the right direction. The Nisai Mako Showa coming out of the mudponds in Autumn 2009 are ranging from 55 cm to +60 cm...(the largest Mako Showa harvested so far this Autumn 2009 was 63 cm!!!).
