Yamatoya Nisai Harvest - Autumn 2009
Koibito was able to take part in the harvesting (Ikeage) of the final mudpond of Nisai remaining at Yamatoya Koi Farm today.
Yamatoya Koi Farm, owned and run by Kimiho Shiraishi, breeder of the 2009 All Japan Combined Koi Show Grand Champion, harvested his final Nisai mudpond of 2009 today.
Koibito staff and customers headed out from Okayama at 6 a.m. to be sure to make it for the 9 a.m. start time. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare, and with a quick cup of coffee in us...work began. For those of you who have been to Yamatoya Koi Farm before, you will know that it is one of the smaller koi farms which we buy from, nevertheless the quality of the koi produced there is as good as any of the big name breeders in the koi world. The one man operation more than quadruples it staff, (mainly friends of Shiraishi San), during harvest to ensure harvesting is done as smoothly as possible.
The pond harvested today contained a total of 70 Nisai koi. If you haven't ever been to a harvest, or taken part in one, then I thoroughly recommend seeing if you can help with one sometime. A great sense of expectation was hanging in the air, with our customers trying to steal a peek as the koi were pulled from the pond. Gradually over the space of approximately 1 hour all the koi were harvested with no hiccups.
The koi were then taken by truck in an oxygenated container to Yamatoya Koi Farm for the next stage of the operation. Shiraishi San takes every Nisai koi harvested and has to sex them. This is mostly a simple task for the keen eye of a breeder, but every now and then, he would ask for a second opinion from one of his close friends to see what they thought for koi which were borderline male or female. The koi all have their gills checked to look for any signs of disease, parasites or damage. The koi coming from the mudpond and entering the sales ponds are all given treatment for disease immediately, with ponds being prepared ahead of time with medication. Mudponds are generally filled with all kinds of nasties...and so iradicating these A.S.A.P. is a top priority at any farm. With the container emptied in just over an hour, it was time to move on to selecting koi from the 200 or so Female koi which had made it into the sales pond...
Our customer ended up buying 10 koi on the day, (photos of which can be seen at the end of this article). With two in particular catching the eye of Shiraishi San, and one of those two being singled out by him as having the, "best quality skin and pattern in 2009's Nisai".
If anyone was to ask me if 3 hours of driving, an hour of harvesting, hours of selecting, and an 18 hour working day was worth it just to buy 10 koi, the I would be able to confidently answer in just one word..."Absolutely!"
