Ozumi Ikarashi Koi Farm: "Weird Koi," Goshiki with Depth and Sumi Under the Skin

Zak asked Mr. Ikarashi what comes to mind when people say Ozumi Ikarashi. The answer, off camera and then on it, was "weird koi." He meant it as a description of the job. Ozumi Ikarashi Koi Farm in Niigata makes kawarigoi, the varieties outside the standard list, and "kawari, the ones that are weird, is very difficult. A lot of people tell me that. So that means he's really talented in what he does."

It was the last farm of the Niigata leg, visited on the morning we had to catch the bullet train south, and Zak stayed too long, as he always does there. "I always end up staying over whenever I come to this farm." This is what he chose and why.

Why we go there

Partly for the fish, partly for the man. At the All Japan Koi Show a few days earlier, one of Mr. Ikarashi's fish had been in the top ten, and it was Zak's own pick for number one. When they spoke at the show, Ikarashi said he had "a little bit left over," which from a breeder "kind of means maybe, maybe not a whole lot." He had, in fact, run out of most things. "Ah, he definitely ran out of a lot."

What we mostly buy from him is Goshiki, and the reason is Miami. "In Miami, Goshiki don't always... they change a lot, and you want it to stay black, because people really like the Kuro Goshiki," the dark type. Ikarashi's hold their darkness. He also breeds Beni Ginga and a Ginrin Asagi that Zak described as "really, really beautiful because they're very unique. He has a lot of unique koi. That's what people are looking for."

Choosing from the pond

The main pond had Tancho Goshiki, dark Goshiki with a good body, and a few fish Zak worked through on camera the way he does everywhere: taking one for now, putting one back, changing his mind.

Two of the calls are worth keeping. A very beautiful fish went back because of a faint yellow tint in the white. "When it's a little bit yellow-tinted like that, it could go away, but it's just too much of a risk." He looked at it again. "Maybe I'll change my mind." He didn't. And a Kumonryu that didn't look like much yet was taken because of what was underneath. "You can see the blue under the skin. That is the sumi. Black under the skin that will one day come out." Ikarashi's word for it was that it was still a tategoi in the sense of not yet complete; Zak's hope was that "it'll either be completed while it's at my farm, or a customer will recognise its beauty and understand that in their home."

Mud ponds, concrete ponds and patience

The Ginrin Asagi taught something about where a fish is raised. One of them was turning orange across its whole body, little by little. Ikarashi explained that his Asagi can do that, but usually only in the mud ponds, not in concrete, and that the ones that go that way become really good, as long as you are patient and grow them out well. The one next to it had the same thing starting as a pattern, "coming in pretty thick," and he pointed to a finished fish across the pond to show where it was headed.

The pattern has a name, and it was the most useful word of the day: kanoko, which means a fawn, the spotted child of a deer. Small white dots scattered through the colour, on any base. "Asagi kanoko, Kohaku kanoko, Showa kanoko." If you have seen a dappled koi and wondered what to call it, that is the word, and Ozumi Ikarashi is one of the few farms where you will see it on purpose. Zak's aside on why he gets explanations like this: "I love being able to speak Japanese, 'cause then I can ask them these questions and get really good explanations from different breeders."

The six

By the end, six fish were in the bowl: three Shusui, two Goshiki, and the Kumonryu. Ikarashi went through them on camera in Japanese, and the one he and Zak agreed on was a Goshiki that didn't fit the usual description. "It has depth to it. The beauty has depth. Every single scale, you see the sumi. It's not really a Kuro Goshiki, not a black Goshiki, but it's also blue coming out." The Kumonryu, he was sure, would keep darkening. All six came back to Miami. "See who's interested in them, maybe put one in a show."

The tosai house

The boxes of tosai had been ordered in advance, but Zak went to see them anyway, because "his babies are always really unique." On the way, Ikarashi explained what is in his Goshiki: a bloodline mixed from several farms, including Kanno and Kawakami, worked on over many years. That is the answer to why his Goshiki hold their colour where others fade. It is not luck; it is a cross he keeps adjusting. If you are choosing a Goshiki of your own, start with our Goshiki guide.

Then the train. "We're a little bit late. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here last, but I got some good picks." The next morning was Hiroshima and Taniguchi.

Browse our Ozumi Ikarashi koi, our Goshiki, Asagi and Shusui, or every koi we currently have available. For the whole trip, start with how buying koi in Japan actually works. Live koi ship Tuesdays and Wednesdays, anywhere in the USA.