hey i'm Eric Triplett the Pond Digger
I'm in Upland California at the home of Mystic Koi
and I'm going to introduce you to Shawn McHenry. now this guy isn't true Koi guru
he's been traveling to Japan for over 15 years and he bring home high quality Koi
for everyone across the United States to enjoy
he's an International Koi Judge and there's not too many people around that
understand the true art have Koi the way that he does
let's go meet him and learn some neat stuff about some amazing fish
Shawn how are you doing, Hey Eric brother man good to see you how are you doing good to see you
I'm great hey today wanna talk about the Kohaku, oh good
I just just had a Kohaku right there It's one of my favorites well you know let's talk
about the statement that they say that
that the Koi begins with Kohaku and ends with Kohaku yes sure that's a very very
deep statement it means a lot of different things ahhh
but essentially Kohaku is a red and White fish
it's as simple as it gets but there are many many layers to that
and wants you can understand Kohaku you can start to understand
all varieties of Koi. Wright, I love that, tell me this I want to know how long it took them to
develop
the white fish with red patterning sure sure how long did that take so Heroi San
about a hundred and twenty-five years ago start off with literally
a redfish solid red we call Beni Goi and he started noticing white
keeping up from the sites and so when you look at Kohaku today its a white fish
generally with very like small red steps
across it, believe it or not it started out as a red fish and over the
last 100 years or so they've got that white to creep up all around the sides
that's that's the kinda stuff I wanna learn yeah hey Can we bowl a couple and
and
go through some steps, yeah absolutely, lets do it, yeah lets do it, cool
all right so this the beautiful 2-year-old Kohaku
from Marudo Koi Pond and this is just a perfect example of what we'r looking for
in an ideal Kohaku, she is massive for 2, people aren't gonna be astonished, its crazy right
yeah
yeah people have no idea that, so very simple red and white fish
but the Japanese have five or six different words for red
to describe the type of red, five I know hi that's about it
ohh, aka beni, ohh beni, I know beni to yeah yeah yeah
many of them refer to either flowers or fire ahhm.
showing you what kinda of red its trying to
to described okay so
what we're looking for typically very nice step patterns
you can see that beautiful maruten here with the big circle on the head
and then it's followed by three very nice stepping stones behind it any
noticed almost like a lightning bolt, yah, it has a great pattern
we call that inazuma
I like it when it goes all the way through that yeah that's great
Alright, lets pull her out and pull in that Tancho
nice okay, so that Tancho
I mean it's it's like it represents the Japanese flag right i mean
yeah but it's deeper than ahh, I figured that much that's why we're asking
you
there you go, so the Japanese flag is actually designed after the Tancho Crane
ahh witch is quit iconic because cranes
as we all know are the mortal enemies of all Koi, I know
but there's a very beautiful crane in Japan
all-white and it has a perfect red circle on the head and that's where we get
the Tancho, ahh nik, and it's so amazing that this fish
originated as a all red fish
yeah how through selective breeding we've gotten to this point
where we can create such a unique pattern tell us about the size
of that red circle I'll mean is there an optimal size or an optimal opposition should it be back
farther
yeah, this one's between the eyes a little bit, yeah absolutely, we ideally want to
show off
this beautiful red spot and it should be sitting
exactly right inbetween the eyes touching
each eye, ahh so this is a very very ideal placement
I it's not perfectly centered, ah if
it was perfectly centered, well its an expensive fish as it is
but if it was perfectly centered wow
there's a nice art of just pulling them out and then just
sitting right there on your hand and balance yeah letting them balance
okay this is what I want to talk about I wanna touch on it begins with Kohaku and it
ends with Kohaku as far as I understand and my knowledge is
when I'm looking for let say a Showa or a
Goshiki or something like that I'm looking for a really unique Kohaku
pattern within
that fish whether it be Sanke or something, absolute, okay
just like you said it starts with Kohaku so we're looking for a nice Kohaku pattern
ahh, lets pull up this Gosiki because it has okay a great example of a Kohaku pattern
but a different element the fins
are showing slight gray in them is it, is it
more preference to have more gray or less gray in the fins
of the Goshiki so this is a Goshiki which which is a
a variety where things like that color of the fins
aren't as important
I know if it's just develops because I know
its bloodline that this black will actually recede quite a bit
on the fins and we might get a little bit of ahh
gray towards the center but overall it will disappear
As a Koi judge this is one of the last thing he look for
we're on a Kohakul or on a Sanke we are much more critical
of those type of ideas , okay
what you really want to note is how beautiful
the netting is
especially as we get these nice side shoots of the Koi here
and you can see actually below how its a white fish
yeah I think it's just extraordinary how this started off as a white
and through development
in the last year or so she has gotten much darker, yes she's gorgeous
I think that we can let her go
well that was some great information on some amazing fish I hope you enjoy it as
much as I did
if you are ever in Upland area you gotta stop in and see Mystic Koi
talk to Sean and tell them I said hi I'm Eric Triplett The Pond Digger
thanks for watching