First Koi Harvest of the Season - Shintaro Koi Farm Japan

It's the end of September. The starting signal has been given for the new koi harvest season in Japan. We are guests at the Shintaro Koi farm. Located in Mushigame, the family is already Under the watchful eye of the grower Masaru Saito, the sons Kensuke and Kosuke both help with the harvest.

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Traditionally, the youngest fish are harvested first from the mud ponds high in the mountains of the Yamakoshi Mountains.

One of the most important periods of the year starts for every grower. The results of a year of hard work literally come out of the water one by one. As long as the weather permits, the fish will continue to swim in the large outdoor ponds. This area in Japan, Niigata prefecture, is known for the very large amounts of snow that falls in the winter. This means that all fish must be harvested before winter sets in. Every grower therefore starts from small to large.

Only the best fish with the most potential in growth and quality are allowed to grow in the outdoor ponds. The Koi in these ponds have had a long growing season of 5 to 6 months. The local climate in this part of Japan ensures that the fish can grow up in the most ideal conditions in a healthy way. In addition to the high temperatures and humidity, the quality of the fresh mountain water and rich clay soil plays a major role in the development of each fish.

The pace is good. Harvesting the annual fish, also called tosai, is relatively fast compared to the larger fish. Despite the size of these one-year-old koi, they will soon be viewed one by one at the koi house. The aim is to determine the quality of the fish. The quality is examined and the breeder decides which fish will be sold or will remain with the breeder for further development.

It's time to leave for the koi house. All koi will be judged here. The breeder decides on the basis of a number of selection criteria whether a fish will be sold or may continue to grow for longer.

The Shintaro Koi Farm consists of several koi houses. In these koi houses the koi are divided by age. The one-year-old fish have their own koi house where they are divided over several ponds. Each fish is subdivided by quality.

It takes several hours to study each fish. Kosuke helps unload the fish and his father looks at each fish one by one. The breeder mainly looks at the structure of the fish, the skin quality and the pattern.

Sometimes few words are needed to explain. The quality of this year's tosai is great. Masaru is very satisfied and proud of the results. He can't wait to catch the rest of the fish in the coming weeks.

I would like to thank Kensuke for making the images, the cooperation with the Shintaro Koi Farm has been very good for years. Last year we reached almost 10 million people with our series. A great milestone for us but even bigger for our hobby!

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