My road to addiction started in ’72 after I first saw those enormous coloured fish for sale and I realised I would have to get one for my truly wonderful new garden pond. It all seemed harmless enough on that fair summer’s day in Cheshire. The owner called them ‘Koi Carp’ and, after hearing those two words, so did I for the next few years. My first purchase was ‘an Assagai’ so the man said, I liked it because it had a blue-grey colour on the body and it was different to the others.

The correct name today for ‘Koi Carp’ as many generally refer to them is ‘NISHIKIGOI’ (nish-key-goy) – taken from the Japanese term that translates as ‘brocaded carp’.

It has been decades since the days when the Japanese breeders used natural spawning methods to produce their offspring. This was when a female was placed in a breeding net together with spawning grasses and then several males of the same variety were placed in the pond with her. Many of the eggs were thrown above the water line and would not hatch; others were deposited in ‘clumps’ and again were useless and it was never possible to accurately assess which male was responsible in producing the best offspring with that particular female.

Over the years there have been many different varieties of Nishikigoi produced that have led to an assortment of show classifications, colours and pattern styles. The following paintings are taken from my first book entitled ‘Koi Kichi’ (The Japanese term for ‘Koi Crazy’) first published in 1995. These paintings are still a very unique and accurate coverage of most of the varieties one can see for sale today although several examples are becoming quite rare and increasingly hard to find.

These closely related subjects have volumes written about them both from many authors of varied ‘qualifications’. Generally, they are attempts to advise the readers ‘what to look for’; vital requirements; points of importance; assorted de-merits; ‘tategoi vs tateshita’; how to spot a Koi that will ‘grow large’ and countless other assorted reasons as to how, why or why not etc.

Firstly, in my experience, no Koi picture, enhanced or otherwise, can give a true impression of the Koi as it actually is when the human eye views it, after the Koi has been placed in a shallow bowl and viewed from a distance of some 18”-24” away.

On my first visit to Japan in 1977 I thought that ‘Koi were Koi’ and if I wished to buy one then I should buy the one that attracted me the most. Despite the fact that first visit produced many beautiful Koi beyond my wildest dreams and despite the fact I had no idea they could grow so big, my belief remained – ‘A Koi is a Koi’ – full stop.

In terms of land mass, ‘Ye Olde Worlde Yamakoshimura’ (now, sadly no more in name) and its immediate surrounds is not large by any means and one can easily drive around the entire perimeter of the area in less than 75 minutes.

Yamakoshi is in Niigata Prefecture some 200km north west of Tokyo as shown in the large scale map and is situated centrally to the north of Nagaoka and Ojiya Cities.

Before I really get down to these texts I should first point out where I stand firmly. The Koi dealers all around the world are, with a few exceptions, the biggest Koi fanatics you will find anywhere – they are hooked on Koi just like me and just as stupid as I have always been!