Female Tancho – Hoshikin Koi Farm
Tancho is a Kohaku whose only red is a single round mark on the head. The rest of the body should be pure white, with clean white fins. At heart it is still the red-and-white koi that leads the Gosanke.
About the Kohaku
Kohaku is the variety many keepers say the hobby begins and ends with. It is just a red pattern on a white body, and that simplicity is why it is so hard to breed well and why it is judged so strictly. Kohaku is the oldest established variety of the Gosanke, the 'big three' of Kohaku, Taisho Sanke and Showa. Like nearly all nishikigoi, its roots are in the mountain villages of Yamakoshi and Ojiya in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, where rice farmers first noticed and kept colored mutations of the black food carp (magoi) in the early 1800s. Red-and-white carp were being line-bred there by the 1880s. The Gosuke line developed by Kunizo Hiroi became the foundation of modern Kohaku, followed by famous bloodlines such as Tomoin, Yagozen, Sensuke, Manzo and Dainichi. A Kohaku has won the All Japan Koi Show's Grand Champion title more often than any other variety.
Color and pattern
The body should be pure, snow-white skin (shiroji) with no yellow or blemish. Over it sits a deep, even red (hi). Hi that leans toward orange-red is called beni, and a purple-red tone is prized in mature fish. The pattern is read from above. A balanced design starts on the head without spilling over the eyes, breaks across the back with interest, and ends cleanly before the tail joint (o-jime), leaving a white gap. Where the red meets the white, a crisp edge on the head side (sashi) and a sharp edge on the tail side (kiwa) show a high-quality fish. Fins should be white or nearly so.
The Tancho mark
Tancho is named after the tancho-zuru, Japan's red-crowned crane, and the round red mark also echoes the Japanese flag, so Tancho koi carry special meaning in Japan. The ideal Tancho is a single round or slightly oval spot, centered on the head between the eyes and not touching them, with crisp edges and no other red on the body. Tancho Kohaku, Tancho Sanke and Tancho Showa have their own Tancho class at Japanese shows.
In your collection
Gosanke are the backbone of any serious collection and the varieties most judges and breeders measure everything else against. Their colors develop over years. Hi deepens and sumi surfaces and settles as the fish matures, so a young Gosanke is bought partly on its potential: skin quality, the thickness of the hi, and the body it is likely to grow into.
What collectors look for
- Snow-white skin that stays clean as the fish grows
- Hi of even depth from head to tail, with no thin or faded spots
- Sharp kiwa and tight sashi at the pattern edges
- A strong, balanced body. Kohaku is judged on body before pattern
- A round, centered head spot with crisp edges
- Spot clear of the eyes
- No other red on the body
