Showa – Yagenji Koi Farm
Showa Sanshoku, or simply Showa, is the bold one of the Gosanke: a black koi with red and white, where big, wrapping sumi gives the fish power and movement.
Origin and history
Showa was created in 1927, early in the Showa era, by Jukichi Hoshino, who crossed Ki Utsuri with Kohaku. Early fish had yellowish hi. In the 1960s Tomiji Kobayashi crossed in Kohaku again, which gave Showa the vivid hi and cleaner white of the modern fish. 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. Today the Showa programs at Dainichi, Marudo, Isa and Omosako are among the most famous in the world.
Color and pattern
Showa is a black-based fish. Sumi wraps over the back and down around the belly in bold bands, reaches onto the head (often a lightning bolt or a 'menware' split across the face), and stains the base of the pectoral fins (motoguro). Hi and white then fill the spaces between. Compared with Sanke, the sumi is larger, wraps lower, and appears on the head. The best fish have balanced hi on the head, sumi that is deep black rather than blue-grey, and enough white to keep the pattern from looking heavy.
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
- Deep, glossy sumi that wraps the body in bold, flowing bands
- Motoguro, a solid black base, in both pectoral fins
- Sumi on the head that frames the face
- Strong, even hi that balances the black
- Clean white that breaks up the pattern. Young Showa sumi often keeps developing for years
