Nishikigoi (Brocaded or Coloured Carp)
by Terry White
Firstly a quick definition of terms; The words koi and Goi means carp in Japanese whether it be coloured or the normal wild colour types. The term "koi carp" just means "carp carp" but the word koi has come to mean what the Japanese call Nishikigoi (brocaded or coloured carp). Nishiki is the term used for Chinese brocaded silk. Throughout these documents we shall use all three terms to mean Nishikigoi.![[This work is copyright © 2007-2009 www.pond-life.me.uk]](../images/other/spacer.gif){kind=small}
Doitsu means Deutsch, the Japanese for German and relates to mirror and leather carp that originated from Germany during the later part of the 18th century. Doitsu carp had fewer larger scales (Mirror carp) or no scales (Leather carp). They were bred as a food fish because they were easier to prepare for the table and generally grew bigger with more meat than the fully scaled carps. They were first introduced into Japan in 1904 and were soon cross bred with Nishikigoi and normal carps.
Nishikigoi are not a separate species in themselves, they are a mutation of ordinary carp (Cyprinus carpio) and have been cross bred for their unique colour variations over the last 200 years. This means they are the same fish that are still used for food in many places in the world and also used as a sport angling fish in others. Their introduction into some places has been a serious disaster for the native fish and wild life populations as they like to dig up the substrate looking for food, muddying the water and choking native flora and fauna. In Australia it is an offence to return a carp into the river systems when caught and koi are not allowed to be imported into New Zealand.
History
The carp is believed to have originated around 10,000 years ago in Eastern Europe in the areas around the Caspian, Black, Arial and Azov Seas. Following the last ice age it had spread into China where it has been utilised as a food fish for the past 2,500-3000 years.
Carp movements have often be as a result of it's value as a food source and the spread from the Caspian area to the river Danube, Greece and Italy during the time of the roman empire was no exception. It rapidly spread around Europe during the middle ages and it's importation into the UK is thought to have occurred around 1450-1550 AD were it was used by monks and grown in stew ponds that the monasteries ran.
The carp's importation into Japan is said to have occurred around 2,000 years ago when it was brought in by Chinese invaders and released into the rivers and lakes.
The farmers of the Niigata prefecture in Japan, as elsewhere, used to breed carp for food and by the mid 19th Century growing on carp in irrigation ponds that fed the rice paddies during the summer was well established. After the cull of food fish in the autumn which were salted and eaten over the winter the farmers would keep a few brood fish in smaller ponds closer to the village, sometimes within the farmer's home, which would spawn the next years crop.
Every so often a mutant that had some colourful scales would be seen in the fry from a spawning. The farmers would keep these fish and show them to other farmers as a form of competition. Over time their mutant coloured carp were cross bred with others and a semi stable line of colourful carp developed. Often the best examples were given as gifts to the emperor and many are now seen in ponds around the palaces and temples of Japan.
The normal colouration of carps is made from sets of pigment cells (chromatophores). A dark pigment (melanophores), a red/orange pigment (erythrophores), and a yellow pigment(xanthophores) combine to produce the dark backed and lighter belly colour of normal carps. The mutations occur when the dark melanophores pigments were deficient and a red (Hi) or white (Shiro) area is produced instead of the normal dark ones. In the wild these mutations are normally a bad thing and allow the fish to be easily targeted by predators but in captive populations that were sorted each year they could be picked out and grown on in safety.
Modern Nishikigoi traces back to the Tashio period in Japans history (1911-1926). More than 25 of the coloured carp were displayed to the general public for the first time at the 1914 Tashio Exhibition (a trade and culture of Japan show) held in Tokyo. The fish were mostly modern style Kohaku (Red and white), forerunners of the Kohaku of today. They were quite different from the early Kohaku; as the red mostly appeared on the head, gill plates and stomach of the earlier fish.
In 1915 a new strain of koi, the first Sanke (white fish with a red and black pattern), was displayed although the fish was a mature 15 years old at the time and so dates to the previous Meija period (1862-1912). The correct name is Tashio Sanke (also called Tashio Sanshoku).
The first Utsurimono, Ki Utsuri (yellow & black), were described in 1920 with Shiro Utsuri (white & black) following around 1925 and Hi Utsuri (Red & Black) appearing later.
The Showa (black fish with a red and white pattern), also known as Showa Sanshoku, followed around 1927 during the Showa period of Japans history (1927-1989) by crossing Ki Utsuri with Kohaku. Showa were not produced in larger numbers until the 1960's when a good quality red (Hi) was consistently produced but the bloodline is not stable even today.
The Kohaku, Sanke and Showa, now collectively known as Go-Sanke, are the big three koi strains. These along with many other types of koi and a lot of unique koi are the foundation blocks that koi keeping is built on.
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1929 saw the first kinginrin (golden silvery scale). The sparkling scales look golden when over red (Hi) and silvery when over black (Sumi) or white areas of the fish's body.
Koi farming continued to grow slowly, it went into decline in the 1930s and during the war years. Koi were shown at the 1941 San Francisco Worlds Fair and the first koi imported into Hawaii was in 1947. Imports into the UK started around the same time but they only became more widely know during the 1960-70s. It was the invention of the plastic bag and large scale cargo flights that brought koi to universal knowledge and a wider mass market. Today many countries produce their own koi but the biggest exporters are still Japan and Israel who have been producing koi since the mid 1980s.
The past 30 years have seen many changes to koi keeping and the availability of fish and goods. Finding fish is not difficult these days; most large garden centres have a pond section as do the many national and independent aquatics shops. Most areas of the UK have a BKKS (British Koi Keepers Society) that put on shows and talks during the year.
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