Someone send me this article via E-mail.
And this article is like a very brief translation of the article "丸山养鲤场与“神乐”的传奇故事" from Japanese to English in one of the "Nishikigoi Monthly Japanese Version" that i read last year.
I think member of the forum will be interested in this article, so i post it here. I hope you like it.
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丸山养鲤场与“神乐”的传奇故事(英文版)
Maruyama Koi farms and Kagura
Maruyama Koi farms 丸山养鲤场 has a very rich and interesting history. Futoshi Maruyama 丸山太 the current second generation owner/operator of Maruyama koi farms located in Isawa 石和, Yamanashi 山梨, Japan. Futo’s father, Gensuke Maruyama 丸山元助, started breeding koi in the 1960’s. Gensuke-san founded Maruyama Koi Farm and rapidly became a successful koi breeder. Maruyama koi have won many Grand Champion awards including national and regional shows in Japan as well as other shows all around the world. Maruyama koi farms also breeds Sanke and Showa but majority of production today is Kohaku.
Gensuke-san became close friends with Mr. Minoru Mano 间野实 (the deceased founder of Dainichi Koi Farm 大日养鲤场) in the mid sixties, soon after Maruyama Koi Farm opened for business. Both were in their late twenties and they often visited each other to discuss Koi breeding and how to improve the overall quality of their koi. Then Gensuke met Mr. Itaru Suda 須田至, another koi breeder in the Niigata 新澙 area, and discovered an outstanding Suda-san bred Kohaku, which had a striking and unique shiny Hiban绯盘, (quality of red pattern), brilliant pure white skin, and a strong body shape. Gensuke-san decided to purchase her to be his main “seed” koi and work to develop a new kohaku bloodline with her bright shiny red and clean pure white color quality. This koi was given the nickname "Kagura神乐" because her beni深的红色 pattern looked like a tortoise shell and it has a "Kagura神乐-Beni (crimson)". After many trials over 20 years, Maruyama Koi Farm successfully produced "Kou Haku红白" , "San Shoku三色" and "Showa昭和" all of which have the "Kagura-Beni" on their idealistic 80cm-long body.
"Kagura神乐" has borne numbers of excellent Nishiki-goi锦鲤.
Her first pregnance produced:
1. "Kamenoko龟之甲 Kouhaku" (The overall winner全体总合优胜 of the 17th All Japan Koi competition全日本爱鳞会第17回全国锦鲤品评会 in Hiroshima广岛.)
2. "Hime姬" or Princess (The winner of The National Fish of the Year in two consecutive years.)
3. "Seven七" (The overall winner of the 17th grown up Koi competition in Tokyo东京.)
4. The winner of The Minister of Agriculture Award in the Agricultural Festival农业祭 in Hiroshima广岛.
5. The winner of The Minister of Agriculture Award in the 24th Agricultural Festival农业祭 in Niigata新澙.
6. The overall winner of the 35th All Japan Koi Competition in Takamatsu高松. This one takes the active role as a seed Koi in the Sakai Koi Farm阪井養鯉場 in Hiroshima广岛.
7. "Yamato大和" (The overall winner全体总合优胜 of the 28th Rin Yu Association competition全日本鳞友会第28回全国锦鲤品评会.)
Listed above are the major prizes awarded to Kagura's descendants.They have also acquired many other prizes on a local competition basis. Furthermore, Kagura has produced an excellent line of breed which have been used of as both male and female seed Koi. I can safely say that today's Japanese Kohaku, well-known for its bright crimson could have never been accomplished without "Kagura". This is what I firmly believe.
Breeding large-sized Koi has been promoted since 1985. We had hard time breeding large-sized Koi maintaining the "Kagura-Beni" quality. Generally, the color of the large-sized Koi had the tendency to lose brightness so the Koi of superior brightness are hard to breed any larger. After trial and error for a couple of years. Eventually succeeded the most difficult challenge. A produce of large-sized Koi with the "Kagura-Beni" . One of the best is "Yamato大和" (picture 7). This success was accomplished by the devotion of Gensuke Maruyama's son, Futoshi太 who has grown up to be a great helper. They have a variety of one, two and three year-old Koi all of which are of the "Kagura-Beni".
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