Koi
Koi, or more specifically nishikigoi, are colored varieties of carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of carp kept for ornamental purposes. There are many varieties of ornamental koi, originating from breeding that began in Niigata, Japan, in the early 19th century.
Several varieties are recognized by Japanese breeders and owners, distinguished by coloration, patterning, and scalation. Some of the major colors are white, black, red, orange, yellow, blue, brown and cream, besides metallic shades like gold and silver-white scales. The most popular category of koi is the Gosanke, which is made up of the Kōhaku, Taishō Sanshoku and Shōwa Sanshoku varieties.
History
are a large group of fish species originally native to Central Europe and Asia. Various carp species were originally domesticated in China, where they were used primarily for consumption. Carp are coldwater fish, and their ability to survive and adapt to many climates and water conditions allowed the domesticated species to be propagated to many new locations, including Japan.Prehistory
In Japan, Miocene fossils of the carp family have been excavated from Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. Furthermore, numerous carp pharyngeal teeth have been excavated from Jomon and Yayoi period sites. For example, pharyngeal teeth of the extinct species Jōmon Koi in addition to the modern species of carp have been excavated from the Akanoi Bay lakebed site in Lake Biwa at the end of the Early Jomon Period. In addition, pharyngeal teeth of all six subfamilies of the Cyprinidae family living in Japan today, including carp, have been found at the Awazu lakebed site dating from the Middle Jomon Period.There are differences in the length distribution of carp excavated from Jomon and Yayoi sites, as estimated from the size of their pharyngeal teeth. Specifically, not only adult carp but also juvenile carp have been found at the Yayoi site. This difference is thought to be because the Jomon only collected carp from lakes and rivers, while the Yayoi cultivated primitive carp along with the spread of rice paddies.
It was previously thought that all Japanese carp were introduced from China in prehistoric times. However, recent analysis of mitochondrial DNA revealed a significant evolutionary divergence within common carp Cyprinus carpio between the native wild form found in Lake Biwa and the Eurasian wild form, along with domesticated varieties. This supports the idea of the ancient origin of the native Japanese form, as well as the East Asian ancient lineage of wild common carp, previously proposed on the basis of fossil data. However, it is unknown when the carp from the continent was introduced to Japan. In addition, a possible multiple origin of koi carp was indicated by the polyphyletic distribution of five mtDNA haplotypes of koi carp within the 'Eurasian' clade. Moreover, the oldest record of the introduction of non-native fish in Japan is that of goldfish from China, and there is no record of carp until the introduction of the mirror carp, called Doitsugoi, in 1904.
Middle Ages
In the Japanese history book Nihon Shoki, it is written that Emperor Keikō released carp in a pond for viewing when he visited Mino Province in the fourth year of his reign. In Cui Bao's Gǔjīnzhù from the Western Jin Dynasty in China, carp of the following colors are described: red horse, blue horse, black horse, white horse, and yellow pheasant. In China in those days, carp were called horses because they were believed to be the vehicles of hermits and to run in the sky.Japan's oldest drug dictionary, Fukane Sukehito's Honzō Wamyō mentions red carp, blue carp, black carp, white carp, and yellow carp as Japanese names corresponding to the above Chinese names, suggesting that carp of these colors existed in China and Japan in those days. In addition, Hitomi Hitsudai's drug dictionary Honchō Shokkan states that red, yellow, and white carp of the three colors were in Japan at that time.
However, it is believed that these single-colored carp were not a variety created by artificial selection, as is the case with today's koi, but rather a mutation-induced color change. In ancient times, carp was farmed primarily for food. Mutational color variation in carp is relatively common in nature, but is not suitable for development alongside farming for food in poor rural communities; color inheritance is unstable and selection to maintain color variation is costly. For example, in current-day farming of koi as ornamental fish, the percentage of superior colored fish to the number of spawn is less than 1%.
The Amur carp is a member of the cyprinid family species complex native to East Asia. Amur carp were previously identified as a subspecies of the common carp, but recent authorities treat it as a separate species under the name C. rubrofuscus. Amur carp have been aquacultured as a food fish at least as long ago as the fifth century BCE in China.
Modern period
The systematic breeding of ornamental Amur carp began in the 1820s in an area known as "Nijūmuragō" which spans Ojiya and Yamakoshi in Niigata Prefecture in Japan. In Niigata Prefecture, Amur carp were farmed for food in Musubu Shinden, Kanbara County from the end of the Genna era. In the Nijūmuragō area, carp were also farmed in terraced ponds near terraced rice paddies by 1781 at the latest, but the ponds ran dry due to a severe drought that occurred around that time, and the carp escaped the disaster by taking refuge in ponds on the grounds of Senryu Shrine in Higashiyama Village and Juni Shrine in Higashitakezawa Village.During the Bunka and Bunsei eras, people in the Nijūmuragō area bred red and white koi in addition to black koi, and crossed them to produce red and white colored koi. After that, they further crossed them and perfected them.
Around 1875, colored koi became popular and the number of breeders increased, and some expensive koi were produced, but Niigata Prefecture banned the aquaculture of ornamental koi because it was considered a speculative business, and the business suffered a major blow for a time. However, the ban was lifted soon after, thanks to the petition of the villagers. At that time, colored koi included Kōhaku, Asagi, Ki Utsuri, etc. From this original handful of koi varieties, all other Nishikigoi varieties were bred, with the exception of the Ogon variety, which was developed relatively recently.
Koi breeding flourished in the Nijūmuragō area for two reasons: 1) the custom of raising koi in fallow fields for emergency food during the winter, and 2) the existence of many inden, or hidden rice fields in the mountains, unknown to the lord, which allowed the farmers to avoid taxes and become relatively wealthy. Breeding of koi was promoted as a hobby of farmers who could afford it, and high-quality individuals came to be bought and sold.
The name Nishikigoi did not exist until the 1910s. Before that time, Nishikigoi were called Madaragoi, Kawarigoi, Irogoi, Moyōgoi, and so on.
A geographical book on Suruga Province, Abe Masanobu's Sunkoku Zasshi, mentions that in addition to Asagi, purple, red, and white carp, there are "spotted carp." This probably refers to two- or three-colored carp caused by mutation, and is a valuable record of Nishikigoi of the Edo period.
In 1900, there was a three-colored carp in Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, and the price was over 1,000 yen per fish, which was a high price for that time. The three-colored carp had a red belly and asagi back with black spots, and is thought to have been a mutation similar to today's Asagi koi.
The magazine "Shonen" introduced Nishikigoi under the name of Madaragoi or Kawarigoi, and said that even skilled fish breeders did not know how they could produce Nishikigoi, but only waited for them to be produced by chance. The price of Nishikigoi at a fish show in Fukagawa, Tokyo, was 100 to 150 yen per fish, which was "extremely expensive" at the time. Therefore, even at that time, mutant Nishikigoi were known to some fish breeders and hobbyists in Tokyo, but artificial breeds such as Nijūmuragō's Nishikigoi were still unknown to the general public.
In 1914, when the Tokyo Taishō Exposition was held, the "Koi Exhibit Association" was formed mainly by koi breeders in Higashiyama and Takezawa villages, and koi were exhibited. At the time, they were still called "colored carp" or "patterned carp," and they were described as "the first of their kind ever seen in the Tokyo area." And the koi received much attention, winning a silver medal. After the exposition closed, they presented eight koi to the Crown Prince. This exhibition triggered an expansion of sales channels, and the market value of koi soared.
In 1917, the Taishō Sanshoku was fixed as a breed. The name Nishikigoi is said to have been given by Kei Abe, who was the chief fisheries officer of the Niigata Prefectural Government in the Taisho era, after he admired the Taishō Sanshoku when he first saw it. In 1917, the fixation of Kōhaku, which had first been produced in the 1880s, was also assured.
Apart from the koi of Niigata Prefecture's Nijūmuragō area, there is a variety called Shūsui, which was created by Tokyo-based goldfish breeder Kichigoro Akiyama in 1906 by crossing a female leather carp imported from Germany with a male Japanese Asagi or spotted carp. The leather carp is a low scaled variety bred in 1782 in Austria, and was sent to Japan from Munich, Germany in 1904, along with the mirror carp, which also has few scales. In Japan, these two varieties are called Doitsugoi, and Shūsui and its lineage are also called Doitsu or Doitsugoi in koi.
In 1927, Shōwa Sanshoku was fixed as a breed, and in 1939, koi were exhibited at the Japanese pavilion at the Golden Gate International Exposition held in San Francisco.