Breeders Interview /
Sakamaki Koi Farm, Kimikazu Sakamaki

Experience across generations enhances collaboration. Shaping the next generation, alongside our rivals. (Part 1)

Sakamaki Koi Farm has a 55-year history as the sole Koi breeder in the Tanesuhara area of Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, an area known for its heavy snowfall. The area is surrounded by mountains rich in nature, and the quality of the environment is such that numerous dealers and hobbyists, mainly from the Kanto region, come to rent their mud ponds.

When we previously interviewed Kimikazu in 2015, he had just left Dainichi Koi Farm after working there for five years and had just taken over the family business. Nine years have passed since then, and his experience has led to many achievements, starting with his hometown of Nagaoka and in prefectural and national koi shows. Amidst the rise of many younger competitors, he shows remarkable success.

Starting from scratch with support.

Crossing a major Koi farm with Dainichi’s parent koi.

ー Has fry production largely come to an end? (21nd Jun)

Sakamaki: Today marks the end of the first spawning season, and the larger koi have been released into the mud ponds. There’s still a bit of time before the first selection process.

ー The first selection process scheduled to take place around 35 days from now?

Sakamaki: In previous years, we have done it in about that time, but this year we are considering taking a little more time, about 45 days.

ー Is that because it is easier to select them if they have grown to a certain extent?

Sakamaki: With patterned koi, selecting too early makes it difficult to see the patterns clearly, so I thought of waiting until the patterns were more defined. Recently, I’ve heard similar discussions from other breeders as well.

ー Does it change a lot even in 10 days?

Sakamaki: The pattern changes considerably. I want to keep only the good ones. I try to increase the production rate of the better ones. But when we harvested koi from pond, we can’t throw them away because we get greedy (laughs).

ー How many pairs of parents did you use to spawn this year?

Sakamaki: We also artificially breed for Gosanke, so there are just over 20 pairs, including Ginrin Kohaku and Ginrin Showa. Additionally, with Gin Showa and Kujaku, depending on the spawning conditions, we usually get about one or two pairs, so I think the total is around 30 pairs