Scoop Up 20,000 Baby Koi!
The 2nd Nippon-ichi Koi-Koi Sukui Contest Held
On Sunday, August 30, the 2nd Nippon-ichi Koi-Koi Sukui Contest (“Japan’s No. 1 Koi Scooping Contest”) was held at the Clock Plaza on the second floor of the East Building of ALPARK in Nishi Ward, Hiroshima City.
At the event, about 20,000 baby Nishikigoi swam in 50 tanks, and participants competed to see how many they could scoop up within a time limit. Following the popular 1st contest last year, this was the second time the event has been held.
Each tank was about 1 m long, and the 50 tanks lined up side by side stretched about 50 m in total. With two people able to compete at each tank at the same time, up to 100 participants could take part at once—a scale truly worthy of a Guinness record.
The event was organized by Ikimono Fureai Gakko Hiroshima (Nishi Ward, Hiroshima City), a hands-on indoor facility where visitors can learn about all kinds of living creatures through the five senses, and the baby Nishikigoi were provided by Konishi Koi Farm Co., Ltd., also of Hiroshima City.
The entry fee was a reasonable 500 yen per person, and the competition was held in three divisions: lower elementary (grades 1–3), upper elementary (grades 4–6), and junior high school and older. Prize money and prizes were awarded to the top three in each division.
In addition, participants who wished to could take home baby Nishikigoi as a participation gift, and after the competition, a 100-yen-per-try “koi scooping” game was also held for the general public, including preschool children.
The contest was hosted by Naoki Nakashima, who appears on Hiroshima TV programs and elsewhere, and his live commentary on the heated battles unfolding throughout the venue got the crowd really excited. As a unique event that uses the koi—a symbol of Hiroshima—as its theme and offers people a chance to get familiar with Nishikigoi, it is attracting growing attention, and a 3rd contest has reportedly already been scheduled for late August next year. Expectations are high that it will grow even bigger year by year as an event that creates new points of contact between koi and people.
(Materials provided by Konishi Koi Farm Co., Ltd.)


Winners of first through third place in each division














