JR here. Here again like that TV dog with the bone, on that commercial, who can't seem to rest until he knows his favorite chew bone is safe, sound and put where it should be!

    When we enter this hobby we really are drawn to shiny, bright and deep colors (and especially their combinations) like red and black. Beni and sumi ARE impressive and Beni, especially, is THE art form in modern koi. With sumi being the very close second.

But as we get settled down in this hobby of koi as living (and aging) art, a new eye takes hold. And to the casual observer it might be said that koi appreciation moves to details and more subdued taste.

  As Far back as 1970, teachers of koi appreciation as living art would tell every beginner that the white skin of koi is important because it acts like the canvas for a colorful painting. How wise that simple statement is when you embrace the science behind Nishikigoi's mutation skin.

And that skin really all begins with the dermis and its arrangement and characteristics of fiber within the maturing (and differentiated) skin.

But in the area of color-- there IS no more fundamental place to start that the color of that base skin. And I and others (and others before us) within ZNA have taught for so many years -- the base is either black or white with white being the key to refinement of skin TYPE.

I began this talk with separation of hard and soft shiro. They are different and one is more desirable and probably 'better based on the potential it holds. The other, the hard shiro, is also very beautiful in young fish especially. Why is that? Because as each skin type matures, it grows in complexity, with certain sub-divisions of the skin layers really expanding and making for MORE possibilities for the 'colorful painting within. A mature, complicated and remarkable canvas for, hopefully, a painting that deserves the base canvas!

If you're still with me, consider this--- nature produces a canvas that is of the material and 'blankness' that will set off in a three dimensional way, the grouping of sumi and Beni that expand within it and on it. This 'blankness' is so clear and devoid of any shading of sumi that it can only be described as 'pure'. Selective breeding can help here and if time is no issue, can be man made over decades. But nature and its desire to try all variations for survival will 'throw' much of this basic blankness from time to time. And so we 'perfect' white snakes, amphibians and birds-- pure as snow. And we see pure white fish. Breeders can then selectively breed for this trait to assure greater numbers than nature could or would ever produce in the wild.

What I've just described is the emergence of koi from goi. The missing link between the wild common carp and the domestic colored carp known as Nishikigoi.

As the old pop song said " Free your mind and the rest will follow”     JR