Koi fish Japan

Kohaku ko-hah-coo Kohaku are white Koi with red markings. Ideally the red markings should have a good depth of color with a uniform shade, the edges of the red should be well defined. The white should be pure white and free from blemishes. As a general guide, the red markings should cover around half of the koi.

Sanke san-key The Sanke is a three colored koi with red and black markings on a white background. the depth of the colors are important, with a pure white background and uniform red plus black markings. There should be no black markings on the head, looking similar to the Kohaku. The body should have large red markings complimented by an even distribution of smaller black patches. Black stripes can often be seen in the pectoral fins and tail.

Showa sho-wa The Showa is a three colored Koi with black, red and white markings. It is similar to the Sanke except that the black areas are much larger, covering a large area of the body, including the head. There is normally a solid area of black at the base of the pectoral fins and some black stripes on the tail.

Bekko bay-co The Bekko are white , red or yellow Koi that have a distinctive set of black markings over the body. The white based Koi are known as Shiro Bekko (illustrated), the red based are Aka Bekko and the yellow are Ki Bekko. The head of the Bekko should be free of black markings and the base colour the same as the body. The black markings should be balanced patches along the body of the Koi. A Bekkos' fins can have black, similar to the Sanke

Utsurimono The Utsurimono is similar to the Bekko Koi, with white, red or yellow colors plus black markings. The main difference is that the Utsuri are black koi with white, red or yellow markings. The Shiro Utsuri is black with white markings, Hi Utsuri (illustrated) black with red and the Ki Utsuri black with yellow. The black should wrap around the body, whereas the black is above the lateral line on the Bekko. Also the black markings should extend from the head to tail. Kumonryu come-on-ree-you Black koi with white along the shoulder, dorsal area and along the sides above the lateral line. Unstable pattern .

Asagi as-ah-gee The Asagi lack the bright coloration of other koi varieties, being mainly gray/blue above the lateral line and red/orange below. Good examples have a delicate pattern of colored scales running symmetrically along the back of the Koi. The scales should be regular over the body, the lighter edges being of equal length on all scales. Normally the light grey/blue pectoral fins have an orange marking at their base.

Shusui The Shusui has basically the same colors as the Asagi. The head is blue/gray with red on the jaws, below the lateral line and on the fins. The scales along the lateral and dorsal lines are a darker blue than the rest of the Koi. Due the lack of scale detail on the back of the Shusui compared to the Asagi, the skin often appears as pale blue.

Koromo The Koromo has the basic pattern of the Kohaku, but due to cross- breeding with the Asagi has a well defined scale pattern within the red areas.