Koi Fish History

Modern Japanese Koi Fish or nishikigoi – Japanese for “brocaded” carp are a “man made” species. This brief post explores the history of breeding and keeping Koi Fish.

In the same way that most modern domestic dog breeds are a result of 100′s or perhaps even 1000′s of generations of deliberate matings “constructed”  by dog breeders the huge variety of Japanese Koi “types” that exist today are actually a result of Koi breeders attempts to create and fix a particular “type” of Koi fish.

All Japanese Koi have a common bloodline that can be traced back to the plain black common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Common Carp are in fact an a very old species, Common Carp fossils have been discovered in South China dating back about 20 million years.

Some authorities believe that Koi fish history originated in Persia and spread throughout the ancient world.

It is generally accepted that the Common Carp was brought with migrants and trade caravans from Eurasia to the Far East at least 2,000 years ago, eventually making it way to Japan approximately 1000 years ago through either China or Korea, where they were bred in simple mud ponds as a food source  to supplement their daily diet of rice and vegetables.

When the carp would reach about 6 inches long, the farmers would catch and salt them so they would last the long winter months.

As anyone with a basic understanding of genetics can confirm when any  species is kept and bred in a small gene pool, mutations of the species will eventually occur. In the case of Common carp, these mutations produced changes in body color.

Koi Fish are first described in writing from a Chinese book written during the Western Chin Dynasty, 265-316 A.D. At that time they were described as white, red, black and blue in colour.

The farmers who first started to see these colored mutations develop in their food stock at some point started to keep them for their visually pleasing qualities rather than just as food for the table.

When did deliberate breeding of Koi begin ?

It is believed that the deliberate breeding of Modern Koi and therefore the history of Koi first started to develop somewhere around 1840 many 100′s of years after carp were first introduced to Japan.

Though there is not much known about the history of koi breeding in the pre-1800 era, it is widely accepted that the true coloured koi originated in Japan from the Niigata prefecture during the early 1800s.

There is no official record of the first koi mutations but it is thought that it was a red carp called Hookazuki. It was from this red carp that the first all white koi was produced. When these two koi were crossbred, the result was the very first red and white carp. Originally called “Hara-aka”, Japanese for  red belly.

It wasn’t until 1930 that the breed was stabilized and officially documented as the Kohaku, still by far the most well known and popular of all the koi breeds.

History of Koi Fish

Around the same time in Japan other koi mutations were developing. It was not long before the all black mutation, now known as the Magoi, was discovered by breeding two strains of wild carp: one brown/black and the other blue/black. Also from this early mutation came the first true blue koi, the Asagi, meaning “light blue”. It wasn’t until years later that an Asagi Sanke was crossed with a Doitsu Metallic koi and the first Shusui, meaning “autumn water”, was bred.

The next stage in koi breeding is known as the third mutation of Nishikigoi. This is the stage where the Bekko varieties were first discovered and bred. This variety consists of the Shiro Bekko, the Aka Bekko and the Ki Bekko.

It was from this handful of koi breeds that all other Nishikigoi types were bred, with the exception of the Ogon variety (single colored, metallic koi) which wasn’t developed until recently. The last development of the time was a great breakthrough in koi breeding and is still revered as one of the most traditional of koi breeds. A tri-colored koi called a Taisho Sanshoku, more commonly known as the Sanke, was first seen  around 1868-1912. Though it is not known who first developed this breed, the Sanke was exhibited for the first time in 1915, when the koi was about 15 years old.

In the early 1900s, koi keeping began to gain interest around the World. Koi had become a symbol of luck and prosperity. At this time, most Japanese mansions and upper-class tea houses had at least one koi pond for viewing pleasure. Japanese koi breeders then came across a separate type of carp that brought in a new string of koi breeds: Mirror carp were introduced into Japan from Germany. Their large, shiny, uniform scales – five to six times larger than normal – became quite popular in Japan and the fish became known as Doitsu (Japanese for “Deutsche” meaning “German” in the German language).

The first successful crosses between the German carp and the Japanese carp were made in 1904. All resulting “scaleless” varieties were to be known as Doitsu Nishikigoi. These modern varieties contributed greatly to the expansion of Nishikigoi throughout the world and finally provided the genetics for last part of the koi puzzle – the Ogon.

Meanwhile, after the Taisho Sanke was introduced, the Showa Sanshoku Sanke (later called the Showa) was discovered and with it the came the end of the Taisho era. In 1927 the Showa Sanke made its debut, primarily a black koi with red and white markings (as opposed to the Sanke which is a predominately white koi with red and black markings).

In the early 1920s, a wild carp with golden scales was crossed with a koi in hopes to produce the greatest amount of golden color possible. By 1946 the first Ogon (golden koi) was produced. The name “Ogon” initially referred only to the gold form, but today it applies to all single-color metallic koi. Ogons are included within the Hikarimono category (“Hikari” meaning “shining” and “mono” denoting a single color).

All koi types bred after this time are considered modern breeds that have been developed recently, such as Matsuba Ogon (1960s), Gin-Rin (reflective scaled) varieties (early 1960s), and the Midorigoi (light green koi) in 1965.

All together, 13 colors and their numerous varieties are currently recognized for Nishikigoi