1983. The Ogawa Koi farm in Sasebo.
This outlet is way down south near Nagasaki and, whilst it is very famous for the production of some world class Go-Sanke, the costs involved in getting there, staying there and the time involved did not, in my opinion, warrant further visits on my part.
My thoughts were re-inforced when the elderly owner offered me three very large Koi, one Kohaku, one Purachina and one Sanke totally free from any advance payment and advised me I could pay him after I had sold them!
He then went on to write down his prices to me for each Koi and my eyes began to water. These three Koi were simply ‘lumps’ – all had deformities and blemishes on many parts of the body. For the price he was asking I could have returned to Niigata and bought the same junk quality from any auction site for 5% of the quoted cost.
Ogawa San made the bad mistake of insulting my experience (then in its formative years) but that ended any future dealings I may have had with this outlet.
My first impressions – ‘would you buy a used car here’?
