(Please excuse capitals again)
AFTER THE WAKAIGOI SHOW IN OJIYA MANY YEARS AGO, I FOUND MYSELF WITH MR. MASUTANI IN HIS CAR LOOKING FOR SOME TATEGOI HE WANTED TO FIND IN YAMAKOSHI.
MR. MASUTANI IS FROM HIROSHIMA AND HAD THREE OF HIS OWN KOI HE HAD ENTERED INTO THE SHOW IN THE BACK OF HIS CAR TO DRIVE BACK HOME BUT HE WANTED TO SEE IF HE COULD FIND TWO MORE TATEGOI TO DRIVE THEM HOME ALSO. THE ROAD DRIVE FROM NIIGATA TO HIROSHIMA TAKES SOME FOURTEEN HOURS.
AFTER VISITING MANY BREEDERS WE FOUND OURSELVES AT YAMAMATSU WHERE MR. MASUTANI SPENT A FEW MINUTES LOOKING AT SMALL NISSAI.(30CMS.) IN ONE OF THE PONDS. HE CALLED OVER TOSHIYUKI SAKAI AND ASKED HIM TO NET TWO OF THEM INTO A BOWL WHICH HE DID. NEXT MR. MASUTANI STUDIED THEM CLOSELY, TO MY EYES THEY WERE ONLY ‘GENERAL GRADE’ SANKE WHICH I WOULD NOT HAVE EVEN CONSIDERED TO PURCHASE. MR. MASUTANI ASKED ME WHAT I THOUGHT OF THEM AND I GAVE HIM MY HONEST ANSWER THAT I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUNK.
MR. MASUTANI SMILED AND THEN ASKED TOSHIYUKI FOR PRICES. AFTER A WHILE TOSHIYUKI SAID ‘THEY ARE BOTH MY TATEGOI AND I NEED 200,000YEN EACH FOR THEM (£1,200.00) FOR THEM, BUT IF YOU TAKE THEM BOTH I WILL GIVE YOU A DISCOUNT AND LET YOU HAVE THEM BOTH FOR 350,000YEN (£2,100.00) – MR. MASUTANI SHOOK TOSHIYUKI’S HAND AND PAID FOR THEM BOTH IMMEDIATELY AND THE KOI WERE THEN PACKED AND OXYGENATED. MR. MASUTANI ASKED ME TO TAKE A POLAROID PHOTO OF THE KOI FOR HIM WHICH I DID AND HANDED IT TO HIM. LATER, AS WE WERE DRIVING BACK TO NAGAOKA I KEPT ASKING WHY HE HAD PAID SO MUCH FOR THESE KOI BUT MR. MASUTANI JUST SMILED, HE THEN DROPPED ME OFF AT MY HOTEL AND THEN STARTED THE LONG DRIVE BACK TO HIROSHIMA.
SOME THREE YEARS LATER I FOUND MYSELF BACK AT MR. MASUTANI’S KOI FARM NEAR MIHARA STUDYING HIS STOCKS. IN HIS MAIN POND HE HAD ONE MAGNIFICENT SANKE WHICH I COULD NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF – SHE WAS AROUND 70CMS. LONG AND ABSOLUTELY PERFECT SO ASKED FOR A PRICE. MR. MASUTANI HOWLED WITH LAUGHTER, RAN BACK TO HIS HOUSE AND CAME BACK CLUTCHING A POLAROID PHOTOGRAPH.
YOU GUESSED – IT WAS THE SAME POLAROID I HAD TAKEN FOR HIM AT YAMAMATSU. HE POINTED OUT TO ME THAT HE HAD ALREADY SOLD ONE FOR 2,000,000YEN (£12,000.00) AND THE REMAINING ONE WAS AVAILABLE AT THE SAME PRICE!
I WAS TOTALLY STUNNED TO SILENCE, IT WAS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE UGLY DUCKLING TURNING OUT TO BE A BEAUTIFUL SWAN!
