We moved the Shiro Utsuri into the Tosai House today and I took the opportunity to take some pics - at last! I don't know which one was your favourite Stuart as I wasn't there when you and Mark were looking at them (I was photographing the Ochiba at the time) so I hope it's in here somewhere!

As you can see the skin quality on these fish is awesome. Some of them have very well developed sumi and with others, the sumi is still coming through. Either way, you can clearly see where the sumi is, or will be.

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We have watched Shiro Utsuri develop in the past and a koi with a strong pattern at this young age can keep that pattern as it grows. Equally, a young Shiro Utsuri which is still quite grey when small can also develop in such a way that the grey becomes white and the sumi deepens.

These fish are around 4 inches long at the moment. Originally, we would have moved them into what is now our Nisai House earlier in 2006 but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to build the Tosai House and so they have had to wait for their winter quarters to be ready. This will delay their growth rate and so they won't be as big by the spring as they might otherwise have been. Fortunately, the most important thing is the quality rather than the size, so I don't think it will be a problem.

Lisa