Mark learned koi appreciation from an expert farm manager, Nushimura, and also from Mr Kamihata himself . He asked lots of questions and made copious notes. He even worked in the auction house too. Mark learned koi farming Japanese style from the bottom up and the techniques he learned are as relevant today as they were then.
Photo right -
Himeji high grade breeder (name not known), Tanaka San (General Manager for all
Mr Kamihata’s farms) -
When Mark came back from Japan he got a job at BritKoi working for Eric Devis and
then from there went to work for the Kent Koi Company. Mark ran their koi farm but
also got involved in pond construction and was involved in some very large projects.
It was here that he learned all the basic techniques of building a good koi pond
and the skills involved from pipework to filtration and fibreglassing. It was also
during this time that Mark did the benching at the BKKS National Show three years
running. Mark and I first met during this period -
Sparsholt
The son of the well known nishikigoi breeder Isa, who came to study culling at Yamazaki at the same time as Mark.