Nogami Showa: The Bloodline Story Behind The Fish
From my first visit at 13 to this latest crop, the story behind Nogami's Showa, the bloodlines baked into them, and why the beni stands out.
I first visited Nogami Koi Farm in 2003. Yes, a long, long time ago.
It was during the trip when I first met Fujio Oomo, who was my guide around Japan at that time. One of his close friends and working colleagues, a neighbour in fact, was Nogami. Fujio's original facility is literally on the same street as Nogami's place, and he was very keen to introduce me.
At the time I had no idea how highly regarded Nogami was, or the reputation he had.
The fish, however, were just different.
The First Visit
I still remember the small original fish house. These fish were so standout. There weren't even a lot of them, and the water was quite murky, but it was probably around 60 to 70% Kohaku, plus some really standout Showa with a really, really strong style.
We were fortunate enough to buy some fish, and Nogami took a real liking to me. I think that was because of Fujio's backing. He instantly stepped into some kind of teacher role, and in quite a forceful way as well.
It was actually him who first taught me how to handle fish.
We bought a Sanke on that trip, a fish of around 60 to 65cm. I was 13 years old at this point and had never really lifted a koi properly. He insisted that I did it, and I was absolutely petrified of dropping this thing.
That's when he showed me the spinning technique, and then insisted I kept doing it until I actually got it right. I think he was quite fascinated by my age, as many were back then.
He was also very, very keen that I meet his son, Chikara. He was really pushing his son hard to interact with the foreign visitors to his farm and encouraging him to speak English. Many years later Chikara went to America to study English properly, and he is now incredibly fluent.
But yeah, it was a hell of a place, and the characteristics of the fish really did leave a mark.
The Showa I Never Forgot
The most memorable fish back then was a Showa, and this fish was just remarkable.
It had a kind of elegance to it, with really bold sumi that was already up and well developed for its age. It was absolutely stunning. We purchased it, and I was always a massive fan of it when it was back at the facility. Just spectacular, with such an amazing depth of quality to it.
On that same trip I learned that Nogami is primarily focused on his Kohaku, and I actually got to select some tosai from him. There were very few Showa in there at that point.
There were also some Shusui, weirdly enough. He had been hit very badly by landslides that year, to the point where they wiped out so many fry that he'd had to buy some in from somewhere else to bolster his stock.
That's quite remarkable when you think about the place and how synonymous it is with Kohaku and Showa. But of course, these guys have got to do what they've got to do. It was something that has never been repeated, and he very quickly got things back on track.
A Farm That Screams Beni
Again, the tosai were incredibly standout. These Kohaku, the beni.
When I think about Nogami Koi Farm, it just screams beni. They're obsessed with it on the Kohaku side of things.
The Kohaku bloodline derives from the famous Kagura line, and nowadays traces of Kagura are present throughout the Dainichi bloodlines. Its traits are stronger at Nogami and Maruyama, because Kagura was the base of both of those farms' Kohaku. Both are very prominent Dainichi OB Kai members.
You could see how serious they are in the way the farm was run. Very light-hearted, they like to laugh, but very serious when it comes to the koi.
That showed more and more over the course of the trip. As well as selecting the tosai, there was a shipment being packed that I actually got to help with. Nogami would come over to help Fujio with the packing at his fish house, and Fujio would go and do the same at Nogami's.
It was an unbelievable experience to see how these guys did it at that level.
The Homestay
On that very trip, Fujio first mentioned me doing my homestay, as they call it. My work experience.
Three years later, when that came to be, part of the visit was with Nogami Koi Farm. I can't remember if it was two or three days I spent there, but I slept at the house with the family as well. It was remarkable.
I had spent the time prior to that with NND. The guys there are serious breeders too, and it still blew my mind to see just how different the level Nogami operated at was. In every way he did things. His mentality, his approach.
That 100% comes from his training. He had a seriously long apprenticeship of 17 years at Dainichi, alongside the class of that time. When you think of Omosako, Marudo, Maruyama, so many now elite breeders all came from that same programme.
That training is no doubt baked into the heart and nature of how he does things. And of course, the koi back it up.
Small Farm, Insane Fish
It's a small farm. It really is just himself and Chikara, with his wife generally helping out when she needs to, and Nogami's own mother as well.
The fish they produce are just insane. The characteristics stand out, from the body line to the beni to the pattern style, you name it.
This guy bends over backwards for his customers and produces some phenomenal koi, to the point that they become too difficult to get.
Over the years I actually lost my place in the queue, because I wanted a change-up of stock. It was very, very hard to get back in, because every year he never seems to produce quite enough to service everybody.
That's always the way with a small farm like that. Over the years there have been bumps that have massively affected him too, with natural disasters and fry issues, and those can massively affect the numbers from year to year.
The Year It All Changed
But with this latest crop, it all changed.
I know that over the past couple of years they've been making a massive, concerted effort to up their Showa production as a percentage of the total fish they're breeding.
It's really nice to see, because of the style of Nogami Showa. When I go back to that very first one I bought from him, the characteristics are very, very bold.
He has quite a unique style. He likes Kindai Showa, yes, but you tend to get more traditional ones, quite beni heavy. I like that, and he probably likes it in his selection because of the farm's affiliation with beni in general.
When you actually see the Showa, the beni massively stands out.
It's not the most important thing when it comes to Showa. That's sumi. But of course it is massively important, and not all Showa reach the level of beni that Nogami's have. So I think it's there for a reason. It's part of the farm's brand.
The sumi is a big part as well. I don't want to say these fish finish, because I don't like that word, but the sumi develops quite early and it holds.
These things look very nice from quite a young age. Quite predictable, quite steady. And that quality just continues. It holds, they get bigger, they get the size, and they're incredibly impressive.
A Masterclass In Parent Fish
During the summer of last year, 2025, I was doing my own spawning in Japan. When I had days in between, I was nipping into Nogami.
It's always nice to be able to just drop in on what they're doing and join the crew there. At that time it was the Showa kuroko selection, and they'd had a crazy spawning that year. They really had. There were so many black fry, it was unbelievable.
He also gave me a masterclass in his parent fish, particularly his males, which were outside at the time.
When he went to show me, I also got to see the female, and the depth of the characteristics was something else. She had a head so big I'd never quite seen anything like it. The fish was a monster.
Then a male fish from Dainichi Toyota, with so much depth of quality to each individual attribute.
The patterns were pretty poor, and you don't expect them to be exceptional in parents, but the characteristics were just insane.
That's when I was talking to him about my own spawning. He was quizzing me about my parent fish and bloodlines, and making me feel like an idiot as I started to realise the depths these guys go into.
Not just the parent fish's name, but right back through the line. How much importance is put on it, and how close attention you pay to it at that kind of level.
It was very different to what I'd experienced at other farms when it comes to parent fish selection. You just know the serious nature of the place.
Securing The Pond
I was excited that they'd had a good year with Showa, and I'd already made arrangements with Chikara to get some tosai.
I wanted both Kohaku and Showa. I'd never had a full batch of his Showa to play around with, and it had been absolutely years since I'd had a batch of his Kohaku as well.
The first time round I missed out. But then, luckily, during a winter trip there was the most stunning pond, and it was a cracking mix. About a 60/40 split, Kohaku to Showa.
I was delighted to be able to secure a deal on them and get them back over here to the UK. Since they've been here, it's just been a cracking pond.
Initially I focused on the Kohaku, sorting them and offering them for sale first. The Showa I've kind of sat on. They were a little bit smaller, and I needed to give them more time.
When I eventually managed to free up a pond, I split the Showa from the Kohaku and moved them into one of my 1,500 gallon ponds. Since then I've just enjoyed them.
Once they had a less competitive space, I watched them absolutely flourish in that water. They've gained considerable growth and volume, and really started to come alive and show the qualities they have.
Why I Ask About Bloodlines
Every year when I'm picking fish, I like to pay attention to bloodline characteristics. I'm looking for something different, because this is one of the unique things Japanese koi have.
So many breeders produce Showa. But when you actually delve into it, each breeder will generally have a slightly different characteristic to his fish, a more prominent style.
That might be down to the way he selects, because of his personal preferences. Then there's potentially a different history back in the bloodline.
Knowing how far Nogami goes into this, I asked Chikara where the Showa line came from, and I was actually expecting him to say Dainichi.
Obviously I knew the male parents had come from Dainichi Toyota. And please remember, of the two Dainichi operations, Toyota's is the name that always gets mentioned amongst peers in Japan. There's a massive alignment there between that place and depth of quality. Real depth. That's why breeders want his fish as parent fish.
So I was very interested to hear that the female side of the line had actually come from Ikarashi Kazuto.
And then it all just kind of makes sense.
The Ikarashi Connection
The late Ikarashi Kazuto was a true master in the Gosanke space. His was one of the most inspirational and dreamy places you could ever visit in Japan.
It didn't matter which variety of the Gosanke you saw there. They were just insane.
I'd had experience with his Showa, some high-end pieces over the years with clients. They always looked stunning from an early age. Sumi-wise, everything looked quite extreme.
I also knew the mentality of Ikarashi Kazuto and the way he raised fish. He was obsessed with longevity of quality. Not just a fish looking good for five or six years, but still looking good at 10 and 12 years. And they always got phenomenal size because of the quality of his own bloodlines.
I remember once doing an interview with Kazuto, and one of the things I asked him about was his choice of parent fish.
One thing that came up was that he liked to use much bigger, much older parent fish that still had amazing quality.
There was a cost to this. It meant the yield would generally always be lower, because these male fish didn't perform quite as well. But they gave him that longevity of quality he wanted.
Never Take A Fish At Face Value
This is why it's important to look into bloodlines. You can start to understand what is baked into the fish you're purchasing.
The mentality of the breeder who produced it. The parent fish. The lines he's fused together. Then the history of those lines, and the reputation of those bloodlines.
So much goes into that fish in front of you. You can never just take quality Japanese fish at face value.
This is why I personally am so obsessed with this stuff. It opens everything up to really understanding what's in front of you and what it is that you are buying.
The Nogami Standard
With the Showa at Nogami, I really hope it's something they continue to progress and build upon.
They don't have a lot of available parent fish for it, which is part of the problem. But a few good years, and a mindset towards doing more of it, will soon fix that situation.
For me, they are standout in quality. They are the Nogami standard when I see them. The intensity of the skin quality, the shine, the lustre and, like I said, the beni really coming to the fore.
That's not to discredit the sumi, which is also fantastic. But it's a breeder's mindset truly baked into these fish.
I think that's information absolutely worth knowing about the farm, the Showa and of course the Kohaku, which will no doubt be covered in a bit more depth in a future article.