Yamakoshi Mushigame is Koi Genesis because from those same ponds came Yamakoshi’s other world‑shaping legacy, nishikigoi—aka koi. Japanese Koi Farms began here in Yamakoshi.

Today, Tokyo's Kitchen, Tsukiji Outer Market still describes itself as Japan’s “Food Town,” where wholesale and retail shops share the streets with restaurants, and where new culinary trends are “born” in the middle of old routines.

For koi dealers, brokers, passionate collectors, and investors, the autumn harvest auctions at Japan’s top breeder farms mark one of the most anticipated chapters of the year.

Every autumn in Japan’s koi-breeding regions, the quiet mud ponds begin to come alive. Koi breeders—farmers in their own right—walk the mud-pond banks before sunrise, checking on their prized Nishikigoi and the condition of the ponds themselves.

Mud ponds are not ornamental. They are working agricultural ponds designed to grow koi the way rice fields grow crops: slowly, naturally, and with deep knowledge of the land.

Your trip to visit the famous Koi Breeders of Japan is booked. Now, you need to understand how to make life easier for you when you get...