The starting point of Nishikigoi appreciation is the orderly arrangement of scales. Koi is written as 鯉 in kanji. The left part of 鯉 is 魚, 魚 means fish and the right part of 鯉 is 里, 里 means a belt of segmented fields. The kanji 里 indicates something orderly arranged. In the case of 鯉, the orderly scales becomes one of the most important requirements for Nishikigoi.
There are many shapes of patterns on scales, such as semicircle, circle and diamond. The basic form of scales from popular varieties are very familiar to many people, here are some pictures of unique and interesting scales from the shows and events in Japan. It’s always fun to find something new and special.
Author: RINKO Online
RINKO was published in 1962 as the first Nishikigoi magazine in the world. Dr Takeo Kuroki organized Oita Airinkai (koi club) with 53 members. He wrote the most articles which were written on A5 size paper, printed in black and white and 28 pages long with his wife’s artwork on the front cover. When Dr Kuroki met our founder Shuji Fujita, they consulted on publishing his first book “Nishikigoi”. This created hundreds and thousands of “koi-kichi” (koi lovers/people crazy about koi). Their work together resulted in the success of RINKO Issue 15, the first cover printed in color. Since then their journey of introducing Nishikigoi culture to the world has blossomed.
