Koi story: Priceless Japanese fish make a splash

Around 200 years ago, villagers in the moun tainous region around Niigata (in the northwest of Japan) started to practice genetic engineering

breed rare colorful carp, not for food but

The craze for nishikigoi gradually took over the whole of Japan and then spread into

They are especially popular in China, where carp swimming against the tide symbolizes the idea of perseverance leading to riches—rather like people climbing the social ladder, said Yutaka Suga, professor at the Institute for Advanced

Today, koi is big business and Japanese exports are booming—90 percent of domestic produc

In 2016, Japan exported a record 295 tons lion yen ($31 million), an increase of almost 50 percent from 2007, according to Japan’s

As for individual carp, “the prices have become

30 million yen each ($265,000) whereas 10 years ago, two million yen was already a very

This picture taken on November 24, 2017 shows koi carp displayed in plastic bags during a “nishikigoi (coloured carp) contest” in Tokyo. Hand-reared for their colour and beauty, koi carp have become an iconic symbol of Japan that can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars and even participate in fishy beauty contests. leave their prized possessions in their home Japanese farms so they can compete in the most

One such owner, Chinese koi collector Yuan Jiandong, was in Tokyo to cheer on

But owning koi is so much more than a vulgar

around in your pond, you forget the stresses of