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Bloodlines, so what's the deal?

By Michael Kimberling

The concept of hybridized carp being divided within a variety into separate groups according to lineage has been argued for decades. Bloodlines in koi came about when certain breeders consistently produced koi that exhibited certain characteristics distinguishing them from others in the same color and pattern variety. The bloodlines were helpful during the early days of koi breeding to determine how specific traits developed over a koi's lifetime. Knowledge of a bloodline and its characteristics could help the koi buyer to make an educated decision when purchasing young koi. Unfortunately, things are not so simple in the modern koi world.

The birth of a bloodline stems from the occurrence of repeating desirable traits in a koi breeder's stocks. In the past, the koi-buying public has seen certain attributes in koi, such as color of hi, sumi depth, or body conformation and attributed them to a certain bloodline. This practice divided varieties such as kohaku into a few distinct groups according to where their physical traits originated.

At this point, the study of koi lineage becomes complicated. It would remain simple if there were still only a few breeders of kohaku and they stuck to their original parent koi. Trouble is, now there are hundreds of farms using many sets of breeding parent koi, all from different ratios of the original bloodlines. This has homogenized the genetics for all modern koi to a point that one koi's physical traits are not readily disseminated into one of the old bloodlines.

Most modern breeders have assembled a group of parent koi from many sources around Japan. The breeders may take a male from a bloodline that grows large, and a female who exhibits high skin quality, the hope being that the offspring exhibit a mix of both positive characteristics. Incidences of this NOT working are common, but one famous example in which it worked immediately springs to mind. Kazuto Igarashi of Mushigame, Japan bought breeding parents from his main competitor at the time, the late Minoru Mano of the Dainichi koi farm. The kohaku of the Dainichi farm had become internationally recognized as some of the best in Japan due to bright hi quality and ability to grow fairly large. Mr. Igarashi combined two premier bloodlines of the era by breeding the Dainichi koi with some from the Sensuke (pronounced Sen-skay) bloodline. The Sensuke bloodline had been known for its koi reaching very large sizes, often exceeding those of the Dainichi farm. The result of this breeding has, after many years of refinement, produced kohaku with both the intense red of Dainichi and the large size capability of Sensuke. This made the Igarashi koi farm famous as a producer of high-quality kohaku.

What all this mixture of koi lineages means to the modern koi collector is that there are nearly no pure bloodlines according to the original definitions. In the old days, koi books and magazines would publish data detailing how koi from each bloodline would develop and what to look for while purchasing koi from certain breeders. If one were to buy koi today according to the old rules, they would most likely be disappointed. Looking at modern koi, it is more reasonable to study the production from a certain farm in order to determine what the characteristics are in that breeder's koi. Though they are from a mixture of lineages and different parents, with time one can begin to see the repeating characteristics in one farm's koi. To me it is profoundly interesting to look at a group of koi from a certain breeder and determine what he is trying to achieve. Some are after large size in combination with intense pigment, others may seek softer color or specific pattern characteristics. At the end of the day, however, we are still only discussing theory as it applies to a living, swimming organism. All the theory in the world won't help when faced with a koi that looks nothing like its siblings.

While a koi's parentage and breeder account for some things when buying koi, they are not any sort of holy grail for seeking out good koi. Though a koi may come from a well-respected breeder, it may not be a particularly good koi in the first place. All breeders produce good and bad koi from the same spawning. The ratio of good koi to bad koi can change for a multitude of reasons ranging from weather to bad luck. Since a koi breeder will not stop selling koi if he has a poor year, don't be blinded by a koi from a premier breeder. If a koi does not fall into the standards of what makes a high quality koi, its not going to get any better just because of its lineage.

With that said, it's probably not wise to consider bloodlines too much when choosing koi anymore. While that may sound strange coming from a guy who has just spent an evening typing an article on the subject, it's just more practical to look at the individual koi's merit, not its parentage. The unstable genetic makeup of koi provides for some predictability and a lot of chaos at the same time. It's interesting to know the history of koi and how they came to be, just keep in mind that the koi in front of you represents a gamble at each generation of its lineage. It also has some really ugly brothers and sisters. It's the work of generations of breeders trying to tame a genetic beast and produce something you might want to buy. So before you learn to differentiate a Tomoin kohaku from a Yagozen kohaku, learn what makes one koi high quality and another low quality, you'll be better off.

~ Michael Kimberling Oklahoma Koi Society