A little over a month ago I was noticing the advertisements for Koi Fest 2018 at Mystic Koi, Upland, California. It always looks like a lot of fun with free lunch, music, koi breeders from Japan and of course lots of great koi to buy. (Even better is that there are deals to be had!!!) It’s on my list to go do one day – these koi folks do some fun stuff – noticed a restaurant scene serving wagyu. Anyways, as I saw all the photos and videos of tosai for the growout, I assumed there might be a lot of cool koi in those tanks at Mystic. I messaged Shawn McHenry and asked if he had any budo goromos hiding or maybe a breeder could bring one in their carry-on…. Two weeks later, Shawn let me know that he found one. A cute little tosai from Marujyu Koi Farm. Since Shawn was busy with Koi Fest, we put off completing our transaction. I was a little worried that someone might want to purchase this budo goromo during koi fest but it was put to the side. Last week we made plans to ship little Sangiovese. (I named this koi after a grape variety because “budo” means grape in japanese.) Our little koi had a few detours during shipment. Somehow the cargo goons of Southwest did not see or failed to load a 12 x 12 x 28 box in Phoenix last night. When I arrived at Southwest cargo in Minneapolis this morning, the box was declared missing. Someone did find the box eventually and the delivery was rerouted through Denver and arrived almost twelve hours later than expected. Thankfully Shawn McHenry packed this little 9.5 inch koi with a little more water and ice since you never know if it’s sitting in the sun somewhere in hot summer weather. Little Sangiovese arrived in great condition.

I’m excited to watch this koi’s development. I have a larger Marujyu Budo Goromo flying in maybe two or three weeks. I’m not sure if it’s that “popular” of a koi to have in your collection but pond builder and I find them interesting. We’re crossing our fingers that Sangiovese will be a female koi. More about that in a different post but we decided no more male koi…. Here’s Sangiovese in action:

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