Description
Asagi Japanese Koi Carp Cyprinus Carpio
Many koi keepers argue that Asagi is the greatest variety of koi because it was the first recognised ornamental carp, that is, the first koi variety. The ancestor fish of koi carp is the Magoi (mah-GOY) wild carp which was a staple food in many Japanese diets for hundreds of years before the first koi came to be. The Magoi black carp was first brought to Japan in roughly 200BC by an invading force from China.
It was not until about 160 years ago when Magoi farmers decided to breed the fish as ornamental fish. At that point, they had been farming Magoi for over 2000 years since it was introduced to Japan. Before then, the occasional Magoi had been born with mutations causing colour changes in the skin and scales, but the farmers considered these to be defects. Therefore, the fish were removed from the gene pool so that these defects would not continue to be present. However, some farmers decided to keep these fish as trophies and as “collectors’ fish” since they looked different and more interesting than the standard Magoi. This then led to local farmers sharing their “defective” Magois and competing with each other over who has the best fish. As you can imagine, the farmers then decided to start breeding these Magoi so as to get more mutations that could be shown off. These farmers were in fact the first koi breeders.
It did not take many generations of these mutated Magois before the typical pattern that is associated with modern Asagi started to crop up. Once this pattern started to become popular, so did the practice of keeping these fish as pets. More and more people wanted them, and not all farmers. Thus begin the market for Asagi fish and with it came the hobby of koi keeping.
So, Asagi was the first koi, and it was the fish that started the whole hobby. The name Asagi literally translates as “setting sun” . But why are they not in the Gosanke trio then? Mostly because many breeders and koi keepers believe them to be too plain and boring and too alike the wild carp to be part of the trio of the “best” koi. It is the belief of many that that title should go to more exciting and colourful koi, but many also appreciate the simplicity of a beautiful Asagi and respect its amazing history. Without the Asagi, we would not have the many koi varieties we have today.
