One of the biggest koi breeders in the world, water space maybe the biggest. With over 300 mudponds and only 4 staff members including his 2 sons and 1 daughter in law, its a very busy place to visit. Hirasawa San breeds virtually all varieties, in all grades. It really is a one stop koi shop. He has 2 year old low class Beni Goi from £5.00 and he has 6 year old extremely High class Beni Goi for the price of a nice car! In most varieties this is the case.
I have been lucky enough to see his very best koi, not many people have seen them, he dosent really care if he sells them, the mass production to the wholesalers and dealers means he can enjoy his tategoi on his own without the stress of having to sell them, and looking in a pond of over 50 koi, all over 80cms in all varieties is an awesome experience. Unless you have seen the place, its hard to explain. He has stunning examples of all koi, and if they are not there he will go and bring one to you. He has produced over the years the best Hi Utsuri, Chagoi, Ki-Goi, Asagi, Aka/Ki Matsuba in the world and also include some Go-Sanke which have won Grand Champions all over the world. At the time of writing he has over 6 Koi Facilities and more in the planning, the space he needs is huge, shipping koi for 9 months a year in huge numbers, hundreds and hundreds of boxes per week. At Harvest time they start work at 3am, and they finish at 9pm. I was asking Hirsawa’s son about the operation, I asked how many mudponds they harvest in a day, he replied “When the truck is full, we come home”. With the biggest mudpond being 16hectres in size, and they have to use boats to drag the net, its a unbelievable operation. Unless looking for a specific koi, Marusei Koi farm is mostly a trade outlet, but still worth a look!
The knowledge you can learn from these guys is great, being one of the most respected and friendly koi breeders there is. He decided many years ago upon talking to his two sons the direction they wanted to take, they agreed to go for this huge scale operation, and thats what they have built.
