The Beginning of the Story of the Creation of Koi Matsukawabake

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Matsukawabake koi were created out of a desire to produce a koi with sumi (black) scales and a more varied pattern like the kumonryu and kikoryu koi. The effort was very successful from the start, with many Japanese koi breeders producing similar results in just a few generations by mating Kumonryu koi with Shiro Utsuri koi (black and white non-metallic scaled koi). This pairing produced a koi that looked like the Shiro Utsuri without the metallic skin and full scales but also had the desired changing sumi pattern of the Kumonryu. This meant that over the life of a Matsukawabake koi, it could be all white, all black, and anything in between.

‘Henka Sumi’ literally translates to ‘Changing Black’. Henka Sumi specifically refers to a temporary pattern where each scale changes from a light phase, when it is white or light gray, to a dark phase, when it is black, and back again. While each scale has a light and dark phase, we also refer to the entire fish as having a light or dark phase. When a koi is in its dark phase, the fish is mostly black with most of its scales in the dark phase, respectively. Meanwhile, when the fish is in its light phase, most of its scales are in the light phase.

It is not known exactly what causes these koi to change between phases – often, they seem to change for no reason at all! There are a few proven reasons why these fish change and one of them is water temperature. In fact, temperature changes can often cause the most drastic and quickest changes in sumi patterns. In cooler water, it can often be observed that koi have darker patterns and are in their dark phase while, in warmer water, koi usually appear lighter and are in their light phase. For some fish in particular, it is possible to move them from cooler water to warmer water and watch them change phases in a matter of hours! Of course, some fish will change much more slowly, but the change is still dramatic for any koi with Henka Sumi, regardless of how long it takes.

Henka Sumi was created along with the Kumonryu variety and from this variety, the Kikokuryu, Ginga, and Matsukawabake koi were created. What is interesting, as mentioned above, is that Henka Sumi was relatively stable in Kumonryu, the original Henka Sumi variety, that eventually, the pattern would stabilize and one day the koi would stop changing and maintain a consistent pattern for the rest of its life. Then, with each new variety created with Henka Sumi, the pattern became more and more unstable until no Ginga or Matsukawabake koi were ever stable, but a small number of Kikokuryu koi and a large number of older Kumonryu koi were stable. The reason behind this is still unknown, but this trend has made breeders wary of creating more varieties with Henka Sumi until we know more about the pattern and what causes it.

The Kumonryu, Kikokuryu, Ginga, and Matsukawabake Koi are all very closely related, and all share the same black and white pattern as the Henka Sumi, only each has a different scale or skin type. We have put together a quick reference table below on the left so you can quickly see what each variety is about and a pedigree chart below on the right so you can see how each variety is related to the others.

And by Indonesian koi breeders created koi beni matsukawabake with a pattern like beni kumonryu but scales. Stable sumi with a deep red color like in koi kumonryu. This discovery is still being developed until the desired results are achieved to obtain a black and red blend koi with consistent color and more varied patterns.

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