Dainichi Koi Farm

Dainichi is the farm to buy from if you want a Showa or Kohaku with the body and finish that wins at the top level. Koi bred by Dainichi have taken Grand Champion at the All Japan Nishikigoi Show in 1991, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2025 and 2026. The 1991 winner is the Showa hobbyists still call the Inazuma Showa; the 2025 and 2026 winners were a Showa and then a Kohaku owned by the same hobbyist. Many Niigata farms build on Dainichi parent stock.

Minoru Mano started breeding in the Higashiyama area of Ojiya in the late 1950s or early 1960s and took the trade name Dainichi. The farm incorporated in 1990. His son Futoshi Mano became representative director in December 1998 and runs it today with his brothers Shigeru and Hiroshi. The October 2004 Chuetsu earthquake forced the move from Higashiyama to Sanbusho, where the main farm sits now, and a second base opened in Toyota, Aichi, in 2005.

The main farm runs more than 350 mud ponds, roughly 200 for tosai and 150 for nisai and older, plus over 100 spring-water tanks and 20 houses for wintering and finishing. Dainichi sells only to the trade, which is why you buy a Dainichi fish from a dealer and never from the farm gate.

Sanke from Dainichi are good, but Showa and Kohaku are the reason to pay Dainichi prices. Expect to pay for the name at every size, tosai included. What you are buying is the bloodline, and bloodline decides whether a 20 cm fish has any chance of becoming a 90 cm fish.

ChampKoi imports koi from Dainichi Koi Farm. Every one is photographed individually, so you can judge the body on the exact fish you are buying.