- Family
- 3rd generation
- Run by
- Katsuyuki Hoshino
Hoshikin is a Kohaku farm. Katsuyuki Hoshino, third generation, breeds Kohaku and Showa in Ojiya on about 10 hectares of ponds, and the Kohaku carry a Tomoin bloodline the family has kept since his grandfather Kinsaku Hoshino founded the farm around 1950.
Hoshikin Kohaku are bought for body and white. They are known to grow large, past 85 cm in good ponds, with snow-white skin and a reputation for toughness. The farm produces the classic patterns: nidan, sandan and inazuma. Showa are made in smaller numbers and are solid rather than famous.
The Hoshikin name reaches beyond Ojiya. Kiichi Hoshino of Teradomari Koi Farm worked here, married into the family in 1967 and built his Teradomari Ginrin on a Hoshikin Kohaku female. The farm was known as Shiotani Koi Farm in its early years, after the hamlet where it started.
ChampKoi imports koi from Hoshikin. If you want one Kohaku to grow on for the long haul rather than a finished show fish at 40 cm, a Hoshikin tosai or nisai is a sound choice.
History
Kinsaku passed the farm to his son Katsushige, and the Tomoin bloodline in the Kohaku has been kept in the family ever since.
- c. 1950 Kinsaku Hoshino founds the farm in the Shiotani area of Ojiya, originally under the name Shiotani Koi Farm. He builds its Kohaku on the Tomoin line.
- 1967 Kiichi Hoshino, later of Teradomari Koi Farm, marries into the family after working the farm's mud ponds. He goes on to build his Teradomari Ginrin on a Hoshikin Kohaku female.
- Today Katsuyuki Hoshino, third generation, runs the farm on about 10 hectares of ponds in Ojiya.
Want a Hoshikin koi we don't have listed?
Tell Tom the variety, size and budget. He buys at the farm in Japan at harvest and will look for one on the next trip.