Marusei is the volume farm of Niigata, and that is the reason to buy from them: a wide choice of varieties at fair prices, with a few serious fish kept out of sight at the back. Yoshiyuki Hirasawa runs the farm in Kawaguchi, on the Nagaoka side of the Yamakoshi hills. His father Seitaro Hirasawa founded it, and British dealers who started buying there in the 1980s call it the biggest volume producer in the prefecture by a wide margin.
The strength is the non-Gosanke list. Hi Utsuri, Chagoi, Karashigoi, Asagi, Aka Matsuba and Kin Matsuba are what Marusei fish are known for, and Seitaro spent most of his career on Ogon. By his own account he fixed a Platinum line in 1963 and worked on Matsuba Ogon and old-style Mukashi Ogon for decades. The Kohaku can be good too; one took Grand Champion at the All Niigata Nishikigoi Show. The farm also produces Sanke and Showa, but that is not why you go there.
Scale: more than 200 mud ponds on roughly 100,000 square metres, with production quoted at around 200,000 koi a year. In practice that means Marusei fish turn up in every price bracket, from pond-grade tosai to pieces Hirasawa does not show the casual visitor.
ChampKoi imports koi from Marusei. If you want a hardy Chagoi, Karashigoi or Hi Utsuri that will grow without fuss, start with a Marusei fish.
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