Otsuka Koi Farm

Otsuka Koi Farm is where you go for Asagi. Yoshikazu Otsuka's Asagi took Best in Variety at the All Japan Nishikigoi Show two years running, at the 34th and 35th shows in 2002 and 2003, and Otsuka Asagi were still taking Botan prizes and size-class wins at the same show in 2025 and 2026. Clean reticulation, clean heads, and bodies that keep growing. ChampKoi imports koi from Otsuka.

The farm is in Oguriyama, Ojiya, Niigata, a short walk from Shinoda. It was set up in 1962, but Otsuka says full-time koi production only started in 1984, when he came back from two years of training under his uncle, Yokio Isa of Maruyo Koi Farm. He took over from his father with about a hectare of ponds and had grown that to roughly 4.5 hectares by 2005.

Asagi is the anchor, and the rest of the list is unusual on purpose. Otsuka spent about six years fixing his own Goshiki Sanke and Goshiki Showa, both of which have placed runner-up in the Goshiki class at the All Japan show. He also produces Kage Shiro Utsuri, Ki Utsuri, Aka Matsuba, Ochiba, Bekko, Goromo, Shusui and Chagoi, plus some Gosanke and Doitsu fish. The Bekko have been winning size classes at the All Japan show in the last two years.

Otsuka is not a Kohaku farm and not a jumbo Gosanke farm. Buy here for Asagi first, the Goshiki crosses second, and for the odd varieties that almost nobody else in Niigata bothers to breed well. The fish have a reputation among dealers for being hardy, which is worth something if your pond is not perfect.