- Run by
- Koji Tamaura
Tamaura Sanke are the reason to buy from this farm. Tamaura Koi Farm (玉浦養éšå ´) is in Kui, Mihara City, Hiroshima, about 30 minutes by car from Hiroshima Airport. Koji Tamaura runs it with his wife and a small crew. ChampKoi imports koi from Tamaura.
The farm's own numbers: 45 fry ponds, 15 mud ponds and 14 greenhouse ponds, with Kohaku, Sanke and Showa as the main lines and Kujaku, Shusui and Shiro Utsuri behind them. The stated aim is good beni on a solid body. The trade shorthand is 'Tamaura Sanshoku': Sanke with sumi that sits heavy and holds, on fish that keep growing. Monthly Nishikigoi gave the farm a two-part feature in its November 2024 issue under exactly that heading.
Results are recent and real. A Tamaura-bred Kohaku won the Sogyo (70 bu) division at the 56th All Japan Nishikigoi Show in February 2026, and a Tamaura Showa won the Yogyo (25 bu) division at the 55th show in January 2025. Tamaura Sanke are regulars in the 50 to 65 bu Sanke class placings at the same show, and the farm lists a juvenile-division overall win at the 33rd All Japan Young Koi Show with a Sanke.
What it is not: a jumbo-Kohaku powerhouse, and it does not pretend to be. Koji came into a side business his father ran and turned it into the main one; the farm counts more than fifty years of koi on the site. Buy here for a Sanke whose sumi you can trust, or a Showa at tosai and nisai size. We have no confirmed founding year, so we do not print one.
History
Koji Tamaura's father raised koi as a sideline. Koji joined full-time at 22, after university, and made it the family's main business. We have no confirmed founding year, so we do not print one.
- 2024 Monthly Nishikigoi runs a two-part feature on the farm in its November issue under the heading Tamaura Sanshoku.
- 2025 A Tamaura Showa wins the Yogyo (25 bu) division at the 55th All Japan Nishikigoi Show in January. The magazine marks the farm's 55th anniversary the same year.
- 2026 A Tamaura-bred Kohaku wins the Sogyo (70 bu) division at the 56th All Japan Nishikigoi Show in February.
- Today Koji Tamaura runs the farm in Kui, Mihara City, Hiroshima, with his wife and a small crew. The farm counts more than 50 years of koi on the site.
Awards & Recognition
All Japan Nishikigoi Show, 56th (February 2026): Sogyo division champion, 70 bu Kohaku. All Japan Nishikigoi Show, 55th (January 2025): Yogyo division champion, 25 bu Showa. All Japan Young Koi Show, 33rd: Yogyo division overall champion, Sanke (per farm website).
Want a Tamaura 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.