Nishikigio or Koi, are the national fish of Japan. ‘Nishiki’ is the Japanese word used to describe a highly coloured cloth. ‘Goior Koi’ is the Japanese name for carp, therefore, ‘Nishikigio’ means ‘coloured carp’.

Iran is thought to be the ancestral home of the Common Carp, from which Koi were first developed. This wild carp, which is excellent food, was carried to Japan, China and Western Europe by traders about a thousand years ago.

Koi were first bred in Japan in the 1820′s, initially in the town of Ojiya, in the Niigata prefecture. Carp were used for food and were stored for eating during the winter. These brown fish produced occasional red and blue mutations, and selective breeding of these mutants resulted in the development of new varieties.

By 1870 the Kohaku (red and white) variety was perfected. many of the other currently recognised varieties were developed by the 1930s and new ones are being established all the time.

Koi differ from Goldfish in their origins. Goldfish share a common ancestry with the Crucian Carp and were developed in China, where carp have been bred for at least 2000 years. They do not grow as large as koi, and the two species can be clearly distinguished by the fact that Koi have two pairs of barbels on the upper lip, while Goldfish have none.