![]() ![]() Instead they are shallow, earthenware and designed to be placed outside, with the fish viewable from above. They are kept in bowls (no change there then!) yet these bowls aren’t made from glass and sit inside the house. One book on Japanese goldfish claims that that the Tosakin was originally formed by crossing a Ryukin and an Osaka ranchu - another very rare, almost extinct breed that is kept going by as few as five people in Japan.Īs for keeping Tosakin, the traditional way that these fish are kept in Japan may seem very unconventional to us in the UK. The inner edges are webbed and the outer lobes upturned and twisted towards the head, making the tail look as if it has been turned inside out. This variety has a full dorsal fin, and all other fins are intact too, apart from the major characteristic of that tail, which has been described as a triple lobe or a cherry blossom tail. The Tosakin is bred to be viewed from above, and doesn’t look very pretty or graceful, when viewed side-on in the normal way it would be viewed in an aquarium. The Tosakin is now also known as the Peacock tail, Curly tail or the Queen of goldfish by the Japanese, with the Ranchu being the King.Īll of the world’s living Tosakin are now thought to have descended from those six tough restaurant survivors! Wouldn’t it be nice if Bristol shubunkins were declared a natural treasure of Bristol? This led to the Japanese government declaring them a natural treasure of the Kochi Prefecture. With the country on its knees, cash had become worthless and a bottle of vodka would prove far more valuable to a restaurant trying to revive its fortunes.Īmong the six restaurant fish were two breeder fish and four two-year-olds, which then went on to fix the strain once more. He discovered them in a restaurant of all places and managed to trade a bottle of sweet potato vodka for them. Hiroe Tamura, a Japanese hobbyist who had lost all his fish in the bombing, found six. However, the Tosakin was very nearly lost for ever after a string of events in the mid-1900s.Īn earthquake and Tsunami in 1946 followed heavy World War Two bombing of the Kochi Prefecture, leading to some people thinking that the Tosakin had become extinct. ![]() The Tosakin was first recorded in 1845 in the Kochi Prefecture (formerly known as Tosa) and became established in the Meiji period dating from 1868 to 1912. Originating in Kochi, Japan, this fancy goldfish is characterised by its very flamboyant undivided tail which, when viewed from above, fans out and even curls, stretching from gill to gill.Īs to its origins, although ornamental goldfish keeping originated in China, it quickly spread to Japan where certain varieties became synonymous with certain areas, like the Ryukin from the Ryuku Islands and the Ranchu from Tokyo, formerly known as Edo. Jeremy Gay finds out more.įew people will have heard of the Tosakin and, to date, very few people keep and breed them in the UK. ![]() After the heavy bombing of Japan during World War Two only six Tosakin goldfish had survived. ![]()
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