When I use the term “Odome” most of you immediately know what I’m talking about. The term Odome is used a lot for Gosanke when talking about Koi, especially for Kohaku. The term is used when a Koi has a white “end of the tail”.
With this article I want to show you what difference colour or no colour can make in the tail section of a Koi. To show you the difference, I will make use of a Kohaku, which managed to win the Kokugyo 90 Bu prize on the All Japan Koi Show 2013. Her sister has undergone a few cosmetic procedures to be able to use her as example here. Can you still recognize which of the two is the winner? Before you read start to read any further you should take a look at the two Kohaku. You have probably quickly noticed the difference between them. Of course the difference is in the tail section. But which of the two Kohaku gives the most powerful look?
Zubonhaki versus Odome
As you would have noticed by now is that the right Kohaku has Hi in the tail section, which is not the case for the left one. The left Kohaku, the Kohaku with the Odome, has a small area of Shiroji in front of the root of the tail. Because of this is looks like this Kohaku has a thicker and stronger Ozutsu (section between the end of the dorsal fin to the root of the tail). Although for both Kohaku the Obachi (width of the tail) are equal to each other, it still gives the left Kohaku a more powerful appearance. As you can see this small, narrow part of a Koi can provide a major impact on the overall appearance of a Koi.
Actually it looks like the right Kohaku is wearing trousers of Hi. These trousers are called Zubonhaki. Zubon is literally translated from Japanese to “pants”, Haki stands for “wearing”. Hereby the last Hi-pattern stretches out to the tail. Zubonhaki is less appreciated when judging Koi. If these two Kohaku would have been on a show together, the left Kohaku would definitely have taken the trophy home. Of course it does not directly mean a Kohaku with a Zubonhaki has no worth anymore. A Koi is judged in the total appearance. For this reason there are plenty of Gosanke with Zubonhaki that still win prizes.
