My Hirata Sanke, do you still remember her? Almost two years ago I have received her as a gift in return of all my help to Takashi Hirasawa, also known as Hirata. This Sanke now swims happily in my pond and this obviously demands an update.
As a sansai of 56 centimeter she wasn’t the biggest, as a yonsai of 63 cm neither. But who cares? She will always be a living memory of my good friend Hirata. An extended report at the time of receival you can read here. Last Autumn, when she just got harvested from the mud pond, she measured 63 cm and looked as following:
Hirata Sanke Oktober 2012
And in August 2013 like this:
Hirata Sanke Augustus 2013
Quite a difference in body, isn’t it? She indeed lost quite some weight. But if that is a decay? She simply lost a growing season due to her late transport and long quarantine period. At the moment she is compensating for this loss, as the feeding machine is providing a sufficient amount of feed. She did intensify her Sumi actually, what you can also find back in the development of Tejima in the left pectoral fin. Also the sashi (difficult to see from the picture) is a lot better than two years ago.
She is a living memory with luckily still some potential for the future. The strongest point in my opinion is the thick white skin, the lustre, the attractive pattern (I am not allowed to mention it, but I especially like the ‘tancho’ spot in relation to the white shoulder). We will see how she will enjoy her new home. I will keep you updated!
