American Owned Kohaku A Winner At All Japan Show

By John Hawley

Andrew Filipowski’s five-year-old koi Rose Princess won the 80bu Female Kokugyo Prize at the 37th All Japan Combined Koi Show. This 79cm Kohaku has the distinction of being the first to win this competitive category, for an American owner. “She is beautiful,” exclaimed Filipowski in describing his prizewinner that he acquired two years ago. “I seem to have gotten serendipitously fortunate or maybe what I like complies with the criteria for judgement.”

He credits Joel Burkhardt, owner of Pan Intercorp for identifying the high quality bloodline of Rose Queen from whose spawn Rose Princess appeared at the Sakai Fish Farms of Hiroshima Prefecture.

“She was reluctantly allowed to be acquired by me,” Filipowski said. “I think the pedigree speaks for itself. She appealed to me immensely as a relatively young fish and I thought I had a winner. The one thing I expected and possibly as a part of a smaller group think is that the Rose Princess has the potential to reach the much larger category perhaps even reaching the 100 cm length. For example the Sanke I showed last year, that is swimming beautiful in my pond here in Winston-Salem, probably never had the potential and we didn’t try to get her to the size that I suspect is the Holy Grail of these sorts. I can’t claim I would be disappointed, but from a technical assessment standpoint believe from all indications that the Rose Princess as a Kohaku of its bloodline and pedigree is possibly going to reach 100 cm and certainly compete in the largest categories.”

Rose Princess is presently boarded in one of the Sakai mud ponds. “I think the care she is receiving and the space she is allowed to grow in is certainly more than I could offer in my pond and in the facilities I have,” Filipowski said. “We have some optimism for her future considering the size of the Sakai mud ponds, the nutrition, and everything else. I fully expect her to grow and show up competing again in a larger less competitive category. To win a national treasure award is extremely gratifying and if size wise this is where she winds up, or even if she competes in one or two higher, I can’t wait for her to come here so we can spend the rest of our lives together.”

Conditions have not always been rosy for the princess. “Along the way we have suffered through some of the worst weather that has afflicted Hiroshima,” Filipowski said. “And of course we have been in an era when the pestilence, disease, and other effecting problems have put a damper on developing fish of this caliber. In a fortuitous way during the bad weather of a few years ago some of the koi I was developing perished, which led to my being able to then muster up the courage as well as providing the opportunity to acquire Rose Princess.”

Filipowski’s Taisho Sanke won the Shubestu Nippon Ichi Award at the previous year’s All Japan Show. With this year’s win some might wonder if more should be expected from this owner at future shows after Rose Princess retires. “Having had Joel Burkhardt to help me with my own selections here of koi at a relatively young age has manifested in I think six or seven that are of prominent show quality meaning they don’t embarrass one in the All Japan Show,” Filipowski said. “I believe I have 2 or 3 more being boarded in Japan now that will show surprisingly well and have some real potential.”

This highly successfully American hobbyist and entrepreneur willingly offers advice to others. “I would not fairly state my position unless I included how much being a koi owner can potentially offer an individual who is perhaps preoccupied with other life’s choirs,” Filipowski said. “I recommend it highly without reservation and no one should feel they don’t deserve to be in this sport or don’t know enough about it to be in the koi loving family. It is open to anyone with any level of experience and any level of enjoyment. I hope many more people take interest in koi as they might provide for them as they have for me a sort of the wonderful spiritual contribution to life.”