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Ojiya City Nishikigoi Village
The home of Nishikigoi, Ojiya City, Niigata
Pref., holds Nishikigoi shows twice a year in spring and winter.
Many Koi lovers from all around Japan and even from overseas
come to enjoy the genuine Nishikigoi.
Ojiya Cityfs gNishikigoi Villageh is a facility that was built
to provide opportunities to appreciate Japanfs national fish,
Nishikigoi. Anybody, not only Koi lovers, can casually come
and visit. You can enjoy Nishikigoi swimming in ponds with
small and large waterfalls and a bridge. Or you can study the
history, variety, and breeding methods in the exhibit halls.
There is a collection of exquisite Nishikigoi in the ponds;
visitors can feed them there.
The Niigata Earthquake destroyed this Nishikigoi Village, but
it reopened on August 1, 2005 with the efforts of the parties
involved. Mr. Katsuyoshi Hirasawa from the Ojiya City Industrial
Development Center, who manages Nishikigoi Village, introduces
the facility to us.(interviewed on July 15, 2005)
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Nishikigoi
Village is a facility built by Ojiya City and managed by Ojiya
City Industrial Development Center. The aim in building this facility
was to bring as many people as possible, being Japanese or foreigners,
to learn about Nishikigoi. Besides the data exhibition room, there
is a 180-ton indoor pond, and four more ponds in the garden. This
is intended to be a tourist facility and does not have the function
of researching and investigating the history or scientific data
related to Nishikigoi. The All Japan Nishikigoi Promotion Association
and other organizations and companies help maintain this tourist
spot which provides information and environment so that people
become familiar and more intrigued with Nishikigoi.
I myself am not a Nishikigoi professional, so I study by reading books.
It has been 16 years since this facility was built in the first year
of Heisei (1989). We have approximately 35,000 visitors every year.
Visitors wanting to specifically see Nishikigoi visit us in autumn.
Tourists visiting Ojiya City for other reasons stop by our facility
during spring, Golden Week holidays, and summer vacation. We have about
800 visitors from overseas. More than half of the tourists to Ojiya
City come to see Nishikigoi, but Ojiya is also famous for regional
products such as Ojiya Chijimi (linen crepe), woven goods known as
Ojiya Tsumugi (pongee), ironsmiths, Buddhist altars, and food. Ojiya
City General Industry Hall "Sun Plaza", located across the
street from this facility, exhibits and sells such products, and people
who visit gSun Plazah come by our facility, too.
Our
selling point is that you can enjoy Nishikigoi in the ponds any time
of the year. Even if you visit the breeders, itfs difficult to see
the Koi in the field ponds at the visitorsf convenience. In that respect,
here you can enjoy the Nishikigoi without worrying about time. We have
plenty of information that will satisfy your curiosity about Nishikigoi,
so we hope you will take full advantage of this facility.
We have bought some of the Nishikigoi that we keep in our ponds within
the limits of our budget from the producersf association of Ojiya City.
The others have certain owners (the gownership systemh) and are kept
in our ponds. In both cases, we strictly control their health in displaying
them. There are quite a bit of Nishikigoi which have won prizes at
shows. In the ponds in the Japanese gardens, we have about 200 Kohaku,
Taisho Sanshoku (Sanke), and Showa Sanshoku, all that have owners.
And in the indoor ponds, we keep 100 excellent Nishikigoi that Ojiya
City purchased as its property.
Normally, Koi breeding would be categorized in the fisheries industry,
but in Ojiya City Nishikigoi is considered as the cityfs key commercial
industry. After all, Nishikigoi is Ojiya Cityfs world-class traditional
product.
When you visit Niigata, we hope you stop by Ojiyafs Nishikigoi Village.
We look forward to your visit.
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General
Information
- Address: 1-8-25, Jyonai, Ojiya City, Niigata
Pref.
- Tel: +81-258-83-2233
- Hours: (March through November) 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
(December through Februaryj9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Closed: From December 29 through 31, January
1 through 3
- Admission: Elementary and Junior High School
Students:
300 JPY (Group: 250 JPY)
Adult: 500 JPY (Group: 400 JPY)
Under elementary school: Free
Access
- By train
10 minutes from JR Ojiya Station on the Echigo-Kotsu Bus for
Toka-machi.
A 3-minute walk from Honcho Chuoh stop.
- By car
Get off at Ojiya IC on the Kanetsu Expressway. Go 1.5 km (approx
1 mile) on National Highway 291 towards the center of Ojiya City.
Turn left at the Honcho 2 Intersection. Go 300m (approx 330 yards)
and turn right at the Jyonai Intersection.
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