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)


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.
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.