Koi Glossary

The working vocabulary of this guide.

Nishikigoi	Ornamental coloured carp bred in Japan; literally ‘brocade carp’.
Gosanke	The ‘three families’: Kohaku, Taisho Sanke and Showa Sanshoku — the core show varieties.
Hi	The red colour/pattern on a koi.
Sumi	The black colour/pattern on a koi.
Shiroji	The white ground colour.
Kiwa	The edge where red meets white; clean kiwa is prized.
Bu	Show size classes, sorted by length.
Ikeage	The autumn harvest of mud ponds in producing regions.
Doitsu	Scaleless / mirror-scale type from German carp ancestry — a type, not a colour variety.
Ginrin	Sparkling scale type — a type, not a colour variety.
Tancho	A single red disc on the head, named for the red-crowned crane.
JAS 21	The 21 nishikigoi variety names and definitions standardised as a Japanese Agricultural Standard in 2022.
KHV / SVC	Koi herpesvirus disease / spring viraemia of carp — regulated diseases behind quarantine and import rules.

Sources: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA — summary in our own words, credit only); All Japan Nishikigoi Promotion Association official; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and Finance Ministry trade statistics as published; Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for nishikigoi variety names and definitions (2022); Niigata Prefecture, Ojiya City, Nagaoka City (Yamakoshi) and Nishikigoi no Sato official; Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) visitor statistics; USDA APHIS and Australian DAFF official import guidance. Checked 6 November 2026.