Butterfly / Hirenaga

These koi date back to when the Emperor of Akihito was just a prince. Many of these koi were released into the ponds at the palace in 1991. Nowadays you will find the Hirengaga koi are much more popular in the United States than in Japan.

Unfortunately, Hirenaga did not gain much popularity in Japan. Instead, it became very popular overseas. In the United States, for example, there are Hirenaga divisions at koi shows, while there are none in Japan. I believe this stems from the different aesthetic senses of each culture. Because their fins are long, they are easy to split or tear. Personally, I think this imperfection might have bothered the Japanese eye.

There are so many names for this variety — hirenaga (“long fin”), onaga (“long tail”), tenaga (“long arm”) and hagoromo (“celestial robe of an angel”) are just a few. We use Hirenaga, because it is the most commonly used.

Although Hirenaga aren't popular in Japan, there are two excellent breeders in Niigata. If you consider the fact, more than 80 percent of Japanese Koi are exported, it seems natural that some breeders want to breed quality Hirenaga for US customers.

We recommend two different breeders: Yamasan Koi Farm, which breeds many metallic Hirenaga, and Suda Koi Farm, which breeds Hirenaga with Gosanke, Kohaku, Sanke and Showa.

Appreciation of Butterfly Koi / Hirenaga is very simple. Though you'll find the long fin is its main characteristic, the shape and beauty of the fin is the most important part. After this has been identified, we can check the koi according to the standards of each variety.

Since Hirenaga / Butterfly Koi blood can be introduced to any variety, it literally doubles the varieties of Japanese koi and thus Butterfly Koi have made a very big contribution to the koi world.