Takamatsu and Kochi

Koi and lotus seed pods

I enjoyed watching and trying to photograph the large colourful koi swimming in the late fall among the dead lotus leaves and seed pods at the famous historic Japanese garden in Takamatsu, Japan. The Ritsurin Garden is one of the most famous historical gardens in Japan, dating to the Edo period in the early 17th century, starting as the private garden of the feudal lord Ikoma Takatoshi. Large prize koi such as this can sell for several hundred or even several thousand dollars.

As I edited this image, I was reminded of recent events at the famous Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden garden in Vancouver when an otter got into the garden and was using the koi pond as its personal sushi buffet. For weeks the otter escaped all efforts to capture it. Meanwhile it captured and ate all but 3 of the large koi , including 'Madonna' who was over 50 years old, while safely removing all the tasty fish bait from the traps set to catch it. The remaining koi were finally captured and removed to the safety of the Vancouver public aquarium by the expedient of draining the pond so they could be rescued. The otter has its own twitter account @ChinatownOtter and the city is divided between Team otter and Team koi with some people cheering on the clever otter and others siding with the beleaguered koi.

koiswimminglotus pondlotus seed headsRitsurin GardenTakamatsuJapanfishlate falldead leaves