Seeking Status With a $225,000 Pond Pet

Got a spare quarter of a million dollars? Why not blow it on a majestic red, white and black carp to grace the pool in your garden, stun your neighbors and turn your enemies green with envy?

Breeding and selling such carp is a multimillion-dollar business in this small farming town in Niigata prefecture on Japan’s west coast.

October and November are the peak sales months, with buyers from Tokyo, Osaka and even Hawaii filling every hotel in town, said Seiya Shinoda, head of production at the local Agricultural Cooperative.

“The breeders know the kind of carp the buyers like. They’re looking for strong colors. The fish are a symbol of wealth--like owning diamonds,” he said.

Ojiya boasts a carp breeding center where visitors can admire dozens of fish. Certificates on the wall give details of some of the thoroughbreds, their prices ranging from $30,000 up to grand champions at $225,000.

Brochures list the varieties bred by specialist local farmers, offering prize fish to suit the taste--and pocket--of every customer. There is advice, too, on correct ways to feed the living treasures and keep them healthy.

Shinoda said it all started by accident centuries ago when a Niigata farmer raising black carp and red carp in the same pond found that he had bred one with a dazzling mix of colors.

In Japan’s feudal era, local lords acquired colored carp as a symbol of wealth and distinction.

The fish has retained a special symbolism in modern Japan. On May 5 each year, families with sons mark Children’s Day by flying carp streamers--their bodies swelling in the wind--as a symbol of strength and perseverance.

This originates from a Chinese legend of a carp that was transformed into a dragon after it jumped a waterfall in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

Even one of Japan’s top baseball clubs takes its name from the Ojiya specialty.

Fans of Hiroshima Carp, battling to win the 1991 national title against nearest contender Chunichi Dragons, pack stadiums waving streamers colored like the celebrated fish.

Unlike his rainbow cousins, however, the humble black carp can only dream of a life of luxury and fame in a heated pond, cosseted by a rich executive and fed by admiring tourists.

His likely future is much more prosaic--a short, sharp rendezvous in a frying pan with a hot pool of soy sauce and ginger.