Koi fish are beautiful additions to any pond ecosystem, but they also hold powerful significance in some East Asian cultures. In Japanese, ‘koi’ simply means carp, wild or captive. The colorful koi we see in most ponds are nishikigoi, or "brocaded carp," bred selectively for generations for their vibrant colors. For centuries, carp have been symbols of abundance, good fortune, perseverance, beauty, and strength in East Asia.
Koi started out as food. Carp have been farmed in ponds in China since at least about 460 BC, when Fan Li wrote the earliest known treatise on fish culture, and common carp were the first pond fish raised there. In Japan, villagers in the Yamakoshi area of Niigata raised plain black carp as a winter food source, letting them grow in terraced rice paddies before moving them to ponds. It is said that a carp with red markings turned up among them in the early nineteenth century and was used for breeding. Breeders have since developed about 100 color varieties, and the fish became famous across Japan after the 1914 Tokyo Taisho Exhibition.
Carp are strong swimmers that push upstream against powerful currents, and that strength is at the heart of a popular Chinese legend about koi that turn into dragons. As the story goes, there was once a Dragon’s Gate at the top of a waterfall on the Yellow River. Many brave koi tried to swim and leap up the waterfall, but the current turned most of them back. Only the most determined koi reached the gate, and those that passed through it became dragons. The story symbolizes how one must work very hard to achieve their highest goals.
May 5 is Children’s Day (Kodomo no Hi) in Japan, a national holiday set aside for the health and happiness of children, with the hope that they grow up healthy and strong like the koi in the story. Throughout April and early May, it is common to find “koinobori,” or carp streamers (pictured above), flying outside homes in celebration.
Koi fish are prominent symbols throughout Chinese and Japanese mythology and art. As the above story shows, koi fish represent strength and determination, but koi fish have many associations. In Japan, they are also traditionally known as symbols for good luck and fortune. Their images have also been used to symbolize wealth and abundance.
