Types of Koi: The 16 Classes That Organize Every Variety

More than a hundred varieties sounds unnavigable — until you learn the trick: they’re grouped into a handful of classes, and the classes make the whole hobby legible.

The big three (Gosanke)

Kohaku (red on white), Sanke (add black accents), and Showa (black base wrapping red and white). These three dominate every koi show’s top prizes, carry the deepest Japanese bloodlines, and set the ceiling of the price range. Learn to tell Sanke from Showa (black above vs. wrapping below the lateral line) and you’ll sound like you’ve kept koi for a decade.

The everyday classes, briefly

• Utsurimono — black-based two-color fish: Shiro Utsuri, Hi Utsuri, Ki Utsuri
• Hikarimuji — single-color metallics: the Ogon family, everyone’s favorite pond-flash
• Hikarimoyo — patterned metallics: Hariwake, Kujaku
• Asagi & Shusui — the blue, netted old-timers: Asagi, Shusui
• Koromo & Goshiki — Kohaku patterns overlaid with dark edging: Goromo, Goshiki
• Kawarimono — the “everything else” class, including the friendly giants Chagoi and Soragoi and the shape-shifting Kumonryu
• Tancho — one red circle on the head, its own class and cult following

Two traits cut across all of them: doitsu (scaleless) and gin rin (diamond scales) versions exist of nearly everything, and butterfly longfin versions of most — beloved in the US, unjudged in traditional Japanese shows.

Using classes as a buyer

Classes tell you what you’re comparing. A $400 Kohaku competes against every other Kohaku the dealer has — body, white ground, pattern edges. A $400 Chagoi is buying temperament and growth. Neither is wrong; they’re different purchases, and knowing which one you’re making is most of buying well (the full checklist).

Browse all 35 varieties with identification traits and dealer availability in the variety directory, or see which dealers near you carry the class you’re drawn to.