Red, white, black, golden… Koi carp look like paintings in motion. And their story begins very humbly: in the rice paddies of Japan in the nineteenth century, farmers raised carp for food and began to notice the ones born with unusual colors. That is how the nishikigoi, the “brocade carp” as they are known in Japan, came about. Today there are dozens of varieties, and some are true jewels. They are very long-lived fish: they live for decades, and it is even said that a Japanese koi named Hanako exceeded two hundred years, although this has never been verified. And they are clever: they recognize whoever feeds them. According to a Chinese legend, a carp that swam up a great waterfall turned into a dragon. That is why, in Asia, the koi is a symbol of perseverance.