Rules
Each person plays individually. The basic rule is that the player scoops goldfish from a pool with a paper scooper called a "poi" and brings them to a bowl with it. This game requires carefulness and quickness as the poi can be easily torn. The game is over when the poi is completely broken. Even if one part of the poi is torn, the player can continue the game with the remaining part.
At ennichi or summer festival stalls, the game is not a competition. Participation typically costs around 100yen and players can take scooped goldfish home with a special bag. The game is unlimited, so players can scoop until their pois are completely broken. If they cannot scoop even one goldfish, the shopkeeper of the stall may kindly give them two or so. Each stall usually has its own rule. For example, there are some stalls where players can get a stronger poi if they pay more. Other stalls give players special presents if they scoop a lot. In some variations, there are also medaka (Japanese killfish) that are faster and harder to catch than goldfish. Usually, for every four goldfish, there is one medaka, so in ennichi, if you catch one, it is counted as four goldfish.
At National Championship of Scooping Goldfish, players follow the official rules that are different from above (see National Championship of Scooping Goldfish).
Requirements
The things necessary to play goldfish scooping is a pool which goldfish swim in, a poi, a bowl to keep scooped goldfish, a special bag with which to bring goldfish home, and goldfish themselves.
Pool
Usually, the goldfish are placed in a small plastic pool about 1m and 20 cm (8") depth.
Poi (, poi?)
Poi consists of a round plastic frame and handgrip, and paper on the frame. Poi paper can easily break when it is put into water, so players should not move Poi fast. There are some classes in Poi's paper; No.7 (7?) is weaker, and No.5 (5?) is stronger. In some stalls, staff have unbreakable Poi which consist of net instead of paper to scoop goldfish.
An unused poi
A poi partly broken
A poi completely broken
Bowl
The bowl is usually made of plastic in a half-sphere shape, the diameter is about 15cm.
This is used to store the scooped goldish.
Bag
If players get goldfish, they can bring them home with special bags.
An unused bag
A bag with water
Goldfish
Varieties of goldfish often used in goldfish scooping are "Koaka", "Demekin", and "Anekin". See Goldfish.
History
This game started in the late Edo period, around 1810. In those days, pois were made of nets, and it was one of the children's plays. Pois came to be made of paper and stalls started it in Taish period, around 1910.
The game became more and more popular, and National Championship of Scooping Goldfish began in 1995. Today, it is so popular that people will surely see the stall at ennichi or summer festivals in Japan. On the other hand, it becomes a serious problem that scooped goldfish are not properly bred in the players' homes.
National Championship of Goldfish Scooping
National Championship of Scooping Goldfish (?) is the biggest official competition managed by National Scooping Goldfish Association and Yamatokriyama city in Nara Prefecture (Yamatokriyama is famous as a producing district of goldfish.) It is held on the third Saturday and Sunday in August every year. This year (2007), 13th championship was held and 1116 people participated in it. It has three sections:
Children section: competition by children who are under 15
General section: competition by people whose age is 15 and up
Group section: competition for the sum number of the goldfish scooped by a team of three people
There are area trials and the first and second in every section can participate in National Championship. Extraordinarily in Nara trials, 60 people in child section, 80 people in ordinary section and 40 groups in group section can participate in it. The rule is detailed; size of goldfish, poi and pool, the number of umpire and so on. They compete with the number of goldfish scooped in three minutes. If the paper of poi is completely broken, the game is over and the score is the number of goldfish scooped until then.
In the tenth championship (2004) a player scooped 61 goldfish in three minutes in the semifinal. (This is a new high and that comes to the average of one goldfish per three seconds.) However she was the very bottom in the final.
Notes and references
^ A record page in National Championship of Goldfish Scooping's official page (in Japanese)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Goldfish scooping
National Championship of Goldfish Scooping(in Japanese)
Technique of Goldfish Scooping(in Japanese)
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