YOKOHAMA STANDARD

YOKOHAMA Standard

Large Fowl

Origin: Japan and Europe

Classification: Light, Rare

Egg colour: white or tinted

The earliest recorded long-tailed fowls were found in China and sent home by Japanese diplomatic representatives. This was some time between AD 600 and 800 in our calendar. Not all accounts agree about dates and details of events so long ago. The original type birds were called Shokoku in Japan, and from them were developed several other Japanese long-tailed breeds, which are summarised at the end of this standard.

Several of these Japanese long-tailed breeds were exported to Europe, the first recorded by M. Girard, a French missionary, in 1864. These and later shipments were consigned from the port of Yokohama, which became the name by which all long-tailed fowls were called by Europeans who were not able, or did not bother, to discover the true breed names and details from Japanese experts.

A leading German fancier, Hugo de Roi, bred and promoted the red lobed and somewhat gamey red saddled white Yokohama (circa 1880), but it is not clear if he made them himself by crossing various imports or actually imported birds of this colour and type. This variety is unknown in Japan now, but might have existed then. In an effort to bring some order to their assortment of imported types, German fanciers restricted the name Yokohama to the red saddled whites, and invented a new name, Phoenix, for the white lobed, single combed type.

British fanciers formed a Yokohama club about 1904 and decided to use that name for all types, which is why we now have one very long and complex standard for what really should be several breeds.

Yokohama bantams were made by various German fanciers by crossing large Yokohamas with assorted bantams of appropriate colours.

The standard for the British Yokohama is as follows:

General Characteristics

Male

Carriage: Stylish and pheasant-like

Type: Body fairly long and deep, full round breast, long back tapering to tail, long wings carried rather low but close to the body. Tail as long and flowing as possible, with a great abundance of side hangers - the whole tail carried low and forming a graceful curve. Saddle hackles extremely abundant, long and narrow, covering a large proportion of the wing tips and in older birds having sufficient length to drag on the ground.

Head: Skull small, slightly long and tapering. Beak strong and curved. Eyes bright. Comb single, pea or walnut (single comb not permitted on red saddled variety). Single comb small and upright; pea comb small, neat and straight; walnut comb medium sized. Face of fine texture. Earlobes small, oval, fitting closely. Wattles medium-sized and rounded (small or absent in red saddled).

Neck: Long and furnished with flowing hackle, which should completely encircle the neck.

Legs and Feet: Legs of medium length (longer legs allowed in red saddled variety), the shanks fine and free of feather. Toes four, well spread.

Female plumage:

Head – brown. Neck hackle - golden orange, each Feather having a black stripe in the centre. Breast - salmon, a lighter shade below. Thighs - grey-brown. Back and shoulders - brown, each feeathr with a light shaft. Tail coverts - brown. Tail - black, the two uppermost main feathers spotted or grizzled with light brown. Wings - primaries black, secondaries, outer web mottled brown, inner web black.

SILVER DUCKWING

Male plumage:

Head - silver-white. Neck and saddle hackles – silver-white with each feather having a black stripe down the centre. Breast, thighs and tail - black with beetle-green lustre. Back silver-white. Wings - bow silver-white, bar black with blue sheen, primaries black, secondaries outer web silver-white inner web black.

Female plumage:

Head - light grey. Neck hackle - light grey with each feather having a black strip in the centre. Breast - salmon a lighter shade below. Thighs – grey. Back and shoulders - grey, each feather with a light shaft. Tail coverts – grey. Tail - black, the two uppermost main feathers spotted or grizzled with grey. Wings - primaries black, secondaries, outer web mottled grey, inner web black.

GOLD DUCKWING

Male plumage:

Head - light yellow or straw. Neck and saddle hackles - light yellow or straw, with each feather having a black stripe down the centre. Breast, thighs and tail - black with beetle green lustre. Back – orange-bay. Wings - bow orange-bay, bar black with blue sheen, primaries black, secondaries outer web light yellow or straw inner web black.

Female Plumage:

Similar to silver duckwing female except for slight brownish tinge over back and wings, and the breast is a deeper richer shade of salmon.

WHITE

Male and Female Plumage

Snow white, free from straw tinge.

BLACK

Male and Female Plumage

Dense black with a rich green sheen.

BLACK-TAILED BUFF

Male and Female Plumage

All plumage except for wings and tail a rich lustrous buff with pale slatey-buff undercolour. Wing primaries black, edged with buff; secondaries outer web buff, inner web black heavily fringed with buff. Main tail black, sickles and coverts black edged with buff.

BLUE/RED

Male Plumage

Head - bay. Neck and saddle hackles - orange or golden-red with each feather having a blue stripe down the centre. Breast, thighs and tail - medium shade of blue. Back and shoulders - deep or bright red. Wings - bow deep or bright red, with a rich dark blue bar across, primaries blue, secondaries bay on the outer web, blue on inner web.

Female Plumage:

Head – brown. Neck hackle - golden red, streaked with blue. Breast and thighs - salmon. Back and shoulders - brown intermixed with blue, the two uppermost main feathers spotted or grizzled with light brown. Wings - primaries blue, secondaries, outer web mottled brown, inner web blue.

SPANGLED

Male Plumage

Head – white. Neck hackle – white, the lower feathers near the shoulders having black centre striping. Breast and thighs -black, each feather tipped with a crescent of white. Back - white. Saddle hackle - white next to the wing, then slightly striped with black, the stripes heavier approaching the tail. Wing – primaries black, bar black with white lacing, secondaries white with black on inner web, wing bow white. Tail - black, lower coverts distinctly laced with white.
Female Plumage

Head - white. Neck hackle - white striped with black. Breast and thighs – white. Back - white slightly pencilled or laced with black. Tail coverts - black evenly laced all around with white. Tail - black.

In all the above colours

Beak – Horn (yellow or white allowed with white plumage)

Eyes – Red/brown

Comb, face and wattles – Red

Earlobes – White or red

Legs and feet – Yellow, Willow, Slate blue or White.

RED-SADDLED

Male and Female Plumage

Above - YOKOHAMA - RED SADDLED (a variety not standardised in Japan)

White and red. Breast and thighs red in the male and red-buff in the female, with well-defined, white, kite-shaped spangling at the end of each feather. The male’s back and wing bow bright red, the former vignetted into the saddle. Remainder white.

Beak – Yellow

Eyes – Red

Comb, face and wattles – Red

Earlobes – Red

Legs and feet – Yellow

There is also a pure white version of the Red-saddled Yokohama, in which white beak, legs and feet are allowed.

The above colours and markings are ideal, but general type, quality and length of tail and hackles are the most important points in the Yokohama Fowl.

Weights

Male: 1.8 – 2.7 kg (approx. 4 – 6 lbs)

Female: 1.1 – 1.8 kg (approx 2.5 – 4lbs)

Serious defects

Yellow or straw coloured feathers in the white. White marbling in the face. Broken tail feathers. Short saddle hackles. Too high tail carriage. Any deformity.

YOKOHAMABantam

Yokohama bantams should follow exactly the large fowl standard except for weights.

It is a serious defect for Yokohama bantams to be too heavy.

Weights

Male: 570 – 680 g (20 – 24 oz)

Female: 454 – 570 g (16 – 20 oz)

LONG-TAILED BREEDS STANDARDISED IN JAPAN

SHOKOKU – Very long tail. Single comb. Red earlobes. Red/brown eyes. Colours: silver duckwing, gold duckwing, white. Believed to be the progenitor of all the Japanese longtails. It is said that a Japanese mission in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) introduced them from China.

ONAGADORI – Single comb. White earlobes. Red/brown eyes. Colours: Black/red, silver duckwing, gold duckwing, white, ginger. Tail over 1.5m long. The tail feathers of the male grow very quickly and under ideal conditions continue to grow without moulting 16 –18 of them for the life of the bird, often to lengths of 9metres or more, with proportionately long saddle hackles. Bred only in the Kochi area of Shikoku and recognised as a living National Treasure of Japan.

MINOHIKI – (Mino – saddle feather, Hiki – dragging) Very long saddle hackle. Medium length tail. Triple, walnut or ‘chalice’ comb, Red earlobes. Red/brown eyes. Colours: Black/red, Silver duckwing, Gold duckwing, White, Ginger or ‘five-coloured’. Bred in the Shizuoka area.

TOTENKO – Longtailed long-crower with single comb, White earlobes. Red/brown eyes. Colour: Black/red. The Totenko is widely bred in Japan today.

KUROKASHIWA – Longtailed long-crower with single comb, red earlobes and all-black plumage.

Any of the above five breeds may be exhibited and judged under the British Yokohama classification.

The OHIKI, a small longtailed True Bantam breed from Japan is not included in this classification as it is a separately standardised Rare Breed.

The SATSUMADORI, a longtailed game breed is included in the Asian Hardfeather Section.