Wagyu
Wagyu is the collective name for the four principal Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle originate from early twentieth-century cross-breeding between native Japanese cattle and imported stock, mostly from Europe.
Wagyu beef is among the most expensive meats in the world. It features marbling, meaning that streaks of fat exist within the red meat that make it tender and moist, while adding flavor. Wagyu beef is often known by different names depending on its place of origin. In several Japanese prefectures, Wagyu beef is shipped with an area name; examples include Matsusaka beef, Kobe beef from the Tajima cattle, Yonezawa beef and Ōmi beef. In recent years, Wagyu beef has increased in fat percentage due to a decrease in grazing and an increase in the use of feed, resulting in larger, fattier cattle.
Definition
Wagyu refers to "Japanese cattle" and is not a specific breed. Japanese native cattle became almost extinct after the Meiji Restoration, mainly as a result of crossbreeding with European breeds, with exceptions such as the Mishima cattle. There are only a few hundred Japanese native cattle, and meat from these cattle is seldom sold on the market. Today, Wagyu refers to four breeds known as "improved Wagyu", which have been established as distinct breeds through crossbreeding with European cattle.The rich marbling that is considered a characteristic of Wagyu is actually a feature of the Japanese Black breed, and not of the other three breeds. This is often misunderstood because the Japanese Black currently accounts for 97% of all Wagyu raised in Japan.
In 2001, bovine spongiform encephalopathy was reported in Japanese cattle and became a major public health problem. Since then, stringent testing and registration measures for cattle in Japan have been implemented. Since 2007, only four breeds of kairyō wagyū and their crossbreds, as well as cattle born, raised, and duly registered in Japan, have been allowed to be labeled as Wagyu.
Western breeds such as Holstein and Jersey are also raised in Japan for dairy cattle. When meat from these cattle is sold in Japan, it must be labeled "domestic beef", not "Wagyu."
Origin
In 1927, fossils of an ancient wild species of cow, Hanaizumi Moriushi, dating from the Paleolithic period about 20,000 years ago, were discovered at the Hanaizumi Site in Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture. The Hanaizumi Moriushi is a species similar to the bison and is said to be close to the steppe bison lineage. Fossil bones of Aurochs have also been found in Ichinoseki City. Since Hokkaido and Honshu were land-locked with the Eurasian continent during the Ice Age, these animals came from the continent via Hokkaido.In addition, projectile points made from polished wild cattle bones have been found at the same site, although in small quantities, suggesting that humans existed during this period and that Hanaizumi Moriushi and aurochs were hunted.
At the Ohama Site in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, cattle teeth dating to the middle Yayoi period were excavated. Among them were also processed cattle molars. However, this excavation was controversial because it contradicted the statement in Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms that there were no cattle or horses in Japan. Later, radiocarbon dating of the excavated cattle molars yielded a date of around 40 AD.
However, some in the Japanese archaeological community remain skeptical about the presence of cattle in Japan during the Yayoi period, and there is a persistent view that they were brought to Japan from the Korean peninsula by the toraijin, a group of people who came to Japan in the mid-5th century during the Kofun period. At the Nango-Ōhigashi site in Gose City, Nara Prefecture, excavations revealed cow bones believed to date back to the 5th century. At the Funamiya Kofun Tumulus in Asago City, Hyōgo Prefecture, pieces of a cow-shaped haniwa, believed to be the oldest in Japan, have been excavated. In addition, a cow-shaped haniwa was excavated from the Hashida No. 1 Tumulus in Tawaramoto Town, Shiki-gun, Nara Prefecture in the first half of the 6th century, and was designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1958.
Livestock cattle are divided into two major lineages: northern lineage cattle and Indian lineage cattle, and both Wagyu and Korean cattle belong to the northern lineage and do not contain Indian lineage such as Zebu cattle.
T4 is a haplogroup unique to East Asia that is not observed in Near Eastern, European, and African cattle, and T3 is the predominant haplogroup in European cattle, but T3 is also predominant in Korean cattle.
In addition, haplogroup P has additionally been detected in about 46% of the Japanese Shorthorn. It has been detected in many extinct European aurochs, but has only been found in a total of three current livestock cattle—one Chinese and two Korean—out of several thousand individuals in the database.
The Japanese Shorthorn was created by crossing the Nanbu cattle bred in the former Nanbu Domain territory in northeastern Japan with Shorthorns and other breeds imported from the United States, but P has not been detected in Shorthorns and is thought to be derived from the Nanbu cattle.
Fossils of Hanaizumi Moriushi and Aurochs have been found in Iwate Prefecture, but it is unclear if the Nanbu cattle were related to these. Haplogroup P has also been found in Chinese and Korean cattle, but it is extremely rare compared to T4. Therefore, it is suggested that the ancestors of the Nanbu cattle have a different origin from the ancestors of the Japanese Black in western Japan, where T4 is abundant, and that there is no single ancestor of the Wagyu.
History
Cattle were brought to Japan from the Korean Peninsula or China, but archaeological and genetic studies have proposed different dates for their arrival, ranging from around the turn of the era to the 5th century.Nara period (710–794)
In 675, due to the influence of Buddhism, Emperor Tenmu issued a decree banning meat eating, and eating cattle was officially prohibited in Japan. However, a study of human excrement excavated from the Heijo Palace site has revealed that Japanese people in the Nara period continued to eat cattle even after the prohibition. In addition, the Yoro Code stipulates that when a government-owned horse or ox dies, it should be dismembered and the skin, brain, horns, and gall bladder removed, and if there is calculus bovis, it should be delivered to the state. The Yoro Code also includes provisions for the sale of the hides and meat of horses and cattle, and there were distribution channels throughout Japan for buying and selling these items during the Nara period.Heian and Kamakura periods (794–1333)
During the Heian period, the main use of cattle was for bullock carts. Cattle that excelled in this use were called sun-gyū and were regarded as excellent bulls. Owning such an excellent bull became a source of pride for the aristocrats of Japan at that time.The "Pictorial Record of Swift Bulls" which is believed to have been written around 1279, is said to be the world's oldest specialized book on bulls. In the same book, the names of 52 bulls are listed as swift bulls. At the time, the cattle from Iki Island in present-day Nagasaki Prefecture had the highest reputation as swift bulls, but they were temporarily destroyed by the Mongolian army during the Mongolian invasion, which killed them and used them as food.
From the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period, farming using cattle and horses became popular mainly in western Japan, contributing greatly to the development of agriculture. In a complaint by a farmer in 1423, describing the wrongdoing of a manor administrator, it mentions that the farmer owned cattle and used them for farming.
Edo period (1603–1867)
Until about the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, cattle were used only as draught animals, in agriculture, forestry, mining and transport, and as a source of fertilizer. Milk consumption was unknown, and – for cultural and religious reasons – meat was not eaten. Cattle were highly prized and valuable, too expensive for a poor farmer to buy.Japan was effectively isolated from the rest of the world from 1635 until 1854; there was no possibility of the intromission of foreign genes to the cattle population during this time.
In western Japan during the Edo period, superior cattle were produced by aggressive inbreeding, and the superior bloodlines were called "tsuru", and cattle with superior bloodlines were traded at high prices. Famous tsuru include the Takenotani tsuru, Bokura tsuru , Iwakura tsuru , and Shusuke tsuru. In Japan, where meat eating was frowned upon and the use of milk was not widespread, cows in the Edo period were primarily work cattle that plowed the fields, so a good cow in this period meant one that was healthy and obedient.
The famous "Tajiri-go" bull was born from the "Atsuta tsuru," which is a descendant of the Shusuke tsuru. According to a survey conducted by the , the pedigree was traced from a database of 718,969 Japanese black cattle mothers registered in Japan, and it was found that 718,330 or 99.9% of them are descended from the Tajiri-go.
On the other hand, there are those who are concerned about the current situation in which only the Tajima cattle line represented by the Tajiri-go is spreading and genetic diversity is being lost from Wagyu, and the movement to revive the Takenotani tsuru has been attracting attention in recent years.
In 1859, Japan opened the port of Yokohama in accordance with the demands of Western nations. At the same time, a foreign settlement was established in Yokohama. Foreign residents sought cattle for meat from neighboring villages but were refused, so cattle were imported from the U.S., China, and Korea, which gradually became unable to meet the demand.
In 1865, before the Port of Kobe was opened, the Hyogo Port Opening Demand Incident occurred, in which nine warships from Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States invaded Hyogo Port demanding its opening. At that time, sailors negotiated with local cattle merchants for cattle, which were initially slaughtered on board, but as demand increased, it became necessary to slaughter them on land. 1866 saw the first slaughter of cattle by foreigners in the pine forests of Cape Wadamisaki. In this way, foreign ships bought 30 or 40 cows at a time in Kobe before the official opening of the port and brought them to Yokohama, where "Kobe beef" became well known for its delicious taste.