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History of Kobe beef

Do you know Tajima beef?

Kobe beef is Tajima beef.
Only the really good Tajima beef becomes Kobe beef.
The famous Matsusaka beef and Omi beef are also produced from Tajima beef. First, I will explain about "Tajima Beef".

What is Tajima beef?

The type is Japanese black cattle among wagyu beef

It has excellent meat quality and strong heritability, and is most commonly used for improving wagyu beef nationwide.

Kuroge Wagyu beef can be found all over Japan, but only Tajima beef does not contain blood from other prefectures. It is said that the taste of meat is determined by the lineage, and the lineage is passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, it is also used to improve wagyu beef all over the country.

Branded beef such as Kobe beef is certified as "meat", and Tajima beef is Hyogo Prefecture's Wagyu beef, "Gyu-san".

*"Tajima Beef" is the name of a cow, but "Hyogo Prefecture (Tajima Beef)" is a brand of beef, just like Kobe Beef, and is certified after becoming meat. ... It's confusing. (^-^;)

Tajima region

The Tajima region, located in the north of Hyogo Prefecture, is rich in good grass and variety. Blessed with pastures, the water is hard and rich in radium, and the mountain grasses contain medicinal herbs necessary for beef cattle to grow.
In addition, the purity of the pedigree has been maintained for many years by experienced breeding farmers, and as a result of constant efforts to improve, Tajima beef, which is proud of the whole country, has been produced.

vine cow

"Tsuru" is the lineage of excellent cows that have been bred mainly in the Tajima region, especially in valleys. This lineage is called “Tsuruushi”.

It is a cow that crosses only excellent cows and strongly conveys a pure pedigree. A famous cow that has no more coat. In the old days, there were more than 100 vine cattle, but now there are the following three strains.

Tajima Beef has not introduced a single drop of blood from cows from other prefectures, and is a completely purebred breed.

History of Tajima Beef

Tajima beef has a long history, and about 1200 years ago, there is a description in the "Shoku Nihongi" that "Tajima beef is suitable for tillage, transportation and food."

The ``Ten Maps of Kokugyu '', written about 700 years ago, describes the system, characteristics, and properties of Japanese beef at that time. In particular , it is written that the opening of the stubborn flower is a gem.

In the past, it was used more for cargo handling than for food, and it was after the Meiji period that it began to attract attention as a beef cattle. When transportation was inconvenient, a good pedigree was naturally inherited, and even now, we continue to protect the pedigree with an emphasis on that.

History of Kobe Beef

In fact, it was a foreigner who came to the port town of Kobe that discovered Kobe beef. The custom of eating beef was not yet official in Japan. It was secretly eaten under the influence of Buddhist teachings and the edict of pity for living beings. Therefore, foreigners who came to Hyogo in the first year of Keio struggled to find cattle merchants. But they hated slaughtering them, so they did it themselves! So the tenacity of the beef culture found Kobe beef. In the 4th year of the Meiji era, the first public slaughterhouse run by Japanese, Choju Selling Trading Company, was established.

The first beef shop in Kobe was started by a British man named Kilby around the 3rd year of Keio. It is said that the Japanese began in the first year of the Meiji era. It is also known to those in Kobe that Hirobumi Ito, the first governor of Hyogo Prefecture at the time, liked to eat beef. Along with the civilization and enlightenment, rare foreign cultures entered the country rapidly, and the Japanese diet changed drastically.

It is said that it was January 24th, 5th year of the Meiji era (1873) that beef was served on the dining table of Emperor Meiji. "Eating beef" spread throughout the city, and along with this, the name "Kobe Beef" grew in Kobe as the birthplace of beef.

The definition of Kobe beef was established in 1983 . Until then, the import of beef had not been liberalized, and it was only Kobe beef because Tajima beef was eaten in Kobe. In September 1983, the " Kobe Meat Distribution Promotion Council " was established in September 1983 by the association of related organizations involved in production, distribution, and consumption in order to unify the quality and have many people eat it with peace of mind, and the definition was decided. rice field. Because of this history, it has become a world-famous brand to the extent that even if people outside of Japan don't know the name of Kobe, they know about Kobe Beef.