W H A T I S W A G Y U ?
The term “WAGYU”—properly pronounced “waa-gyew” — literally means “Japanese cow” in Japanese. “Wa” means Japanese and “gyu” means cow.
In Japan the term Wagyu refers to one of four major “strains” of beef cattle that were “improved by crossbreeding with non-Japanese cattle during a short period between approximately 1867 and 1910. In Japan these four major strains of Wagyu include Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Polled and Japanese Shorthorn.
The Japanese Brown are typically referred to outside of Japan as “Red Wagyu”, and also referred to by some as “Akaushi”—which means “red cow” in Japanese. Only Japanese Black and Red Wagyu have been exported from Japan. There are a number of different major bloodlines within each of the four major strains of Wagyu.
Wagyu cattle arguably produce the best quality beef in the world—a beef product that is tender and highly marbled—with a low melting point fat that “melts in your mouth”. Wagyu beef is also more healthy than beef from other breeds of cattle due to a higher ratio of monounsaturated fatty acid as compared to saturated fatty acid.
Outside of Japan there are four major strains, three black and one red. Because of the relative isolation of one Japanese prefecture to another and the selective breeding that took place in each area, different characteristics emerged from the various strains. However, having evolved from the native Asian cattle, the Wagyu bloodlines are somewhat related.