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Yonezawa beef:

Yonezawa beef comes from the prefecture of Yamagata in West Japan.  Like Hida and Maesawa beef, it’s not as famous as Kobe, Matsusaka or Ohmi beef,,=. However, like these brands, all Yonezawa beef comes from the Japanese black breed. For meat to satisfy Yonezawa certification, the meat must be raised in Yamagata province, be fed a special rice diet (for around 32 months) and then satisfy the highest levels of grading.”;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:8:”yonezawa”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”50.00″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”53.03″;}i:1;a:10:{s:7:”content”;s:1082:”

Kobe Beef:

Kobe Beef is the most famous brand of Wagyu. Kobe beef comes from the prefecture of Hyogo (the capital of Hyogo is Kobe). The criteria for beef to be certified as Kobe beef is tough with strict controls over the breed, birth place, location, diet, slaughter and grading.

The limited supply of Kobe beef and high demand has resulted in very high prices. In London, 120g of Kobe beef will cost £129 at Sushisamba. The high demand and prices for Kobe has led some restaurants to mislabel their beef as Kobe. To prevent fraud, all official Kobe cows have a unique ID and there is a list of official restaurants and sellers of Kobe beef.

You can read our full article on Kobe beef here (including where to find Kobe beef) and you can read our review of the Kobe beef we had in Kobe, Japan here.”;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:4:”kobe”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”72.98″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”33.49″;}i:2;a:10:{s:7:”content”;s:468:”

Ohmi Beef:

Ohmi beef is one of the three big Wagyu brands (alongside Kobe and Matsusaka) and the oldest of any Wagyu brand. Ohmi beef comes from the prefecture of Shiga where cows are raised, slaughtered and certified according to strict controls (with only 6,000 cattle a year being certified as Ohmi beef).

You can find out more about Ohmi beef here.“;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:4:”ohmi”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”68.32″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”37.52″;}i:3;a:10:{s:7:”content”;s:1042:”

Matsusaka Beef:

Matsusaka is named after the city of Matsusaka in the prefecture of Mie. It is considered by Japanese to be the highest form of Wagyu. Rumours abound that some farmers, particularly the ones that supply the Yakiniku-M brand, fed their cattle beer and massage the cows with liquor.

Like Kobe beef, Mastsusaka beef has strict controls over the breed, location, diet, slaughter and grading of the meat. Matsusaka beef has not had the same degree of mislabelling that Kobe beef has endured (as it is not widely known outside of Japan), however the Matsusaka Mie Beef corporation maintains an ID of every certified cow.

If you’d like to know more about Matsusaka beef you can read our article on it here and our review of the time we ate it in Osaka.”;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:9:”matsusaka”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”74.56″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”41.33″;}i:4;a:10:{s:7:”content”;s:444:”

Hida Beef:

Hida Beef comes from Gifu Prefecture in central Japan. It’s not as famous as Kobe, Matsusaka or Ohmi beef, but likes those brands Hida beef comes from the Japanese black breed and has strict controls of how a cow is raised, slaughtered and certified. The requirements are more relaxed than other types of Wagyu with cows only needing to be raised in Gifu prefecture for 14 months.”;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:4:”hida”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”61.48″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”44.43″;}i:5;a:10:{s:7:”content”;s:412:”

Maesawa beef:

Maesawa beef comes from the Iwate Prefecture in the East of Japan. Like Hida and Yonezawa it isn’t as famous as the other Wagyu brands.

However, like all the other brands, Maesawa beef comes from the Japanese black breed and there are strict controls in place regarding where a cow is raised, slaughtered and the grading process for the beef.”;s:8:”linkpins”;s:0:””;s:11:”link_target”;s:5:”_self”;s:17:”pins_image_custom”;s:0:””;s:23:”pins_image_hover_custom”;s:0:””;s:9:”placement”;s:1:”n”;s:7:”pins_id”;s:7:”maesawa”;s:10:”pins_class”;s:0:””;s:3:”top”;s:5:”42.11″;s:4:”left”;s:5:”59.45″;}}}