All Reds or Japanese Brown cattle are Wagyu, but not all Wagyu is as distinctive and desired as the Reds. Known as the “Emperor’s Herd,” they are deemed a National Treasure in Japan, a closed breed forbidden to leave the country. This is a breed of prized Japanese cattle known for its distinct marbling, giving it a rich buttery flavor and a “melt-in-your-mouth” texture.
WAGYU refers to all Japanese beef cattle, where ‘Wa’ means Japanese and ‘gyu’ means cow. Of the four breeds that comprise “wagyu”, the Japanese Brown/Red, were expressly reserved for the Emperor, his family, and the Samurai.
Several hundred Black Wagyu cattle were imported to the US; however, only 16 of the Brown/Red wagyu have left Japan.
The origin of Red Wagyu is in Kumamoto Japan, located in the middle of Kyushu Island. In 1976, two Kumamoto red bulls were imported into the U.S. by Morris Whitney. They were Rueshaw (Japanese National Champion) and Judo. Their genetics are rapidly dwindling and very costly. Skillfully bred, they will endure through their progeny.
A loophole in a trade act between the United States and Japan allowed Japanese Venture Partners (JVP) to import 2 red heifers, Kunisakae and 27 Homare, in 1994.
Another import occurred in 1994 the day a Texas physician, Dr. Al Woods, and rancher, Jose’ Antonio Elias Calles, sped to the airport with three bulls – Shigemaru, Tamamaru, Hikari – and 9 females.
It was wild, to say the least as Japanese opposition groups created human barricades around their vehicles and attempted poisonings of the small herd. Their semen inventory was confiscated… almost all of it. On a specially equipped Boeing 737 with bodyguards, Dr. Woods reached into the cow, Akiko, and broke a stashed straw of semen. The insemination would take her and her son, the stowaway, to the U.S. Big Al, the stowaway, was the first Red Wagyu bull born on American soil.
For two years, the cattle were quarantined under the guard of off-duty Texas Rangers protecting the herd from thieves, ranchers, and interbreeding, until the legal issues could be settled. After the judicial smoke cleared, the only 16 Red Wagyu cattle to ever leave Japan were declared legal imports.
